Concert Review: Owner of a Lonely Heart's Club Band

A second Yes rocks Newark.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Yes featuring Jon Anderson (center left) Travor Rabin (far right) and Rick Wakeman (far right) at NJPAC.
Photo by the author.

What's in a name? For Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, an awful lot. The three musicians banded together last year as "ARW" and started touring playing Yes music. Following the induction of eight band members into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the boys are now calling themselves "Yes featuring ARW", putting their band in direct competition with the "official" version of the band led by Steve Howe. Their version of the band rocked NJPAC in Newark last night with a show featuring different eras of the venerable English prog rock band's 49-year history.

Concert Review: Everyone Loves Tchaikovsky

NJSO music director Xian Zhang makes her subscription debut.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The changing of the guard at a symphony orchestra is a complicated process, often akin to the processional scenes from French and operas of the 19the century. For example, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has a new President, a new artistic administrator and most importantly, a new music director, the Chinese-born conductor Xian Zhang.

Concert Review: Meet the New Boss

New music director Xian Zhang conducts the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Xian Zhang kicks back.
Photo by Benjamin Ealovega © 2016 the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is currently ensemble in transition. Specifically, that transition is from the leadership of outgoing music director Jacques Lacombe to incoming Maestra Xian Zhang. On Thursday afternoon at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, this award-winning conductor led her first subscription concert since the announcement that she would succeed Mr. Lacombe as the orchestra's latest music director.

Concert Review: When Two Fifths Make a Whole

The NJSO plays Beethoven, Beethoven and Beethoven.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Piano man: Marc-Andre Hamelin in rehearsal.
Photo provided by Hemsing Associates.

Sometimes when you look over a chronological listing of an upcoming classical music season, it is common to circle a certain performance and make a note of its date. One such performance took place Sunday afternoon at NJPAC's Prudential Hall, where Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra concluded their regular subscription season with a matinee concert focused exclusively on the music of Beethoven. (The orchestra has one more concert planned for next Sunday at NJPAC.)

The Superconductor Interview: Sarah Chang

The violinist on Bernstein, love stories and playing in New Jersey.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sarah Chang and friend. Photo © Sony Classical.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has made January a good time to be in the Garden State. For January is when the orchestra holds its two week annual orchestral festival, concentrating its concert programming around a single thematic idea or solo artist This year, Shakespeare is the focus of the festival, and the soloist is internationally known virtuoso violinist and New Jersey native Sarah Chang.

Concert Review: The Belgian Dip

The NJSO opens its regular season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jacques Lacombe leading the NJSO.
Photo by Fred Stucker © 2010 The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra spends much of its time off the radar of New York's classical music cognoscenti. Yet, at the start of music director Jacques Lacombe's penultimate season at the helm, this Garden State ensemble is playing at a very high level indeed.

Concert Review: Romance Isn't Dead

Wagner, Bruch and Bruckner in New Jersey.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

NJSO maestro Jacques Lacombe and friend.

Sometimes, a good program is all you need.

A good example is this week's set of concerts by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under music director Jacques Lacombe. This program featured veteran concert violinist Sarah Chang playing Max Bruch's First Violin Concerto. Bracketing this Romantic masterpice: works by Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner, two very different composers who were individually obsessed with the concepts of salvation and redemption.

Concert Review: Unfinished but Immortal

The NJSO plays the Mozart Requiem.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

A segment of the Dies Irae from the Mozart Requiem.

Conductor Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's concert series at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in downtown Newark remain an undiscovered treasure for New York's classical music lovers. On Thursday afternoon, the NJSO opened a concert series featuring two great unfinished compositions: Schubert's Eighth Symphony and the Mozart Requiem.