photo by Fred Stucker
Andre Gremillet, President & CEO, & Jacques Lacombe, Music Director
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On January 29, Andre Gremillet, President and CEO and Jacques Lacombe, Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) took some time out to highlight next season, just in time for subscription gift giving. What better Valentine for a lover, of music, than a subscription to a world-class orchestra? Gremillet and Lacombe discussed the season with a handful of press and very special supporters. We all were seated in the orchestra looking out at the house, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Centre (NJPAC), which is a sobering experience!
NJSO kicks off the 2012-13 season, in late September, with a program that represents a fusion of styles, something that has become one of Maestro Lacombe’s trademarks during his tenure here, as he enters his third year at the helm. Savvy audience members will see more of the creative collaborations that bring together visual, musical and theatrical arts. The season opens with featured pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, whose interests include jazz, as well as classical repertoire. The program includes Jazz Age gems like George Gershwin’s orchestral setting of “Rhapsody in Blue” and Duke Ellington’s “Harlem.” The New Jersey Roots Project continues to feature artists born, working or living in New Jersey with some brilliant results. John Harbison’s “Remembering Gatsby”—opera-goers will remember Harbison’s opera “The Great Gatsby,” commissioned and premiered by the Metropolitan Opera—is planned for the opening program and later in the season, Princeton-based Stephen Mackey’s “Stumble to Grace” concerto, as well as works by Edward T. Cone, will be performed.
Collaborations among multiple artistic disciplines, highlighted only a few weeks ago with the combination of movements from Beethoven’s “Creatures of Prometheus” with the Francesca Harper Project dance troupe and a special libretto that closed Fire, continue in full force for the ’12-13 Season. This time, the collaboration of the award-winning Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and the NJSO focuses on the elemental force featured, which will be Air and The Atmosphere. The collaboration here will focus around Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” as well as music it inspired by Tchaikovsky and Sibelius and crowned with Beethoven’s masterful Pastoral Symphony, Number Six.
Internationally known soloists ranging from cellist Yo Yo Ma to songwriter and entertainer Marvin Hamlisch to the iconic Patti Lupone and many more will visit. A host of guest conductors from around the world will be featured as well including Susanna Malkki and Augustin Dumay to name a few.
Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner informs a host of projects from music by composers influenced by Wagner to music of Wagner himself. The composers highlighted who were inspired by or reacting to Wagner’s work include Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Sibelius, Brahms, Bruckner and Chausson–this is bound to be delicious in contrast and comparison so visit www.njsymphony.org for more details.
Finally, Manhattanites who are used to taking trains will find a number of trains traveling from Penn Station in Midtown to Newark Penn Station. From there, the light rail drops you practically at the door of NJPAC. If you live in New Jersey, there is a special program where bus trips are made available at a very reasonable cost for Thursday and Sunday matinee performances that promote attendance by people who otherwise might not be able to make the trip. Contact NJSO for more details as this program is now more affordable than ever! For tickets, subscriptions or more information on NJSO programs, call 1/800-ALLEGRO (255-3476) or visit www.njsymphony.org.