NJSO performs works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn | Apr 20–22

Fri, Apr 20, at NJPAC in Newark

Sat, Apr 21, at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick

Sun, Apr 22, at NJPAC in Newark

• Baroque specialist Nicholas McGegan conducts program that features Suite No. 2 from Handel’s Water Music and Mendelssohn’s ‘Reformation’ Symphony
• Robert Levin performs Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto and his own audience-inspired improvisations
• NJSO Accents include #OrchestraYou pro-am experience, Classical Conversations, Riffs, El Sistema NJ Alliance showcase

NEWARK, NJ—The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Handel, April 20–22 in Newark and New Brunswick. British conductor and Baroque specialist Nicholas McGegan leads Suite No. 2 in D Major from Handel’s Water Music, Mendelssohn’s Fifth (“Reformation”) Symphony and Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. Pianist Robert Levin joins the Orchestra for Beethoven’s concerto; he also performs his own improvisations created from themes submitted by audience members.

Performances take place on Friday, April 20, at 8 pm and Sunday, April 22, at 3 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark; and Saturday, April 21, at 8 pm at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick.

Celebrating the power of music education, the April 22 concert opens with a special showcase performance by student musicians from NJSO CHAMPS and fellow El Sistema New Jersey Alliance programs.

On April 20, the NJSO’s celebrated pro-am experience #OrchestraYou brings amateur instrumentalists and Orchestra musicians together for a fun post-concert session. Participants will rehearse and perform the “Main Title” from John Williams’ epic score to Star Wars: A New Hope. #OrchestraYou is free to the evening’s concertgoers; there are no auditions, but registration is required by April 13. More information and downloadable instrumental parts are available at www.njsymphony.org/orchestrayou.

NJSO Accent events also include Riffs with NJSO violinist JoAnna Farrer, who performs Irish fiddle after the April 22 concert. Classical Conversations begin one hour before the April 20 and 21 performances.

Concert tickets start at $20 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).

 

THE PROGRAM

McGegan Conducts Beethoven & Mendelssohn

Fri, Apr 20, at 8 pm | NJPAC in Newark
Sat, Apr 21, at 8 pm | State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick
Sun, Apr 22, at 3 pm | NJPAC in Newark

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Robert Levin, piano
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

HANDEL Suite No. 2 in D Major from Water Music
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1
LEVIN Improvisations
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 5, “Reformation”

 

NJSO ACCENTS:

Classical Conversation—Fri, Apr 20, at 7 pm and Sat, Apr 21, at 7 pm
Enjoy a lively Classical Conversation beginning one hour before the performance. Learn more about the music from NJSO musicians, guest artists and other engaging insiders.

#OrchestraYou—Fri, Apr 20, after the concert
Find your flute, tune up your trombone or dust off your double bass and join forces with NJSO musicians in the Fifth annual edition of this NJSO classic. Advance registration required by Apr 13. More info and registration.

Riffs—Sun, Apr 22, after the concert
You know JoAnna Farrer as a gifted NJSO violinst. Now meet her alter ego—Irish fiddler!

Full concert information is available at www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/mcgegan-conducts-beethoven-mendelssohn.

 

THE ARTISTS

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Recognized for his probing and revelatory explorations of music of all periods, Nicholas McGegan is in his 32nd year as music director of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale in San Francisco. He is also principal guest conductor of the Pasadena Symphony.

Best known as a baroque and classical specialist, McGegan has appeared with many of the world’s major orchestras. He was artistic director and conductor at the Göttingen Handel Festival for 20 years (1991–2001) and principal guest conductor at Scottish Opera in the 1990s. McGegan’s prolific discography includes more than 100 releases spanning five decades.

Born in England, McGegan was educated at Cambridge and Oxford. He is an honorary professor at the Georg-August University in Göttingen and received an honorary Doctorate of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 2010, he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to music overseas.” In 2016, he was the Christoph Wolff Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Harvard and is a frequent visitor to Yale.

 

Robert Levin, piano

Pianist Robert Levin has been heard in recital, as soloist and in chamber concerts throughout the US, Europe, Australia and Asia. His solo engagements include the orchestras of Atlanta, BBC, Berlin, Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, La Scala, Los Angeles, Montreal, Philadelphia, Toronto, Utah and Vienna. After more than a quarter century as an artist faculty member at the Sarasota Music Festival, he succeeded Paul Wolfe as artistic director in 2007.

Levin is renowned for his restoration of the Classical period practice of improvised embellishments and cadenzas; his Mozart and Beethoven performances have been hailed for their active mastery of the Classical musical language. In addition to his performing career, Levin is a noted theorist and Mozart scholar.

Levin studied piano with Louis Martin and composition with Stefan Wolpe in New York. He worked with Nadia Boulanger in Fontainebleau and Paris while still in high school; later he attended Harvard. President of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, he teaches at Harvard University and The Juilliard School.

 

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.

Music Director Xian Zhang—a “dynamic podium presence” The New York Times has praised for her “technical abilities, musicianship and maturity”—continues her acclaimed leadership of the NJSO. The Orchestra 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 State Theatre New Jersey 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; NJSO Youth Orchestras family of student ensembles, currently led by José Luis Domínguez; and El Sistema-inspired NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project). NJSO musicians annually perform original chamber music programs at community events in a variety of settings statewide through the NJSO Community Partners Program.

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

Victoria McCabe, NJSO Senior Manager of Public Relations & Communications | 973.735.1715 | vmccabe@njsymphony.org

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