Daniil Trifonov and New Jersey Symphony in Brahms and Strauss
- Program features Richard Strauss’ Don Juan and Der Rosenkavalier Suite
- Both Strauss works scored for large orchestra
- Pianist Daniil Trifonov performs Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2
- Music Director Xian Zhang conducts
- January 6–8 in Princeton, Newark, Morristown
- njsymphony.org
NEWARK, NJ—Grammy Award-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov brings his technique, style, poetry and power to Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in January 6–8 concerts with the New Jersey Symphony, led by Music Director Xian Zhang. The program features two works by Richard Strauss scored for large orchestra: the swashbuckling tone poem Don Juan, written when Strauss was just 25, and the Suite from the composer’s 1911 opera Der Rosenkavalier, a sly take on the classic love triangle that ranges from poignant to raucously funny. Don Juan is based on Friedrich Lenau’s poetic drama depicting the hero as noble and dashing, not the villainous title character of da Ponte and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The Suite to Der Rosenkavalier is memorable for the unforgettable waltzes, stitched together with other music from the opera.
Performances take place January 6 at 8 pm at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, January 7 at 8 pm at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, and January 8 at 3 pm at Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown.
Tickets are available online at njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).
Daniil Trifonov has been described as “the most astounding pianist of our age” (The Times of London). He was Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year, won a Grammy Award in 2018 for his Transcendental recording featuring Liszt’s complete concert Études, and received Opus Klassik’s 2021 Instrumentalist of the Year/Piano award for Silver Age, a 2020 album of music by Scriabin, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. Last year he released Bach: The Art of Life, featuring The Art of Fugue with his own completion of the final contrapunctus, and toured a 2021–22 recital program centered on The Art of Fugue in Europe, and a second program in the U.S. of Prokofiev, Szymanowski, Debussy and Brahms. Trifonov received a 2021 Grammy nomination for his 2019 recording Destination Rachmaninov: Arrival. Trifonov was 2021–22 artist in residence at the New Jersey Symphony in the 2021–22 season, when his performances with the orchestra included Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto and a brand-new concerto written for him by Mason Bates.
All New Jersey Symphony performances follow safety measures in partnership with the venues and based on the guidance provided by the CDC and the State of New Jersey.
More information is available at njsymphony.org/trifonov
Daniil Trifonov Performs Brahms
Friday, January 6, 8 pm | Richardson Auditorium in Princeton
Saturday, January 7, 8 pm | New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark
Sunday, January 8, 3 pm | Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown
Xian Zhang conductor
Daniil Trifonov piano
New Jersey Symphony
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major
Strauss Don Juan, Op. 20
Strauss Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59
Classical Conversation
Friday, January 6, 7 pm and Saturday, January 7 at 7 pm
Before the performance, learn more about the music from New Jersey Symphony musicians, guest artists and other engaging insiders.
New Jersey Symphony
The Emmy and Grammy Award-winning New Jersey Symphony, celebrating its Centennial Season in 2022–23, is redefining what it means to be a nationally leading, relevant orchestra in the 21st century. We are renewing our deeply rooted commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by championing new, and often local, artists; engaging audiences for whom the inspiring depth and breadth of classical music will be new; and incorporating the broadest possible representation in all aspects of our organization—all to better reflect and serve our vibrant communities. Since 2021, Music Director Xian Zhang has worked together with composer, violinist, educator and social-justice advocate Daniel Bernard Roumain, the orchestra’s resident artistic catalyst, to offer programming that connects with diverse communities in Newark and throughout New Jersey.
Internationally renowned Chinese-American conductor Xian Zhang began her tenure as the New Jersey Symphony’s current Music Director in 2016. Since her arrival at the New Jersey Symphony, Zhang has revitalized programming with an industry-leading commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in mainstage concerts. The centennial season opened in October with concerts featuring Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with soloist Yefim Bronfman; Jessie Montgomery’s Banner; Nimbus Dance performing original choreography to Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite; Strauss’ Burleske for Piano and Orchestra with soloist Michelle Cann; Brahms’ Fourth Symphony; and Dorothy Chang’s Northern Star. The centennial season will conclude in June 2023 with Zhang leading the orchestra and violinist Joshua Bell in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and a commissioned world premiere by Daniel Bernard Roumain.
For more information about the New Jersey Symphony, 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.
Press Contacts
New Jersey Symphony / Local Press
Sarah Hornblower, New Jersey Symphony, Interim Director of Marketing & Communications
973.735.1715 | shornblower@njsymphony.org
Geoffrey Anderson, New Jersey Symphony, Vice President of Marketing & External Affairs
973.735.1713 | ganderson@njsymphony.org
Kirshbaum Associates / National & Classical Music Press
Beverly Greenfield, Kirshbaum Associates, Director of Public Relations
bgreenfield@kirshbaumassociates.com
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917.331.1888 | skirshbaum@kirshbaumassociates.com
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