Q2 music to broadcast NJSO concerts Apr 21 and 28
NJSO programs feature world premieres by Edward T. Cone and the four composers of the inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, recorded in July 2014
Jacques Lacombe conducts, Steven Mackey hosts each performance
April 21: World premiere of Edward T. Cone’s Symphony
April 28: World premieres of inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute
NEWARK, NJ (April 14, 2015)—WQXR’s online new-music station Q2 Music will broadcast two New Jersey Symphony Orchestra concert programs at www.q2music.org this month. The performances—recorded in July 2014 at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton—feature the world premieres of Edward T. Cone’s Symphony and works by the four composers of the inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute.
The station will air the NJSO’s special concert/lecture premiere performance of Cone’s Symphony on Tuesday, April 21, at 8 pm. It will then air the Orchestra’s “World-Premiere Saturday” program featuring music by inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute composers on Tuesday, April 28, at 8 pm. Each broadcast will become available for on-demand listening in the archives at www.q2music.org.
Distinguished composer, Princeton University Department of Music Chair and NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute Director Steven Mackey says: “We are proud to present an in-depth look at Edward T. Cone, an important Princeton University professor and composer whose influence continues to resonate with New Jersey composers. The April 21 broadcast captures our discussion and premiere of Cone’s symphony, which is perhaps his finest work.
“The composers of the inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute have tremendous careers on the horizon, and we are excited to share their work with Q2 Music’s vast listenership on April 28—I have confidence that this will be the first of many times listeners will hear from these talented artists.”
“Working with a major American orchestra is a singular and pivotal opportunity in any emerging composer’s career,” says Alex Ambrose, Q2 Music producer. “For Q2 Music to amplify the admirable educational work the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is doing through its inaugural Cone Composition Institute and to bring the resultant music, and that of Cone himself, to a large digital audience strikes at the core of what we, as a new-music station, aspire to do.”
April 21 broadcast: World premiere of Edward T. Cone’s Symphony
Distinguished composer, Princeton University Department of Music Chair and NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute Director Steven Mackey joined NJSO Music Director Jacques Lacombe for a discussion about Edward T. Cone’s legacy as part of the world premiere of Cone’s Symphony on July 18, 2014.
Cone has been a connective element through the five seasons of the Orchestra’s critically lauded New Jersey Roots Project, which celebrates composers born in New Jersey or influenced by their time spent in the Garden State. Through the project, the NJSO has presented not only Cone’s music but also the work of composers whose artistic identity was influenced by the late Princeton University professor.
Additional concert information is available here.
April 28 broadcast: World premieres of inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Institute composers
The NJSO’s “World-Premiere Saturday” program featured new music from the four composers of the inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute. Lacombe and the Orchestra performed Lembit Beecher’s Kalevipoeg in California, David Biedenbender’s Strange, Beautiful Noises, Daniel J. Choi’s Scaena Ager and Chris Rogerson’s Night and the City on July 19, 2014.
The world-premiere concert was the culmination of the intensive five-day Institute—a multi-faceted program that promotes new music and emerging composers. The participants were selected from an international applicant pool of university composition students and composers in the early stages of their professional careers. During a visit to Q2 Music’s studios, the composers participated in interviews that will air during the concert broadcast, in addition to comments by Institute director Steven Mackey.
Additional concert information is available here.
EDWARD T. CONE
Edward T. Cone (1917–2004) was a distinguished professor of music history, theory and composition at Princeton University from 1946 to 1985. He was best known for his writings on music theory, but he also remained active as a concert pianist and as a composer. His musical compositions include a symphony and music for piano, voice, chorus, orchestra and chamber ensembles.
He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Princeton, studying composition with Roger Sessions, and held a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at the university. He wrote several books and, in the 1960s, served as co-editor of the journal Perspectives of New Music. As a musicologist, he conducted important interviews with living composers, as well as publishing articles on Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Berlioz and Brahms.
Cone was an Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large for Cornell University from 1979 until 1983. He garnered awards and distinctions including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Old Dominion Fellowship at Princeton, ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award and honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Princeton.
A North Carolina native, Cone made New Jersey his home for more than 60 years and was central to the Garden State’s musical and intellectual life.
THE COMPOSERS OF THE INAUGURAL NJSO EDWARD T. CONE COMPOSITION INSTITUTE
Lembit Beecher—praised by The San Francisco Chronicle for his “hauntingly lovely and deeply personal” music and by The New York Times for his “alluring, emotive” work—has completed a three-year appointment as the first composer-in-residence of Opera Philadelphia in collaboration with Gotham Chamber Opera and Music Theatre Group of New York.
David Biedenbender has garnered two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards and has collaborated with diverse ensembles including Alarm Will Sound, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Stenhammar String Quartet, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, United States Navy Band, Philharmonie Baden-Baden and Boston New Music Initiative.
Daniel J. Choi, who completed bachelor’s degrees in music composition and economics at the University of Miami, has heard his music read by the Cleveland Orchestra in three yearly workshop residencies; his music has also been performed by the Pulse Chamber Ensemble, Borup-Ernst Duo and members of the soundSCAPE festival, a contemporary new-music festival in the Italian Alps.
Chris Rogerson has received praise from The Washington Post for his “confident, fully-grown composing talent” and from The New York Times for his music’s “virtuosic exuberance” and “haunting beauty.” Rogerson has received commissions and performances from the Kansas City, New World and Grand Rapids symphonies; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; Chicago Sinfonietta; Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and Brentano Quartet.
Video interviews with each composer are available here.
A collaboration between the NJSO and the Princeton University Department of Music, the NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute is generously funded in part by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. The National Endowment for the Arts will provide partial funding for the 2015 Institute, which will run from July 12–16 at Princeton University and will culminate in a concert premiering the participants’ works by the NJSO on July 16 at 7:30 pm at the Richardson Auditorium. Additional information is available at www.njsymphony.org/institute.
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.
Q2 MUSIC
Q2 Music is WQXR’s online music stream dedicated to contemporary classical composers, innovative ensembles and live webcasts from New York City’s leading new-music venues. Q2 Music, a live 24/7 music stream available at www.wqxr.org/q2music, includes immersive festivals, insightful commentary from hosts and composers, full-length album streams, in-depth interviews with trendsetting artists and special live events at The Greene Space at WQXR. Q2 Music is also available via the free WQXR app.
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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