Bank of America sponsors Jacques Lacombe’s final concerts as Music Director in each NJSO venue statewide

• January Winter Festival concerts mark Lacombe’s final appearances in Morristown, New Brunswick and Princeton
• NJSO and Lacombe close season in June with farewell concerts
• in Englewood, Newark and Red Bank

NEWARK, NJ (January 7, 2016)—Bank of America will sponsor Jacques Lacombe’s final appearances as New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Music Director in each of the Orchestra’s six venues statewide. The bank sponsors a trio of concerts during the NJSO’s “Sounds of Shakespeare” Winter Festival this month when Lacombe last conducts in Morristown, New Brunswick and Princeton. The NJSO’s 2015–16 season finale program in June marks Lacombe’s final concerts as music director in Englewood, Newark and Red Bank.

NJSO Board of Trustees Co-Chairs Ruth C. Lipper and Stephen Sichak Jr. say: “Bank of America’s generosity in sponsoring Jacques’ final concerts in each of our six venues is a true celebration of the indelible mark Jacques has made in his time as the NJSO’s music director in communities across the state. His celebration of the state’s cultural heritage through the New Jersey Roots Project and partnerships with other cultural organizations has led to truly inspiring and creative collaborations on stage. We are grateful to Bank of America for recognizing Jacques’ extraordinary leadership.”

“Throughout the last six years, Jacques Lacombe’s leadership of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, including his young composer programs that promote new music and emerging musicians, has brought together residents and visitors alike for inspiring performances that have connected individuals for shared experiences like no other,” said Bob Doherty, New Jersey president of Bank of America. “By supporting Lacombe’s finale concerts, and organizations such as the NJSO, we’re able to celebrate what makes New Jersey a unique cultural destination while also contributing to its thriving local economy.”

Since becoming the NJSO’s Music Director in 2010, Lacombe has garnered praise from critics and audiences for his programming and talents on the podium. Inside Jersey included Lacombe in “The 100+ Club” of the most influential people in New Jersey, writing: “As music director of the NJSO since 2010, Jacques Lacombe has led the orchestra on one fruitful adventure after another. Honored by Carnegie Hall for adventurous programming, he and the orchestra achieved a stunning success at the Spring For Music festival in 2012—their first appearance at the venue in six years. Lacombe has also initiated the New Jersey Roots Project, showcasing composers with local ties, including jazz artist Geri Allen; excelled in challenging and contemporary music and celebrated the classical masterworks.”

Lacombe’s final appearances in each venue are:

• Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown: Sun, Jan 24, at 3 pm
  Winter Festival: Symphonie fantastique
• Richardson Auditorium in Princeton: Fri, Jan 29, at 8 pm
  Winter Festival: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• State Theatre in New Brunswick: Sun, Jan 31, at 3 pm
  Winter Festival: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• bergenPAC in Englewood: Thu, June 9, at 7:30 pm
  Lacombe Conducts Rachmaninoff & Ravel
• Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank: Sat, June 11, at 8 pm
  Lacombe Conducts Rachmaninoff & Ravel
• NJPAC in Newark: Sun, June 12, at 3 pm
  Lacombe Conducts Rachmaninoff & Ravel

Last season, Bank of America sponsored violin superstar Sarah Chang’s multidimensional two-week Winter Festival residency—the first of its kind for the NJSO.

 

TICKETS

Tickets for these farewell concerts start at $20 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).

 

MUSIC DIRECTOR JACQUES LACOMBE

A remarkable conductor whose artistic integrity and rapport with orchestras have propelled him to international stature, Jacques Lacombe has been Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and of the Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières since 2006. After his finale season with the NJSO, he takes up the post of Chief Conductor of the Bonn Opera in Germany. He was previously Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Music Director of orchestra and opera with the Philharmonie de Lorraine.

Lacombe has garnered critical praise for his creative programming and leadership of the NJSO. Time Out New York has named the Orchestra’s acclaimed Winter Festivals “an eagerly anticipated annual event” for their innovative content. The New York Times wrote, “It was an honor to be in the hall” for Lacombe’s NJSO performance of Busoni’s Piano Concerto with Marc-André Hamelin at the 2012 Spring For Music Festival at Carnegie Hall.

Lacombe began the 2015–16 season with the opening of the 75th season of the Tanglewood Music Festival in an All-American concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In addition to NJSO engagements, this season, Lacombe leads Werther with Juan Diego Florez, Joyce Di Donato and the Orchestre National de France; as well as introductory performances in Taiwan and Peru and his debut in Bonn with von Reznicek’s Holofernes.

Last season, Lacombe launched the NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute for young composers, which grew out of the New Jersey Roots Project he introduced in his first season with the Orchestra. Recent NJSO highlights include the “Sounds of Shakespeare” Winter Festival, featuring both violinist Sarah Chang and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; the theater company returns for the festival this January.

Lacombe appears regularly with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at L’Opera de Monte Carlo. He has conducted several productions at the Metropolitan Opera and Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, as well as with opera companies in Vancouver, Turin, Marseille, Munich and Philadelphia.

He has appeared with the Cincinnati, Columbus, Québec, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras. This season, he returns to orchestras in Nice and Mulhouse, France, and debuts with orchestras in San Antonio, Omaha and Nancy, France.

Lacombe has recorded for the CPO and Analekta labels; he has recorded Verdi’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Janáček’s Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen with the NJSO. His performances have been broadcast on PBS, the CBC, Mezzo TV and Arte TV, among others.

Born in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Québec, Lacombe attended the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal and Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. He was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec in 2012 and a Member of the Order of Canada in 2013—among the highest civilian honors in the country.

 

BANK OF AMERICA

Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 47 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 4,700 retail financial centers, approximately 16,100 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 32 million active users and more than 18 million mobile users. Bank of America is among the world’s leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

 

NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Named “a vital, artistically significant musical organization” by The Wall Street Journal, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra embodies that vitality through its statewide presence and critically acclaimed performances, education partnerships and unparalleled access to music and the Orchestra’s superb musicians.

Under the bold leadership of Music Director Jacques Lacombe, the NJSO presents classical, pops and family programs, as well as outdoor summer concerts and special events. Embracing its legacy as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and regularly performs at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and bergenPAC in Englewood. Partnerships with New Jersey arts organizations, universities and civic organizations remain a key element of the Orchestra’s statewide identity.

In addition to its lauded artistic programming, the NJSO presents a suite of education and community engagement programs that promote meaningful, lifelong engagement with live music. Programs include school-time Concerts for Young People performances and multiple offerings—including the NJSO Youth Orchestras family of student ensembles and El Sistema-inspired NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project)—that provide and promote instrumental instruction as part of the NJSO Academy. The NJSO’s REACH (Resources for Education and Community Harmony) chamber music program annually brings original programs—designed and performed by NJSO musicians—to a variety of settings, reaching as many as 17,000 people in nearly all of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

For more information about the NJSO, visit www.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.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’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.

 

PRESS CONTACT

National & NYC Press Representative:

Dan Dutcher, Dan Dutcher Public Relations | 917.566.8413 | dan@dandutcherpr.com

Regional Press Representative:

Victoria McCabe, NJSO Communications and External Affairs | 973.735.1715 | vmccabe@njsymphony.org

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