NJSO announces 2016–17 season
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and next Music Director Xian Zhang announce the Orchestra’s programs for the 2016–17 concert season, Zhang’s first at the helm of the NJSO. Fulfilling its mission as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO brings subscription programs to venues in Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton, Morristown, Red Bank and Englewood, with 14 weeks of subscription classical programs, five pops weekends and three family concerts, as well as special concerts.
Zhang says: “The 2016–17 season—my first as music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra—is colorful and exciting, and I take great pride in it. The season features a lot of big orchestral works and powerful soloists. I think each program has to stand very strongly by itself; each piece of a concert must be strong, interesting and attractive to the audience.”
Season highlights include Zhang’s first concerts as NJSO Music Director, featuring a trio of Tchaikovsky scores: Symphony No. 5, Piano Concerto No. 1 and Polonaise from Eugene Onegin. The Orchestra celebrates the new music director’s arrival at a gala event at NJPAC in Newark on November 5, when Zhang conducts a program featuring Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 and Adagio from Piano Trio No. 40 and Strauss’ Suite from Der Rosenkavalier.
Press are anticipating Zhang’s first season with the NJSO. WQXR placed her arrival in New Jersey in the top two of its classical stories to watch in 2016. The New York Times calls Zhang “a fast-rising Chinese American star,” and The Bergen Record writes: “When Xian Zhang, newly appointed conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, takes up the baton for her four-year term in September, she will bring a résumé matched by few in her field. And a back story matched by no one.”
The Star-Ledger writes: “Her last performances with the orchestra in May drew raves, including from our own critic, who wrote that Zhang ‘infuses scores with vitality and detail.’” In its rave review of that appearance, the paper called Zhang “a thrilling leader who has already established a strong rapport with the orchestra. …What can [hold an audience] is the way that Zhang infuses scores with vitality and detail and the highly engaged playing of the NJSO.”