AMERICA, INSPIRING: RESPIGHI & PROKOFIEV

XIAN ZHANG conductor
GEORGE LI piano
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Just as American concertgoers of another era cheered Prokofiev and Respighi, audiences are raining accolades on 22-year-old Chinese pianist George Li, silver medalist in the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition, and NJSO’s Xian Zhang.

• CHEN YI Ge Xu (NJSO Premiere)
  Dramatic and arresting; subtitled “Antiphony,” it sparks energy from the clash of modern and traditional styles.

• PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3
  Pianistic pyrotechnics, cutting wit and moments of tenderness; Prokofiev came to Chicago to premiere it.

• RESPIGHI Fountains of Rome (NJSO Premiere)
  A spirited, evocative portrait of the Eternal City; it depicts a quartet of fountains at dawn, morning, afternoon and sunset.

• RESPIGHI Pines of Rome
  Blooming and sumptuous, the closing piece Xian conducted on her first program with the NJSO in 2010; generations of moviegoers have enjoyed it as part of Disney’s Fantasia 2000.