For its first subscription program of the 2010-11 season, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, led by new Music Director Jacques Lacombe, presents Beethoven's immortal Ninth Symphony in a unique programming format. Between movements of the Ninth, the NJSO adds a distinctive element-excerpts from touchstone speeches by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy and Susan B. Anthony-to emphasize the symphony's themes of liberty, the human spirit, fraternity and compassion.
Performances take place on Friday, September 24 (8 p.m.), and Sunday, September 26 (3 p.m.), at NJPAC in Newark and Saturday, September 25 (3 p.m.) at the Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts in Morristown. The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey is a presenting sponsor of the Morristown series.
To commemorate the subscription season's opening weekend, the NJSO partners with other arts organizations and musical entities in Newark for a community-wide event featuring music, food and other activities immediately following the September 26 performance.
A quartet of guest vocalists-soprano Twyla Robinson, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong, tenor Bryan Griffin and bass-baritone Jason Grant-perform alongside the Westminster Symphonic Choir, one of New Jersey's finest vocal ensembles, for Beethoven's epic work.
"Beethoven's Ninth is the symphony-it's one of the most amazing masterworks ever written by one of the most important geniuses of all time, and I wanted to present it in a different context," Lacombe says. "I love that music has a major effect on our lives, even outside of the concert hall. The emotions in the music give us a message. I decided to link the work's message of brotherhood and peace with great speeches by great modern human beings who have had a profound impact on our society."
With the Ninth, Beethoven became the first composer to incorporate voices into a symphony; the major vocal melody, the "Ode to Joy," is among the most enduring classical themes in history.
"The Ninth was written in 1824, but when you play this music and put it next to those speeches, it makes it a current affair," the Music Director says. "We still have to deal with some of those speeches' issues, such as human rights, on a daily basis, and I think this combination of speeches and music can help people understand on a deeper level."
The Orchestra, joined by the Westminster Symphonic Choir, opens the program with Canticle of Freedom, a lesser-known Copland piece that celebrates the human spirit from a contemporary American perspective. The one-movement work, composed for the dedication of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's new auditorium in 1955, incorporates voices in its final section, with lyrics drawn from a 14th-century text by John Barbour.
"This will be my first time working with one of the greatest artistic ensembles in New Jersey," Lacombe says of the Westminster Symphonic Choir. "My first contact with music was as a choir singer, and I have a special place in my heart for conducting choirs. The Copland is a piece that is rarely performed; I'm looking forward to hearing the Westminster Symphonic Choir perform this stirring piece."
TICKETS
Tickets range in price from $20 to $82 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).
THE PROGRAM
BEETHOVEN'S NINTH
Friday, September 24 at 8 pm | NJPAC in Newark
Saturday, September 25 at 3 pm | Community Theatre in Morristown
Sunday, September 26 at 3 pm | NJPAC in Newark
Jacques Lacombe, conductor
Twyla Robinson, soprano
Elizabeth DeShong, mezzo-soprano
Bryan Griffin, tenor
Jason Grant, bass-baritone
Westminster Symphonic Choir
COPLAND Canticle of Freedom
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9, "Choral"
This program will be performed without intermission.
