NJSO presents works by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Kubian
- NJSO gives world premiere of Darryl Kubian commission, O for a Muse of Fire, in culmination of New Jersey Roots Project
- Serhiy Salov performs Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
- Music Director Jacques Lacombe conducts
- NJSO Accents include Russian poetry readings
Thu, Mar 19, at bergenPAC in Englewood
Fri, Mar 20, at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton
Sat, Mar 21, at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank
Sun, Mar 22, at State Theatre in New Brunswick
NEWARK, NJ (February 5, 2015)—The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe give the world premiere of Darryl Kubian’s O for a Muse of Fire on a program that also includes masterworks by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. The NJSO commissioned the work from Kubian—an accomplished composer and NJSO first violinist—as part of the New Jersey Roots Project. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Henry V—and echoing the NJSO’s Winter Festival celebration of the Bard through music—O for a Muse of Fire will feature vocalist Mary Fahl. Pianist Serhiy Salov returns to NJSO stages for Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; the program closes with Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, “Pathétique.”
Performances take place on Thursday, March 19, at 7:30 pm at bergenPAC in Englewood; Friday, March 20, at 8 pm at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton; Saturday, March 21, at 8 pm at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank and Sunday, March 22, at 3 pm at the State Theatre in New Brunswick.
The premiere of Kubian’s O for a Muse of Fire culminates the Orchestra’s critically lauded five-year New Jersey Roots Project, which has showcased works by composers whose time in the Garden State has significantly influenced their artistic identity. More than 80 patrons supported the commission through the NJSO’s Sound Investment program, a special fundraising initiative. Patrons who contributed to support the commission have enjoyed unique access to the composer, receiving insight into Kubian’s compositional process, from inspiration to orchestration.
“The New Jersey Roots Project truly comes full circle with this commission from Darryl Kubian,” Music Director Jacques Lacombe says. “For patrons to play a part in bringing this new work to life makes this world premiere an even greater celebration of the vibrant artistic culture of our state.”
O for a Muse of Fire takes its inspiration from Shakespeare, relating to the NJSO’s multi-year Winter Festival, “Sounds of Shakespeare.” Kubian says the work is a response to Henry V: “Musically, I felt I could represent the conscience of the king, as expressed through the play: that one person could have the power of life and death on a large scale. King Henry knows that going to war will result in loss of life, but he ultimately decides that the unity he seeks is worth the sacrifice.”
RUSSIAN POETRY READINGS
Complementing the Russian classics on the program, NJSO Accent events include Russian poetry readings following the March 19 performance in Englewood and March 22 performance in New Brunswick. Victoria Juharyan will read poems from the Gold and Silver Ages of Russian poetry in both Russian and English.
Born in Armenia, a graduate of Saint-Petersburg State University and Dartmouth College and currently a PhD candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University, Juharyan has an extensive background in and deep love for Russian literature. She has written extensively on literature and theater, was co-editor of The Journal of Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College and has organized and produced theatrical and film events. She has served as a teaching assistant in courses on Russian literature, theater, language and culture, as well as classes about Shakespeare and German intellectual history. In Russia, she worked as a radio correspondent for a major national radio station, Echo of Moscow, and as a news reporter for publications Petersburg Student and Saint-Petersburg State University Magazine; she also served as a research specialist, translator and public-relations manager.
The readings are free and open to all ticketholders, but advance reservations are requested. Patrons can register for the event when purchasing concert tickets online or by phone.
TICKETS
Tickets start at $20 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).
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.
Russian Poetry Reading—Mar 19 and Mar 22
A perfect complement to an evening of Russian musical classics is a reading of Russian poetry from the Gold and Silver Age. Feed your soul with post-concert readings, in Russian and English, of stirring poetry from the likes of Pushkin and Lermontov, Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva. Free and open to all ticketholders, but reservations are required. To reserve a space, call Patron Services at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or purchase online and select the “Poetry Reading Event” option after adding the concert to your shopping cart.
NJSO Food Drive—Mar 19, 21–22
The NJSO will collect non-perishable food items in the Orchestra’s annual food drive for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey at the performances in Englewood, Red Bank and New Brunswick. A list of acceptable food items and calendar of concert dates at which the NJSO will accept donations for the Community Food Bank are available at www.njsymphony.org/fooddrive.
Learn more at www.njsymphony.org/accents.
THE ARTISTS
Jacques Lacombe, conductor
A remarkable conductor whose artistic integrity and rapport with orchestras have propelled him to international stature, Jacques Lacombe has been Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières since 2006. He was previously Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Music Director of orchestra and opera with the Philharmonie de Lorraine.
Lacombe has garnered critical praise for his creative programming and bold leadership of the NJSO. Time Out New York has named Orchestra’s acclaimed Winter Festivals “an eagerly anticipated annual event” for the innovative concert experiences that have included a realization of Scriabin’s “color organ,” collaborations with theater and dance troupes and presentations of Tan Dun concertos in which clay pots and water become solo instruments. The New York Times wrote that “It was an honor to be in the hall” for Lacombe and the NJSO’s performance of Busoni’s Piano Concerto at the 2012 Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall.
Recently, Lacombe helmed a pair of unique initiatives through the New Jersey Roots Project: the NJSO launched the inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute for young composers—a week of intense compositional evaluations and consultations that culminated in a live performance of the participants’ works—and gave the world premiere of Cone’s Symphony in a special lecture-concert. Other 2014–15 NJSO highlights include the “Sounds of Shakespeare” Winter Festival, featuring collaborations with violinist Sarah Chang and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
In July, Lacombe made his Tanglewood Music Festival debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; this season, he returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin for productions of Carmen, The Damnation of Faust and Samson and Delilah; L’Opera de Monte Carlo for Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Vancouver Opera for Carmen.
He has appeared with the Cincinnati, Columbus, Québec, Toronto, Vancouver and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras and National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa. He frequently conducts in France, Spain and Australia and has led tours and recordings with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
Opera highlights include all-star productions of La Bohème and Tosca at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and numerous productions with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Metropolitan Opera, as well as engagements at opera houses in Marseille, Strasbourg, Turin and Munich. He has recorded for the CPO and Analekta labels; with the NJSO, he has recorded Orff’s Carmina Burana and Janáček’s Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen and released a new recording of Verdi’s Requiem. His performances have been broadcast on PBS, the CBC, Mezzo TV and Arte TV, among others.
Born in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Québec, Lacombe attended the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal and Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. He was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec in 2012 and a Member of the Order of Canada in 2013—among the highest civilian honors in the country.
Darryl Kubian, composer
Darryl Thomas Kubian is a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s first violin section and former principal second violin of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. Kubian has been a featured soloist with the NJSO on the theremin, performing the “Cantelina” from Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5. He has performed jazz violin with trumpeter Randy Brecker in a Charlie Parker program entitled “Bird Lives!” and has arranged and performed Ellington’s “Sacred Songs” in collaboration with the Jazz Studies Program at Rutgers University. Kubian’s improvisational skills have been highlighted with artists such as Nigel Kennedy, Al Jarreau, Bobby Short and Renée Fleming. In addition to his solo and chamber ensemble performances using modern, electric and period instruments, Kubian has performed in Broadway musicals including The King and I, Show Boat, Crazy for You and Tommy. He has recorded with such noted artists as Trevor Pinnock, Malcolm Bilson, Meredith Monk, Bruno Weil, Zdenek Macal and Phillip Glass.
Kubian is an accomplished composer; during the 2007–08 season, the NJSO gave the premiere of Kubian’s 3-2-1 Concerto for Electric and Acoustic Violin and Orchestra—an NJSO commission dedicated to then-Music Director Neeme Järvi and NJSO Concertmaster (and soloist) Eric Wyrick. Following its critically acclaimed premiere, Scientific American featured 3-2-1 in its “60-Second Science” blog, describing the work as a “beautiful example of what happens when artists are inspired by scientific discoveries.”
Kubian’s “The Maestro Waltz,” a special 70th-birthday piece for Järvi, was the featured encore during a number of 2006 NJSO concerts; it was mentioned in Järvi’s biography, The Maestro’s Touch. The New Sussex Symphony commissioned Kubian’s overture Occam’s Razor, premiering the work in May 2009; the Omaha Symphony performed the piece in March 2012.
Kubian’s music-production company, Xtreme Medium, is involved with many diverse projects, including the score for “Living with Predators” for the Wildlife Conservation Society at The Bronx Zoo. Other past projects include music for Pangolin Pictures, NHK, CBS, The Learning Channel, Discovery Health and The Travel Channel.
Mary Fahl, vocalist
Mary Fahl first achieved fame as lead singer and co-founder of the mid-1990s New York City-based chamber-pop group October Project. The hallmark of their sound was Fahl’s power vocals over gorgeous melodies played with passion and sophistication.
After the band disbanded, Fahl came to the attention of Peter Gelb, the current head of the Metropolitan Opera. After one audition, he signed her to a deal with Sony Classical where she released her orchestral album “The Other Side of Time.” Other recordings include a re-working of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” for V2 Records, “Love and Gravity” on Rimar Records and “Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House,” which was recorded at one of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters and filmed for PBS where it is currently airing around the country.
Fahl has appeared Off-Broadway in the 59E59 Theater’s production of Murder Mystery Blues, a musical based on the short stories of Woody Allen. She also has written and performed songs for several major motion pictures, including the lead song (“Going Home”) for the Civil War epic Gods and Generals. Learn more at www.maryfahl.com.
Serhiy Salov, piano
Born into the exceptional pianistic tradition of the Ukraine, Serhiy Salov also draws on substantial periods of study in both composition and musicology. His recital programs extend from Johann Sebastian Bach through the Classical, Romantic and early Modernist composers to György Ligeti. He also dedicates himself to contemporary pieces.
His concerto repertoire ranges from the great works of the 19th and 20th centuries to lesser-known Soviet composers. Salov also has transcribed large-scale works for solo piano, including Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Petrushka, “Fêtes” from Debussy’s Nocturnes and a version of Poulenc’s D Minor Concerto for two pianos and orchestra.
His competition achievements include the Montreal International Musical Competition (2004) and second prizes at the Gina Bachauer Competition (2010) as well as the Cincinnati World Piano Competition (2012). In May 2014, Salov won the Richard Lupien Improvisation Prize.
In the current season, Salov will make his debut with Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, Artur Rubinstein Philharmonie Lódz and Philharmonia Orchestra.
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.
Under the bold leadership of Music Director Jacques Lacombe, the NJSO 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 and multiple offerings—including the three-ensemble NJSO Youth Orchestras and El Sistema-inspired NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project)—that provide and promote in-school instrumental instruction as part of the NJSO Academy. 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, reaching as many as 17,000 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. United is the official airline of the NJSO.
PRESS CONTACT
National & NYC Press Representative:
Dan Dutcher, Dan Dutcher Public Relations | 917.566.8413 | dan@dandutcherpr.com
Regional Press Representative:
Victoria McCabe, NJSO Communications and External Affairs | 973.735.1715 | vmccabe@njsymphony.org
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RACHMANINOFF & TCHAIKOVSKY
2014–15 Season
JACQUES LACOMBE conductor
SERHIY SALOV piano
MARY FAHL vocalist
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
KUBIAN O for a Muse of Fire (World Premiere)
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”