Concert Review: This is Why We Fight

The NJSO opens with an impassioned Beethoven's Ninth.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Xian Zhang makes her point. Photo © New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is at once in an enviable and difficult position, wedged next to New York City with its wealth of musical institutions. Based in downtown Newark, they  have a great venue in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center that not enough people want to visit. That situation makes Opening Night, held last Friday at NJPAC, all the more important. This year marked the third opener for their music director Xian Zhang (pronounced "she-YEN jhong"). To celebrate, this energetic conductor offered a challenging program: two works by important contemporary composers and as a capper, Beethoven's sprawling, challenging Symphony No. 9 in D minor.