New Jersey Symphony presents Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Concert
NEWARK, NJ—The New Jersey Symphony will present Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Concert brought to life by legendary composer John Williams’ GRAMMY®-nominated score performed live to the film. The concert will be led by conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos on Friday, May 29, at 7:30 pm, at Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank; Saturday, May 30, at 7:30 pm, at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark; and Sunday, May 31, at 2 pm, at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick.
Since the release of the first Star Wars movie almost 50 years ago, the Star Wars saga has had a seismic impact on both cinema and culture, inspiring audiences around the world with its mythic storytelling, captivating characters, groundbreaking special effects and iconic musical scores composed by Williams.
The Academy Award®-nominated film and its RIAA® gold-certified soundtrack feature twenty score cues composed by the legendary Oscar® and GRAMMY®-winning Williams and is performed to thrilling effect in a live concert experience.
The Resistance is in desperate need of help as its freedom fighters are relentlessly pursued by the First Order. Hoping to be trained in the ways of the Force, Rey travels to a remote planet to recruit the legendary Luke Skywalker to the Resistance. Meanwhile, the First Order seeks to destroy the remnants of the Resistance and rule the galaxy unopposed. In Lucas film’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks new mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Concert
Friday, May 29, 7:30 pm | Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank
Saturday, May 30, 7:30 pm | New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark
Sunday, May 31, 2 pm | State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick
Constantine Kitsopoulos conductor
New Jersey Symphony
Tickets are available at njsymphony.org.
Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox, LucasFilm Ltd., and Warner/Chappell Music.
© 2017 & TM LUCASFILM LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. © DISNEY RATED PG-13.
The May 31 performance is presented in collaboration with State Theatre New Jersey.
Constantine Kitsopoulos
Constantine Kitsopoulos has established himself as a dynamic conductor known for his ability to work in many different genres and settings. Equally at home with opera, symphonic repertoire, film with live orchestra, music theater, and composition, his engagements have led him to conduct worldwide, appearing with major orchestras in North America as well as the Hong Kong and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras.
The 2025–26 season includes Kitsopoulos’s return to the New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony, among others. In the past two seasons he has also returned to The Philadelphia Orchestra and Pacific, New Jersey, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco symphony orchestras, as well as the New York Philharmonic. Past highlights have also included appearances with the Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Phoenix, New Jersey, San Francisco, Houston, Toronto, and Vancouver symphony orchestras.
Kitsopoulos served as music director of the Festival of the Arts Boca (2010–23), general director of Chatham Opera (2005–15), and assistant chorus master at New York City Opera 1984–89). He has developed semi-staged productions of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (for which he has written a new translation) and Don Giovanni, and Puccini’s La bohème. He conducted Indiana University Opera Theater’s productions of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Bernstein’s MASS and Candide, Verdi’s Falstaff, J. Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, William Bolcolm’s A View from the Bridge, Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific and Oklahoma, Willson’s The Music Man, and Menotti’s The Last Savage.
On Broadway, Kitsopoulos has been music director of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (cast album on PS Classics), Harvey Fierstein and John Buccino’s A Catered Affair (cast album on PS Classics), Adrian Sutton’s music for Coram Boy, Baz Luhrmann’s production of La bohème (cast album on DreamWorks Records), Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les Misérables. He was music director of ACT’s production of Weill / Brecht’s Happy End and conducted its only English-language recording for Sh-K-Boom Records.
Constantine Kitsopoulos studied piano with Marienka Michna, Chandler Gregg, Edward Edson, and Sophia Rosoff. He studied conducting with Semyon Bychkov, Sergiu Commissiona, Gustav Meier, and his principal teacher, Vincent La Selva.
Disney Concerts
Disney Concerts is the concert production and licensing division of Disney Music Group, the music arm of The Walt Disney Company. Disney Concerts produces concerts and tours, and licenses Disney music and visual content to symphony orchestras, choruses, and presenters on a worldwide basis. Disney Concerts’ concert packages include a variety of formats, such as “live-to-picture” film concerts, and themed instrumental and vocal compilation concerts that range from instrumental-only symphonic performances to multimedia productions featuring live vocalists and choirs. Featuring concerts from the largest movie franchises in the world—from Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Pixar, and 20th Century Studios—current titles include the Star Wars Film Concert Series, Toy Story, Disney Princess: The Concert, Coco, The Lion King, Up, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and Infinity Saga Concert Experience.
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 55 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 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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The New Jersey Symphony's programs are made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, along with many other foundations, corporations and individual donors.
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