NJSO presents opening-weekend concerts with Sarah Chang | Sep 23–25

Fri, Sep 23, at NJPAC in Newark
Sat, Sep 24, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick
Sun, Sep 25, at NJPAC in Newark

• Teddy Abrams conducts program featuring music from Bernstein’s On the Town and Copland’s Rodeo
• Chang performs Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
• and Ravel’s Tzigane
• NJSO Accents include College Night, American poetry reading

NEWARK, NJ (August 17, 2016)—The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra welcomes virtuoso violinist Sarah Chang for the Orchestra’s 2016–17 season opening weekend, September 23–25 in Newark and New Brunswick. Chang performs a pair of showpieces by Piazzolla and Ravel on a program that also includes Bernstein’s On the Town: Three Dance Episodes and Copland’s Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes. Teddy Abrams, who has garnered critical attention as a conductor, composer and instrumentalist, makes his NJSO debut at the podium.

Performances take place on Friday, September 23, at 8 pm and Sunday, September 25, at 3 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and Saturday, September 24, at 8 pm at the State Theatre in New Brunswick.

Chang returns to the NJSO for the first time since her acclaimed two-week Winter Festival residency in 2015. The Star-Ledger has praised her “stunning,” “thoroughly impressive and entertaining” performances with the NJSO and hailed the violinist’s “characteristic athleticism and firepower” in her most recent New Jersey concerts. She solos in Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (these concerts mark the first time the NJSO will perform the work) and Ravel’s Tzigane.

NPR writes that Abrams, the music director of the Louisville Symphony, is “brimming with ideas.” Abrams has been the subject of a PBS documentary; The Wall Street Journal has called his energy “prodigious.”

NJSO Accent events include College Night in at the State Theatre on September 24 and a post-concert American poetry reading at NJPAC on September 25. At the September 25 event, which is inspired by the American musical icons Bernstein and Copland and presented in partnership with the Dodge Poetry Festival, poet Kurtis Lamkin will give a live poetry reading, with tap accompaniment by Maurice Chestnut.

 

COLLEGE NIGHT

The NJSO hosts its first College Night of the season on Saturday, September 24, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. A special $10 student ticket includes entrance to the Orchestra’s 8 pm performance and a post-concert all-student party.

The NJSO will provide free round-trip bus transportation to the concert from select New Jersey college campuses. Pick-up times and locations will be posted at www.njsymphony.org/college as buses become available.

 

TICKETS

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

College Night student tickets are $10 and include the concert and a post-concert party. Student tickets are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org/college (using promo code COLLEGENIGHT) or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO.

 

THE PROGRAM

Opening Weekend with Sarah Chang

Friday, September 23 at 8 pm | NJPAC in Newark
Saturday, September 24 at 8 pm | State Theatre in New Brunswick
Sunday, September 25 at 3 pm | NJPAC in Newark

Teddy Abrams, conductor
Sarah Chang, violin
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

BERNSTEIN                         On the Town: Three Dance Episodes
PIAZZOLLA                          The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
RAVEL                                   Tzigane
COPLAND                            Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes

Full concert information is available at www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/opening-weekend-with-sarah-chang.

 

NJSO ACCENTS

Inspired by the concerts and designed to inspire audiences, NJSO Accents are pre- or post-concert events that complement the concert experience and provide audience members with more opportunities to personally connect with the music and music makers.

College Night—Sat, Sep 24, after the concert

$10 tickets for college students include the concert and a post-concert party with refreshments and live entertainment. Bus transportation will be available from select universities. For more information, visit www.njsymphony.org/college.

 

American Poetry Reading—Sun, Sep 25, after the concert

Enjoy a live reading by poet Kurtis Lamkin, with tap accompaniment by Maurice Chestnut, inspired by American musical icons Bernstein and Copland. Presented in collaboration with the Dodge Poetry Festival, Oct 20–23.

NJSO Accents in Newark are generously sponsored by the Prudential Foundation.

 

THE ARTISTS

Teddy Abrams, conductor

An unusually versatile musician, Teddy Abrams is a widely acclaimed conductor, as well as an established pianist, clarinetist and composer. Music director of the Louisville Orchestra and music director and conductor of the Britt Classical Festival, he also serves as resident conductor of the MAV Symphony Orchestra in Budapest, which he first conducted in 2011.

A tireless advocate for the power of music, Abrams fosters interdisciplinary collaboration with organizations including the Louisville Ballet, Center for Interfaith Relations, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Speed Art Museum and Folger Shakespeare Library. His extensive community outreach continues to reach new audiences and bring classical music into diverse communities.

Abrams’ 2016–17 season includes debuts at the Kennedy Center and with the Colorado, North Carolina and New Jersey symphonies, as well as a return to the New World Symphony. Recent guest conducting highlights include engagements with the San Francisco, Houston, Vancouver, Phoenix and Jacksonville symphonies; Florida Orchestra and the Louisiana and New Mexico philharmonics.

Abrams graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree, having studied piano with Paul Hersh.

 

Sarah Chang, violin

Recognized as one of the foremost violinists of our time, Sarah Chang has performed with the most esteemed orchestras, conductors and accompanists in an international career spanning more than two decades. Since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 8, Chang has continued to impress audiences with her technical virtuosity and refined emotional depth.

In 2012, Chang received the Harvard University Leadership Award, and in 2005, Yale University dedicated a chair in Sprague Hall in her name. In 2004, she carried the Olympic Torch in New York for the Olympic Games, became the youngest person ever to receive the Hollywood Bowl’s Hall of Fame award and was awarded the Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana Prize in Sienna, Italy.

Other previous distinctions include the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year award, Germany’s “Echo” Schallplattenpreis, Newcomer of the Year honors at the International Classical Music Awards in London and Korea’s Nan Pa award. In 2011, Chang was named an official Artistic Ambassador by the United States Department of State.

 

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.

The NJSO welcomes new Music Director Xian Zhang in the 2016–17 season. 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 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). The NJSO’s REACH (Resources for Education and Community Harmony) chamber music program annually brings original programs—designed and performed by NJSO musicians—to a variety of settings. In the 2015–16 season, Orchestra musicians performed at nearly 200 events, reaching more than 34,000 people in nearly all of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

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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