NJSO presents Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

Thu, Nov 2, at NJPAC in Newark
Fri, Nov 3, at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton
Sat, Nov 4, at NJPAC in Newark
Sun, Nov 5, at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick

• Music Director Xian Zhang conducts
• Rising star Conrad Tao performs Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto
• NJSO Accents include College Night, Classical Conversations, singalong

NEWARK, NJ—The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Xian Zhang present Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, November 2–5 in Newark, Princeton and New Brunswick. Conrad Tao, a 22-year-old rising star The Philadelphia Inquirer calls “a stunning soloist,” joins the Orchestra for Bartók’s energizing Third Piano Concerto. The program opens with Beethoven’s Overture to Coriolan.

Performances take place on Thursday, November 2, at 1:30 pm and Saturday, November 4, at 8 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark; Friday, November 3, at 8 pm at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton; and Sunday, November 5, at 3 pm at the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick.

November 4 is College Night; $10 tickets for college students include the concert and a post-concert party with live entertainment. More information on College Night is available at www.njsymphony.org/college.

NJSO Accent events also include a singalong one hour before the November 2 performance and Classical Conversations one hour before the November 3 and November 5 performances.

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

 

CONCERT PROGRAM

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

Thu, Nov 2, at 1:30 pm | NJPAC in Newark
Fri, Nov 3, at 8 pm | Richardson Auditorium in Princeton
Sat, Nov 4, at 8 pm | NJPAC in Newark
Sun, Nov 5, at 3 pm | State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick

Xian Zhang, conductor
Conrad Tao, piano
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

BEETHOVEN Overture to Coriolan
BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 3
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5

Learn more at www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/beethovens-fifth-symphony.

Bank of America is concert sponsor of the November 5 performance.

 

NJSO ACCENTS

Singalong Fun—Thu, Nov 2, one hour before the concert
Come early and sing along to an entertaining selection of song favorites.

Classical Conversation—Fri, Nov 3, at 7 pm and Sun, Nov 5, at 2 pm
Enjoy a lively Classical Conversation before the performance. Learn more about the music from NJSO musicians, guest artists and other engaging insiders.

College Night—Sat, Nov 4, after the concert
$10 tickets for college students include the concert and a post-concert party with refreshments and live entertainment. More info.

 

THE ARTISTS

Xian Zhang, conductor

In an acclaimed first season as Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Xian Zhang “clearly made her mark,” NJ Advance Media writes. “Now it’s time to see how high [the Orchestra] can soar.” Zhang continues her tenure in 2017–18 with performances of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Mahler’s First Symphony and Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, among others.

In September 2016, Zhang assumed the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales, becoming the first female conductor to hold a titled role with a BBC orchestra; the season culminated in a televised BBC Proms performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, anticipating the start of a two-year project devoted to the composer’s complete symphonies. Her 2017–18 BBC NOW season includes a concert tour of Wales. Zhang is also Conductor Emeritus of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, following completion of her tenure as Music Director from 2009–16.

Forthcoming engagements include returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orquesta Nacional de España and Savonlinna Opera Festival, as well as debuts with the San Francisco Symphony and NAC Orchestra, Ottawa. Zhang is a regular conductor of the London Symphony and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras; recent highlights include her debut with The Cleveland Orchestra and a gala concert with Renée Fleming and the China NCPA Orchestra.

Born in Dandong, China, Zhang made her professional debut conducting The Marriage of Figaro at the Central Opera House in Beijing at the age of 20. She trained at Beijing’s Central Conservatory, earning both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and serving one year on its conducting faculty before moving to the United States in 1998. She was appointed the New York Philharmonic’s Assistant Conductor in 2002, then became its Associate Conductor and first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair.

 

Conrad Tao, piano

Conrad Tao has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer, performing to universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike. His accolades and awards include being a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a YoungArts gold medal winner in music, a Gilmore Young Artist and an Avery Fisher Career Grant-winner.

Tao’s career as composer has garnered eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards and the Carlos Surinach Prize from BMI. In the 2013–14 season, while serving as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s artist-inresidence, Tao premiered his orchestral composition, The world is very different now, commissioned in observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In September 2015, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia premiered his piano concerto An Adjustment, with Tao at the piano.

Tao’s 2017–18 season includes his Lincoln Center debut with a solo recital including a work by American composer Jason Eckhardt, and he performs the West Coast premieres of works by Rene Orth and Anna Clyne with the Berkeley Symphony and Joan Towers’ “Chamber Dance” with Santa Fe Pro Musica.

In addition to performing with orchestras around the United States and abroad, Tao also performs in his own recital and has his solo violin commission premiered by Paul Huang at Washington Performing Arts Society. He opens ProMusica Chamber Orchestra’s season with a commission and world premiere performance in Ohio.

Tao is a Warner Classics recording artist; his first two albums, Voyages and Pictures, have been praised by NPR, The New York Times, The New Yorker’s Alex Ross and many more. More information is available at www.conradtao.com.

 

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 the 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 performances, NJSO Youth Orchestras family of student ensembles 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’s REACH (Resources for Education and Community Harmony) 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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