New Jersey Symphony performs Bartók and Chopin
NEWARK, NJ—Conductor Ruth Reinhardt makes her New Jersey Symphony debut leading the orchestra in two works by Béla Bartók, and a piano concerto by Frédéric Chopin. A former Assistant Conductor at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Jaap van Zweden, Reinhardt consistently gives “authoritative and musically sophisticated performances” (Dallas Morning News). She began her role as Music Director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic this season.
The program opens with Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, a collection of short works inspired by the folk songs and peasant dance tunes of Eastern Europe’s remote mountain villages. One of Bartók’s most popular works, the folk-infused Concerto for Orchestra, is famous for giving virtually every instrument a brief turn as soloist. Also making her New Jersey Symphony debut, Yamaha Young Artist Eva Gevorgyan performs the centerpiece of these concerts, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, composed to showcase the soloist’s technical virtuosity, beautiful tone, and expressive capability.
Performances will take place on Thursday, March 12, at 1:30 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark; Friday, March 13, at 7:30 pm at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton; Saturday, March 14, at 7:30 pm at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank; and Sunday, March 15, at 2 pm at the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick.
The Thursday, March 12 matinee will be a Relaxed Performance, designed to accommodate the differing needs of patrons of all abilities, including individuals with autism, sensory sensitivities, or cognitive and physical differences. This concert supports New Jersey Symphony’s mission to make orchestral music accessible to all by removing barriers often found in traditional concert settings.
Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra
Thursday, March 12, 1:30 pm | New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark
Friday, March 13, 7:30 pm | Richardson Auditorium in Princeton
Saturday, March 14, 7:30 pm | Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank
Sunday, March 15, 2 pm | State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick
Ruth Reinhardt conductor
Eva Gevorgyan piano
New Jersey Symphony
Béla Bartók Romanian Folk Dances
Frédéric Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2
Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Tickets are available at njsymphony.org.
Eva Gevorgyan’s appearance is dedicated to the memory of Stanlee and Florence Kissel.
The March 12 Relaxed Performance is promoted in partnership with Alzheimer’s New Jersey and the New Jersey Association for Music Therapy.
Ruth Reinhardt
German conductor Ruth Reinhardt is building a reputation for her keen musical intelligence, programmatic imagination, and elegant performances.
The 2025–26 season marks the beginning of Reinhardt’s term as Music Director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, leading seven programs across the season. In the summer of 2025, she made debuts with the Seoul Philharmonic and the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. Other significant debuts in 2025–26 include the Staatskapelle Dresden, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bruckner Orchester Linz, SWR Symphonieorchester, the Folkwang Kammerorchester in Essen, the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen in Switzerland, and New Jersey Symphony. She also has return engagements with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, and the Orlando Philharmonic.
Programmatically, Reinhardt’s interests have led her toward contemporary repertoire, with significant emphasis on women composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her programs often introduce new names and fresh faces to many orchestras, including Grażyna Bacewicz, Kaija Saariaho, and Dai Fujikura, and pairs them with stylistically contrasting or complementary pieces, whether core masterworks by Brahms, Rachmaninoff, or Dvořák, or with “classic moderns” such as works by Bartók, Stravinsky, Lutosławski, Martinů, and Hindemith. Ruth is a frequent collaborator of many of today’s foremost instrumentalists spanning several generations. Among them are pianists Emanuel Ax, Daniil Trifonov, and Eva Gevorgyan; violinists Augustin Hadelich and Vadim Gluzman; cellists Andrei Ioniță and Jean-Guihen Queyras; horn player Stefan Dohr; and saxophonist Steven Banks.
In past seasons, Reinhardt has appeared with many of the major North American Orchestras and as recently as last season has made debuts with the St. Louis and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras. Previously, she has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra (on four occasions), National Symphony Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Detroit, Houston, Seattle, and Baltimore. In Europe, she has appeared with Hague Residentie Orkestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in Amsterdam, Orchestre National de France, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, RSO Berlin, Stockholm Philharmonic, and Tonkünstler Orchestra Wien.
Ruth Reinhardt served as Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony for the final two seasons of Jaap van Zweden’s tenure as Music Director (2018-2020). She received her master’s degree in Conducting from the Juilliard School of Music in New York in 2017. She was a Dudamel Fellow of the LA Phil (2017-2018), conducting fellow at both the Seattle Symphony (2015-2016) and Tanglewood Music Center (2015), and Taki Concordia associate conducting fellow (2015-2017). She currently makes her home in Switzerland.
Eva Gevorgyan
Yamaha Young Artist, Eva Gevorgyan, is a laureate in more than forty piano competitions, including top prizes at the 2018 Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists and the 2019 Van Cliburn Young Artist Competition. More recently she has won the Prix du Bern in Switzerland in 2023, Discovery Award at the 2019 International Classical Music Awards, the Great Prize at the Russian National Orchestra Competition in 2021, in addition to being finalist and winner of the Special Prize at the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland.
She has performed as soloist with the Dallas Symphony, Lucerne Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica de Bologna, Mariinsky Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Russia, Russian National Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov Academic State Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Leipzig Symphony, Mexico National Symphony, Armenia National Philharmonic, Gavle Symphony, Kristiansand Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Malta Philharmonic, and with the Novaya Opera Orchestra, where she debuted as a soloist/conductor performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Eva is also frequently invited to international festivals, such as Verbier, Festival Internacional Cervantino, White Nights Festival, Brescia and Bergamo Piano Festival, Bach Montreal Festival, and La Roque d’Antheron. In July 2024, Eva made her highly anticipated recital debut at Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
Eva’s 2025–26 season features an exciting array of debut and return appearances with leading orchestras and venues worldwide. She makes her debut with the Göttinger Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, and Auckland Symphony. She also returns to the Belgrade Symphony and Stuttgart Philharmonic. Her recital schedule includes performances in Bad Kissingen, Bielefeld, Münster, Oporto's Casa da Música, Berlin Konzerthaus, De Singel (Antwerp), Amare Master Pianist Series (The Hague), Fundación Scherzo (Madrid), and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Eva will perform with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at the Tonhalle Zürich and with the Armenian National Philharmonic at the Brescia and Bergamo Festival. She also joins the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for concerts at the Esterházy Palace and a tour across Italy. In the chamber music sphere, she will collaborate with Alexandra Conunova and the Timișoara Philharmonic, and will perform with Pablo Ferrández, Yamen Saadi, and Sara Ferrández in upcoming concerts at Barcelona’s L’Auditori and with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo.
Eva pursues studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory’s Central School of Music in Moscow with Natalia Trull and at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, under the guidance of Stanislav Ioudenitch. She has also been granted the prestigious scholarship at the 2020 Klavier-Festival Ruhr by Evgeny Kissin.
Her first CD on the Melodiya label, featuring works by Chopin and Scriabin, was released in 2022, and received great acclaim.
New Jersey Symphony
The New Jersey Symphony is a GRAMMY and Emmy Award-winning orchestra. Under the direction of the Music Director Xian Zhang, the Symphony performs more than 60 concerts at mainstage venues across the state, including Newark, Princeton, New Brunswick, Red Bank and Morristown as well as schools and public spaces statewide. Programming at the Symphony reflects an unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion while providing students across the state unparalleled opportunities to achieve musical excellence through its Youth Orchestra and other outreach programs. In 2024, the Symphony announced it would continue to deliver its statewide activities from a new, permanent office, rehearsal and concert space in Jersey City, set to open in January 2027.
For more information about the New Jersey Symphony, visit njsymphony.org or email information@njsymphony.org. Tickets are available for purchase by phone 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or on the Orchestra's website.
Press contact
Geoffrey Anderson, New Jersey Symphony, Vice President of Marketing & External Affairs
973.735.1713 | ganderson@njsymphony.org
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