NJPAC in Newark

The season opens with Jessie Montgomery’s tribute to the “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Her piece Banner draws on musical and historical sources to create a rhapsody that blends cultures through music.

The orchestral suite of Copland’s iconic ballet is quintessential Americana with both celebratory exuberance and somber undertones. The music depicts a newlywed couple’s mixed emotions around unity in rural Pennsylvania in the 20th century. Dancers from Nimbus Dance Company add dynamic original choreography to our Newark and Morristown performances. 
Due to space limitations, Nimbus Dance does not appear at the performance in Red Bank.

Sergei Rachmaninoff performed this thrilling concerto for the first time in 1909 in New York. Superstar pianist Yefim Bronfman will thrill audiences with his interpretation of one of the most challenging and virtuosic concertos in the repertoire.

Grammy Award-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov brings his technique, style, poetry and power to one of the most monumental piano concertos ever written. Brahms’ grand Second Piano Concerto has left audiences in awe ever since its premiere in 1881.

This swashbuckling tone poem would become the first masterpiece of famed composer Richard Strauss, who burst on the scene in 1889 at the age of 25. Full of adventure, longing, love, defiance and humor, it’s a work that will charm and thrill you, just like its namesake hero.

Strauss’ comedic opera was so popular following its 1911 Dresden premiere that “Rosenkavalier” trains were arranged for audiences to make the 90-mile trek from Berlin. Full of sumptuous melodies, beguiling waltzes and heartbreaking nostalgia, it’s no wonder that Strauss reworked some of the highlights into this glittering orchestral suite.

Arvo Pärt poured his emotions about the passing of composer Benjamin Britten into this evocative 1977 composition for strings and one lone chime.

With its elements of jazz and infusion of blues, William Grant Still’s most popular symphony remains relevant today. In 1930, it became the first symphony composed by an African American to be performed by a professional orchestra in the United States.

Filled with anguish and melancholy, Tchaikovsky’s symphony explores fate and how it shapes our lives. Former Music Director Neeme Järvi takes our audiences on a journey of power and reflection fueled by strings and brass.

Xian Zhang explores one of Mozart’s most gripping and dramatic symphonies, often recognized by audiences as the opening music for the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus.

Fittingly, the New Jersey Symphony has tapped leading New Jersey composer and frequent Symphony collaborator Steven Mackey to celebrate the centennial with a new commission featuring original texts by former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.

Mozart perfectly sets the scene to one of the most popular operas of all time with an overture highlighting all of the drama, deception and damnation that follows.

The glorious Te Deum was a high point for composer Anton Bruckner, who called this joyful choral work “the pride of my life.”

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.