New Jersey Symphony presents an evening with Brahms and Chopin
NEWARK, NJ—The New Jersey Symphony presents three performances of Brahms and Chopin with Christoph König conducting. The performances will take place Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 1:30 pm, at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark; Saturday, February 22, 2025, at 8 pm, at Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank; and Sunday, February 23, 2025, at 3 pm, at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick.
The program opens with Can You See? by the New Jersey Symphony’s new Resident Artistic Partner Allison Loggins-Hull. In 2021, Loggins-Hull was commissioned to write the piece for the New Jersey Symphony Chamber Players. This weekend’s performances mark the East Coast premiere of Hull’s expanded version for full orchestra.
The program continues with Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a favorite around the world. Tony Siqi Yun, the 23-year-old Canadian-born pianist who was the Gold Medalist at the First China International Music Competition (2019) and a recipient of the Rheingau Music Festival’s 2023 Lotto-Förderpreis, is set to appear in this part of the program as a soloist. Yun made his debut with the Symphony last year at the 2024 Lunar New Year Celebration Concert. The second half of the program features Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1. Following its premiere in 1876, Brahms’ First quickly garnered the nickname “Beethoven's Tenth,” particularly for the fourth movement’s simple hymn-like melody that reminded some listeners of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” To this day, it remains beloved by concertgoers for its emotional power.
A Classical Conversation will take place on Sunday, February 23, at 2 pm at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick before the performance. Concertgoers will be able to learn more about the music from Symphony musicians, guest artists, and other engaging insiders.
Brahms and Chopin
Thursday, February 20, 1:30 pm | New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark
Saturday, February 22, 8 pm | Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank
Sunday, February 23, 3 pm | State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick
Christoph König conductor
Tony Siqi Yun piano
New Jersey Symphony
Allison Loggins-Hull Can You See?
Frédéric Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1
Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1
More information on concerts and tickets: njsymphony.org/events
Christoph König
Christoph König began his tenure as chief conductor of the Spanish Radio Television Symphony Orchestra (RTVE) in Madrid with the 2023–24 season and has been music & artistic director of the Solistes Européens Luxembourg since 2010. Starting with the 2024–25 season he takes on the position of principal guest conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic. Celebrated for his clarity, precision, and elegant approach, König is in high demand as a guest conductor all over the world. Since his debut in the US in 2010, he has conducted many symphony orchestras like Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Houston, Oregon, and Toronto, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Past and future highlights include appearances with among others the Rochester Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Orchestre de Paris, the Netherlands Philharmonic, the Wiener Concertverein, the Bournemouth Symphony, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Beethoven Orchestera Bonn, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the New Zealand Symphony, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, whom he led on a highly successful tour of China in 2008.
From 2009 to 2014, he was principal conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, touring with them extensively in Europe and Brazil. From 2003 to 2006, he served as principal conductor of Malmö Symphony Orchestra as well as principal guest conductor of Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria.
König has been affiliated with many of the leading opera houses of the world such as Zurich Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bonn Oper, Semper Oper Dresden, Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Teatro Real in Madrid.
“König offered a fresh, sensitive, elegant, and totally unmannered interpretation. Beethoven's full textures were uncommonly well balanced.” Pittsburgh Tribune, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Symphony No. 6)
König was born in Dresden where he sang in the famous Kreuzchoir. He studied conducting, piano, and singing at the Musikhochschule Dresden and furthered his studies in masterclasses with Sergiu Celibidache and Sir Colin Davis, whose assistant he later became with the Sächsische Staatskapelle at the Semper Oper Dresden.
Tony Siqi Yun
The Canadian-born pianist Tony Siqi Yun, Gold Medalist at the First China International Music Competition (2019) and the award receipient of the Rheingau Music Festival’s Lotto-Förderpreis (2023), is quickly becoming a sought-after soloist and recitalist. At the age of 23, he has been hailed as a “poet of the keyboard” (Pianist Magazine), and The Philadelphia Inquirer noted his thrilling performance and “interpretive flashes that point to an emergent big personality: moments of grandness or deep expressivity.”
In 2024–25, he appears with the Nashville Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic orchestras, among others. He also returns to China this season, appearing with orchestras in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Major recital debuts this season are with Washington Performing Arts, San Francisco Symphony’s Shenson Spotlight Series, and Friends of Chamber Music Denver.
He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2023–24 under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin with Orchestre Metropolitain, following his 2022–23 debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Yun has appeared recently with the Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Hamilton (ON) Philharmonic, and Rhode Island Philharmonic; outside North America, he has recently appeared with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Previous recital appearances in North America include Stanford Live, La Jolla Music Society, Gilmore Rising Stars Series, 92nd Street Y in New York, and the Vancouver Recital Series; in Europe, he has given recitals at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, and Philharmonie Luxembourg.
Yun is a 2024 graduate of The Juilliard School, where he was a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship and studied with Professors Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio.
New Jersey Symphony
The New Jersey Symphony is a GRAMMY and Emmy Award-winning orchestra. Under the direction of the Music Director Xian Zhang, the Symphony performs more than 60 concerts at mainstage venues across the state, including Newark, Princeton, New Brunswick, Red Bank and Morristown as well as schools and public spaces statewide. Programming at the Symphony reflects an unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion while providing students across the state unparalleled opportunities to achieve musical excellence through its Youth Orchestra and other outreach programs. In 2024, the Symphony announced it would continue to deliver its statewide activities from a new, permanent office, rehearsal and concert space in Jersey City, set to open in 2026.
For more information about the New Jersey Symphony, visit 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
Local press contacts
Ali Harrison, New Jersey Symphony, Communications Manager
973.735.0969 | aharrison@njsymphony.org
Geoffrey Anderson, New Jersey Symphony, Vice President of Marketing & External Affairs
973.735.1713 | ganderson@njsymphony.org
National & international press contacts
Beverly Greenfield, Kirshbaum Associates, Director of Public Relations
bgreenfield@kirshbaumassociates.com
Shirley Kirshbaum, Kirshbaum Associates, President
917.331.1888 | skirshbaum@kirshbaumassociates.com
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The New Jersey Symphony'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.
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