NJSO presents The Rite of Spring

2012–13 CLASSICAL SEASON FINALE FEATURES MUSIC FROM DEBUSSY’S   PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE  , WAGNER’S   TRISTAN UND ISOLDE  

NEWARK, NJ (May 2, 2013)—Music Director Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra present Stravinsky’s groundbreaking, riot-inducing   The Rite of Spring   on its 2012–13 classical season finale program, June 7–9 in Newark and Morristown. The NJSO opens the program with the Prelude and “Liebestod” from Wagner’s  Tristan und Isolde  as part of a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth; the program also features the concert suite from Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.  

Performances take place on Friday, June 7, (8 pm) and Sunday, June 9, (3 pm) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark and Saturday, June 8, (3 pm) at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown. A Classical Conversation about the music on the program begins one hour before the June 8 performance in Morristown.

“The premiere of Stravinsky’s   The Rite of Spring   is a crucial moment in the history of music,” Lacombe says. “It was a shock for the audience in the theater for the premiere [on May 29, 1913, at the Théâtre d es Champs-Élysées]. In their own ways, Wagner’s  Tristan und Isolde  and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande were also co  ntroversial works at the time they were premiered. [This program came together] with the idea of these key transition moments in history when composers proved that there were new ways to write music. 

“To perform The Rite of Spring so close to the 100th anniversary of its premiere and to again acknowledge the Wagner anniversary makes this program an exciting season finale.”

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