Events & Tickets

Written during the horrors World War I, Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin is a bright reflection on lives lost during the war, with each movement dedicated to a friend who passed. The composer draws on the woodwind section—particularly the oboe—to tell these stories.

George Walker—a longtime Montclair resident—was among the greatest composers to call the Garden State home, and in 1996, he became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music. It was this passionate work for soprano and orchestra that garnered him that grand distinction.

This divine choral-orchestral masterpiece focuses Fauré’s view on the acceptance of a peaceful death. Conductor Eric Jacobsen joins the Symphony to lead this exquisite work.

Sarah Gibson drew inspiration from artist Miriam Schapiro and the art of weaving for her melodic and colorful warp & weft, a true celebration of the creative process and art created by women.

Pianist George Li wowed Symphony audiences with his stunning performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and returns to do the same with the dazzling keyboard pyrotechnics in Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Former Associate Conductor Gemma New returns to New Jersey stages to conduct Berlioz’s extraordinary Symphonie fantastique, a fantastic tale of thwarted love, dreams and witchcraft.

The New Jersey Symphony premieres an all-new commission from Resident Artistic Catalyst Daniel Bernard Roumain. A master storyteller, DBR will continue to wow New Jersey audiences with his genre-bending music.

Passages of blazing fingerwork are balanced with moments of such serenity that time feels as if it may have stopped—perfect for the artistry of superstar Joshua Bell.

The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky’s energetic and dark tale based on pagan rituals in Russia, was a truly groundbreaking masterpiece. While the premiere audiences rioted, it has subsequently become among the important and exhilarating musical works of the 20th century. Many audiences will find familiarity, as Stravinsky’s music became the iconic soundtrack to the dinosaur segment of Disney’s Fantasia.

The New Jersey Symphony premieres an all-new commission from Resident Artistic Catalyst Daniel Bernard Roumain. A master storyteller, DBR will continue to wow New Jersey audiences with his genre-bending music.

Passages of blazing fingerwork are balanced with moments of such serenity that time feels as if it may have stopped—perfect for the artistry of superstar Joshua Bell.

The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky’s energetic and dark tale based on pagan rituals in Russia, was a truly groundbreaking masterpiece. While the premiere audiences rioted, it has subsequently become among the important and exhilarating musical works of the 20th century. Many audiences will find familiarity, as Stravinsky’s music became the iconic soundtrack to the dinosaur segment of Disney’s Fantasia.

The BBC called Jessie Montgomery “one of the most distinctive and communicative voices in the U.S.,” and the New Jersey Symphony gives the East Coast debut of her new work.

Heart-on-sleeve music, one gorgeous melody after another soaring from Sterling Elliott’s cello. The New Jersey Symphony backs him up with Schumann’s richest Romantic harmonies.

Edward Elgar loved to spend his evenings bashing away at his upright piano, chomping on a cigar, making up tunes. This is how he created a kaleidoscopic set of variations on a mysterious melody—all of which made him a household name across the land.

Breathing deep the bracing Atlantic salt air for the first time, 20-year-old Mendelssohn fell in love with the moody islands off Scotland’s west coast. He painted them in music, full of sweeping melodies, quick-shifting swells and dramatic energy.

Time for Three call themselves “a classically trained garage band” and they wow audiences with limitless virtuosity across every kind of music. They join the New Jersey Symphony for this joyous, Grammy Award-winning masterpiece by Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts.

Written on what many thought was his deathbed, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra gave the composer new life. Every section of the orchestra gets the spotlight to dazzling effect, and the Concerto’s last moments are some of the most thrilling in all classical music.

Still wrote this in the 1920s to depict the struggles of his fellow African Americans, ultimately aiming to show “the triumph of a people over their sorrows through fervent prayer.” Tenderness and toughness mark this moving testament to resilience.

In this nation of immigrants, we all have our stories. Inspired by in-depth source research, interviews with generations of immigrants, and melodies from many countries, composer Rob Kapilow has crafted an instant classic of compelling music for chorus and orchestra.

The musical that gave the world “New York, New York,” On the Town was a hit from its wartime premiere. The story of three sailors on leave in Manhattan is filled with Bernstein’s signature restless energy, and made huge waves of its own in the 1940s with a racially diverse cast.

The tragedy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set on Manhattan’s fire escapes and sidewalks. These Symphonic Dances from West Side Story are a fountain of songs you love, from “Tonight” to “Maria” and the manic shout of “Mambo!”

The New Yorker called this 2010 orchestral suite “joyous and electric.” Thomas’ concert-opener is perfectly titled and a superb way to help you shake off late winter.

Your first time to hear the oboe d’amore? This duskier cousin of the modern oboe has a soulful, sweet sound that Bach adored and placed at the center of this piece of reverence and reflection.

Medieval monks had more on their minds than scripture–women, beer and the ever-turning wheel of fate most prominent. Orff set their words to dramatically colorful music in his iconic Carmina Burana.

A little suite for winds meant as background music to a Viennese party. Mozart never did anything halfway, though, and this Serenade is a jewel box holding his most touching melodies.

Finally getting its due, this French-Creole composer’s violin writing is a high-water mark of 18th-century grace. And there is no more graceful violinist to make these lines sing than the soulful Gil Shaham.

Every bar bristles with brilliance, leaps of melody and delicious new harmonies. Bach wrote hundreds of pieces, but none more beautiful than this, seemingly tailor-fit for the gifts of our guest Gil Shaham.

In the century before recorded sound, Mozart made dinner music like this. But every minute of this serenade for strings is so full of unbridled joy—no wonder it is his greatest hit.

Liszt was a fire-breather of a composer, perhaps inspired by the Greek god himself who gave humans fire. His Prometheus lets the orchestra tell the riveting ancient story of theft, punishment, and triumph.

Newark’s own Tyshawn Sorey has a dozen surprises up his sleeve in his new work, especially as he makes superstar soloist Jennifer Koh “disappear” into the orchestra. The effect is singularly haunting and beautiful.

The composer of four magnificent symphonies, Brahms also wrote reams of gorgeous chamber pieces. His Piano Quartet is arranged so vividly for orchestra that it could be Brahms' Fifth.

Berlioz exploded every idea of what an orchestra could do and be, and his Roman Carnival Overture was his calling card. It shows the New Jersey Symphony in all its full-throated glory.

Having written for every top-flight orchestra in America, Anna Clyne’s latest is for us and with the extraordinary Jeremy Denk as soloist. Find out why The New York Times chose Anna Clyne for their feature “Five Minutes that Will Make You Love Classical Music.”

Fifty minutes that made Beethoven’s name. His Third was so bold and unconventional, that it still sounds new 200-plus years after its premiere.

The New Jersey Symphony premieres an all-new commission from Resident Artistic Catalyst Daniel Bernard Roumain. A master storyteller, DBR will continue to wow New Jersey audiences with his genre-bending music.

Gershwin’s landmark opera spun off so many great tunes – “Summertime,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and a dozen others will have you singing your way into summer.

Proving he was way more than a one-hit wonder after his Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin poured the energy of Manhattan on a Saturday night into this sparkler for piano and orchestra. Superstar Daniil Trifonov wraps up our season with a bang.