In Wednesday’s (1/30) Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), Ronni Reich writes, “The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra will continue to embrace local talent in its 2013-14 season. Following up on the orchestra’s last jazz-infused opening night, the next goes a step further with a commissioned premiere, ‘Stones and Streams’ by Montclair-based jazz pianist Geri Allen. Newark church choirs and the vocal ensemble Afro Blue join the orchestra to sing spirituals between movements of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, ‘From the New World.’ … ‘I’ve made a point since I started with the NJSO that opening night will honor American music,’ NJSO music director Jacques Lacombe said yesterday at a press conference. … Metropolitan Opera principal clarinetist Anthony McGill performs Richard Danielpour’s Clarinet Concerto, another work honoring King and an NJSO co-commission. Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, a 26-year-old protégé of Gustavo Dudamel, makes his NJSO debut. The orchestra’s ‘Man and Nature’ Winter Festival concludes with a focus on earth—as expected, Mahler’s ‘Das Lied von der Erde,’ but also the U.S. premiere of Tan Dun’s Earth Concerto featuring percussionist David Cossin, who appeared with the NJSO for the composer’s Water Concerto in 2011. In addition to Allen, the New Jersey Roots Project features a world premiere commission by Weehawken resident Lowell Liebermann and Edward T. Cone’s Cadenzas for Oboe and Violin.”
Posted January 30, 2013
