Classical Favorites: Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and More!
2024–25 Season Preview Concert
Jessica Rivero Altarriba conductor
New Jersey Symphony
Enjoy a delightful summer evening of orchestral favorites featuring works from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky and more! Conducted by New Jersey Symphony Colton Conducting Fellow Jessica Rivero Altarriba, this preview of the 2024–25 season delivers a lineup of beloved works you won’t want to miss!
Performed in Newark
The Godfather Live in Concert
New Jersey Symphony at the Movies
Nicholas Hersh conductor
New Jersey Symphony
Relive the chilling portrait of the Sicilian clan’s rise and near fall from power in The Godfather as the New Jersey Symphony performs Nino Rota’s Oscar®-nominated score live to picture. This three-time Academy Award®-winning film features Marlon Brando as the Corleone family patriarch, accompanied by career-making performances from Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall. A concert experience you can’t refuse!
Performed in Newark and Red Bank
Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene with
Renée Fleming
Includes Visuals from National Geographic Society!
Xian Zhang conductor
Renée Fleming soprano
New Jersey Symphony
A breathtaking start to the 2024–25 season with international superstar Renée Fleming. As fall colors flare, America’s most celebrated soprano adds the exquisite hues of her own voice to this concert, inspired by her 2023 Grammy Award-winning album, Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene. This special performance spans Classical, Romantic and contemporary music, exploring nature as both inspiration and victim of humanity. Come be immersed in the majesty of nature, as the music will be accompanied by stunning film by the National Geographic Society.
Performed in Newark
Opening Weekend: Xian Conducts Scheherazade
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Inon Barnatan piano
New Jersey Symphony
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Gabriela Ortiz Kauyumari
Mexico’s most celebrated composer today created her Kauyumari based on an ancient rite of her homeland, which starts with a whisper and becomes a whirling, joyous dance.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17
Mozart at his sunniest, and pianist Inon Barnatan turns this elegant piece into poetry with his “penetrating musicianship” (BBC Music).
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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade
Rimsky-Korsakov’s heroine Scheherazade—here in the voice of the solo violin—tells tale after tale of adventure, beginning aboard the pirate Sinbad’s storm-tossed ship.
Performed in Princeton, Red Bank and Newark
Paquito D’Rivera with New Jersey Symphony
Part of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival
Carlos Miguel Prieto conductor
Paquito D’Rivera guest artist & co-curator
Paquito D’Rivera Quintet
New Jersey Symphony
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George Gershwin/Paquito D’Rivera Medley for Jazz Quintet and Orchestra
Paquito D’Rivera, his phenomenal Quintet and the New Jersey Symphony spin a medley of Gershwin’s unforgettable hits.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/Paquito D’Rivera Adagio on a Mozart Theme
Paquito D’Rivera puts his own signature jazzy swing on this enchanting theme from the middle movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto.
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Daniel Freiberg Latin American Chronicles
Lush and intimate music for D’Rivera’s soulful clarinet one moment, and jaw-dropping virtuosity the next.
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Carlos Chávez Symphony No. 2, “Sinfonía India”
Mexico’s Chávez scored a global hit with his Second Symphony, based on the power of his country’s folk melodies.
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Aaron Copland El Salón México
One night in Mexico City, Aaron Copland was brought by Carlos Chávez to a dance hall, throbbing with joy. Back home, Copland poured it all into this music.
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Arturo Márquez Danzón No. 2
This will ring a bell for “Mozart in the Jungle” fans. Featured in Season Two, Márquez’s Danzón guarantees your feet gotta move.
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José Pablo Moncayo Huapango
It starts so quietly you may miss it, then becomes a locomotive of delight filled with bright Mexican folk tunes.
Performed in Newark and Morristown
The Muppet Christmas Carol in Concert
New Jersey Symphony at the Movies
Constantine Kitsopoulos conductor
New Jersey Symphony
The New Jersey Symphony presents Disney’s The Muppet Christmas Carol in Concert featuring the complete film, with the score performed live to picture. The Muppets perform Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale, with Kermit the Frog playing Bob Cratchit, the put-upon clerk of stingy Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine), and features many more of your favorite Muppet characters. This special holiday event is fun for the whole family!
Performed in Morristown, Red Bank, Newark and New Brunswick
A Gospel Holiday
New Jersey Symphony Family Concert
New Jersey Symphony Gospel Chorus
New Jersey Symphony
Spotlighting celebrated artists from Newark and beyond, the New Jersey Symphony lauds the power of the first instrument—the human voice—with a gospel music inspired holiday extravaganza. Come ready to sing, dance and clap along!
Performed in Newark
Handel’s Messiah
New Jersey Symphony Holiday Tradition
Jeannette Sorrell conductor
Sonya Headlam soprano
John Holiday countertenor
Ed Lyon tenor
Kevin Deas bass-baritone
Montclair State University Singers | Heather J. Buchanan, director
New Jersey Symphony
Spirits will soar at “Lift Up Your Heads” and the “Hallelujah Chorus” as well as the treasured arias that make Handel’s Messiah the must-hear classic of the holidays. Jeannette Sorrell, who “brings revelations” (Philadelphia Inquirer) to everything she conducts, leads the New Jersey Symphony and the phenomenal Montclair State University Singers.
Performed in Princeton and Newark
Jean-Yves Thibaudet Plays Ravel
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Kevin John Edusei conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet piano
New Jersey Symphony
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Donghoon Shin Of Rats and Men
Come hear what audiences in London, Helsinki and Dresden have all been delighted by from one of the most imaginative young composers today, Korea’s Donghoon Shin.
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Maurice Ravel Piano Concerto in G
Ravel’s Concerto is both jazzy and touching, and no pianist makes it swing and sing like the incomparable Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
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Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 2
A showpiece for virtuoso orchestra, the final moments alone are worth the ticket as the New Jersey Symphony’s trumpets blaze forth in glory.
Performed in Newark, Princeton and New Brunswick
2025 Lunar New Year Celebration with Xian Zhang
Celebration of the Year of the Snake
Xian Zhang conductor
Min Kwon piano
Peking University Alumni Chorus
Starry Arts Children’s Chorus | Rebecca Shen, director
New Jersey Symphony
Join us for this evening of community and cultural exchange that is wonderful for families and children, as we celebrate the Year of the Snake. Music Director Xian Zhang, pianist Min Kwon, the Peking University Alumni Chorus and the Starry Arts Children’s Chorus all return for this joyous concert.
Performed in Newark
Holst’s The Planets—An HD Odyssey
New Jersey Symphony Classical
Xian Zhang conductor
Nancy Zhou violin
Montclair State University Prima Voce | Heather J. Buchanan, director
New Jersey Symphony
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Caroline Shaw The Observatory
Shaw’s luminous concert-opener was inspired by scientists who study the night sky’s deepest reaches.
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Ralph Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Hailed by music lovers everywhere year after year as a desert-island necessity, The Lark Ascending is a wonder of flight in sound.
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Gustav Holst The Planets—An HD Odyssey
While Holst’s orchestral spectacular works its magic in the ear, a giant screen over the stage becomes a canvas for NASA’s jaw-dropping images. A feast for the soul.
Performed in New Brunswick, Newark and Morristown
Warner Bros. Discovery presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony
New Jersey Symphony Special Concert -
30th Anniversary Concert
George Daugherty conductor
George Daugherty & David Ka Lik Wong creators
New Jersey Symphony
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is back! Celebrate Looney Tunes and its legendary stars, including Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner and, of course, Bugs Bunny, our very favorite “wascally wabbit.” Enjoy classics including “Baton Bunny,” “The Rabbit of Seville” and “What’s Opera, Doc?” alongside Warner Bros. Discovery 3D theatrical shorts “Rabid Rider,” “Coyote Falls” and “Fur of Flying.” Don’t miss these extraordinary musical scores performed live by the New Jersey Symphony as all the action unfolds on the big screen.