Star-Ledger reviews College Night

The Star-Ledger’s Ronni Reich reviewed the NJSO’s College Night at NJPAC—$10 student tickets included the concert and an exclusive post-concert party featuring entertainment by student performers from various New Jersey colleges. Reich writes:

Before the show began on Friday at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, a musician named a few universities with students in the audience for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s first College Night.

The 150-or-so students screamed as their schools were named, and their enthusiasm was just as palpable as the concert ended with a sharp performance of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

Aimed at attracting young audiences — an elusive area for classical music — the event included $10 tickets and an after-party. Post-concert festivities included a red carpet and photo area fit for Instagrammers, as well as performance opportunities for musicians ranging from singer-songwriters to a cappella and clarinet ensembles.

“Tweet seats” were set aside during the show for audience members to follow program notes and share their reactions to the show via Twitter. To get the full effect of the offerings, I took one.

From an outreach perspective, the attendance and response validated the orchestra’s efforts — and encouraged more.

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The young guest conductor Eugene Tzigane [led] the NJSO with an engaging, theatrical and physically active style. He also brought galvanizing vigor, an exacting hand and nuanced ideas to the program’s main work ...

Tzigane culled a unified sound and attacks, cut-offs and articulations that had the clarity and impact of a whip cracking. Among the highlights were the lovely, airy way that the sound would fade away during “Tuileries,” and the contrasting cataclysmic drama of “Catacombs.”

The conductor also cultivated anticipation during the light, effervescent “Ballet of Unhatched Chicks” as he playfully bent and rose with the music. The “Great Gate of Kiev” movement closed out the work with appropriate grandeur.

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Young concertgoers who wanted to could find solidarity in each other’s Tweets, or room for discussion. “Tzigane is such an intense conductor, I love it,” one Tweeted. Another wrote that this was the greatest “Pictures” he had ever heard.

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The orchestra offers $10 student rush tickets and a $25 season pass for students that covers unlimited concert attendance. But, Tweet Seats or not, an event such as College Night provides a sense of occasion. It also makes the concert experience one where younger listeners can be with peers, and the addition of performance opportunities for music students and buses from local schools were great ideas.

The 150 student seats (out of the 2,800 in NJPAC’s Prudential Hall) may not seem like a huge number, but it’s an important start at addressing one of classical music’s most critical concerns.

Read the full review at nj.com.

The Star-Ledger’s Peggy McGlone previewed College Night before the event, writing:

A ticket to the [NJSO’s March 1 concert at NJPAC]. Ten bucks.

A post-concert party with live music, and busing to Newark and home again. Free.

A hundred or more college students at a classical music concert? Priceless.

Read the preview at nj.com.

Learn more about College Night at www.njsymphony.org/college.