Front and Center: The NJSO and Conductor Xian Zhang Announce Upcoming 2019–20 Season!

By Shelley Bromberg. Photos by Love Imagery

Front and Center is the theme for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming 2019–20 season, announced by conductor and music director Xian Zhang during a special day-long program held on Friday, January 25, 2019 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark.

Named “a vital, artistically significant musical organization” by The Wall Street Journal, the NJSO is known for presenting innovative classical, pops, and family programs throughout the state yearly.

As such, performances in the upcoming 2019–20 season — which premieres on Oct. 11, 2019 and concludes on June 7, 2020 — will take place at a variety of locations around the state including the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick, the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, and the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, in addition to the orchestra’s home base at NJPAC in Newark.

As part of the day-long program, we’re invited to attend a two-and-a-half-hour rehearsal at NJPAC. The festivities begin as we enter the majestic Prudential Hall and hear the orchestra warming up.

There is warm applause as Conductor Xian Zhang takes the stage and the magic begins. With the house lights up and about 100 guests in attendance, we are transported to a magical place as we take in the magnificent symphonic music of the NJSO.

First, listeners are treated to Alexander Scriabin’s Le Poeme de l’extase (The Poem of Ecstasy). As Zhang ably directs her baton, the NJSO musicians respond, enticing the audience to join them on a whimsical journey.

Double harps and booming trumpets — in addition to low strings — add their own energy to the piece.

By the end of the powerful finale, audience members erupt in applause.

Next up is Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra, which listeners recognize from the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Throughout this musical odyssey, Zhang brilliantly directs the symphony to different shifts in feel, mood, and style. The ending is soft and gentle, and evokes cheers from the crowd.

Following a brief intermission, Zhang and the NJSO perform Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, featuring Russian pianist, Daniil Trifonov.

A recent Grammy Award-winner, Trifonov is considered by many to be the world’s preeminent classical pianist, and in this rehearsal, his performance sparkles as he plays the three movements of the Piano Concerto from memory.

With Zhang’s meticulous direction, Trifonov’s eloquence, grace, and musicality transport listeners to another world.

As the concert ends, the audience responds with enthusiastic applause!

Following the rehearsal, we chat with Sharon from South Orange, who has been attending NJSO concerts for 12 years. Exclaims Sharon, “I’m so happy to be here — I feel like I’m on vacation. The music takes me to someplace else!” before noting, “the acoustics here are wonderful and the venue is beautiful.”

We also chat with Deborah and Melinda from Green Township, who are both musicians.

Deborah reveals that she just retired from performing bassoon with the New Sussex Symphony and she’s been enjoying her NJSO subscription for years.

“The NJSO is always terrific!” declares Deborah. “They have large scale pieces and overwhelming power.”

With regards to today’s rehearsal, however, the pair say they especially appreciate the talent of the flutes, piccolos, and bassoons. Explains Melinda, “We watch the winds!”

Lastly, we meet Jon and Bette who traveled to the NJPAC from Delaware Township, and who have been huge NJSO fans since 1983. Jon discloses that he remembers when the organization’s home theater was in Trenton. He recalls that a journalist who covered the NJSO once said that the rapport which the NJSO management has always had with their musicians “actually affects the sound,” with Jon describing the orchestra as “Terrific!”

After the rehearsal, we’re invited backstage and asked to take a seat on the NJPAC stage, getting the same view of the magnificent auditorium that the orchestra members see when they perform.

NJSO President and CEO Gabriel van Aalst welcomes everyone to the presentation, explaining that the theme of the organization’s 2019–20 season is Front and Center.

“We believe music is for everyone,” says van Aalst before introducing the NJSO’s Director of Artistic Planning, Patrick Chamberlain, and NJSO music director and conductor Xian Zhang.

Chamberlain reveals that the NJSO is “thrilled about this year’s lineup,” and Zhang agrees explaining, “Diverse musical voices are Front and Center in the 2019–20 season. From the baroque to modern eras, we will feature women composers of the past and present; a Winter Festival of dramatic scores from ballet and opera stages; artists from Europe, Asia, and America; plus our own talented NJSO musicians.”

Highlighting the work of women composers, the NJSO will perform works by women including Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Hiraeth, Anna Clyne’s Within Her Arms, and Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

The organization’s 2020 Winter Festival will feature great works from the stage, including Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, and scenes from Wagner’s Ring cycle.

Additional highlights of the upcoming season will include Holst’s The Planets in HD — featuring an original HD movie to accompany the orchestra — Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.

As the world celebrates Beethoven’s 250th birthday, for the first time in history, the NJSO will welcome an artist-in-residence — French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie — who will perform all five of the composer’s piano concertos! The Beethoven birthday bash will also continue with performances of Beethoven’s Second and Third symphonies.

Zhang is particularly excited to note that the group’s 2019–2020 line-up will feature the NJSO’s very own bassoonist Robert Wagner, who will present the East Coast premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Bassoon Concerto — a work the NJSO co-commissioned in honor of Wagner’s 40th season with the orchestra.

Following the presentation, we take a moment to chat with Wagner, who tells us, it “feels great” to be a part of this upcoming performance! Wagner also acknowledges that the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is a unique entity, given it competes with top orchestras in New York City and Philadelphia.

Concludes Wagner, the NJSO “represents New Jersey well, and I’m proud to be a part of it!”

For tickets and information regarding Front and Center —the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s 2019–20 season — please go to njsymphony.org.