NJ Symphony to Welcome Branford Marsalis for Opening Weekend, 9/25-27

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe welcome legendary saxophonist Branford Marsalis for the Orchestra's 2015-16 opening-weekend concerts, September 25-27 in Newark and New Brunswick.

Marsalis performs Darius Milhaud's Scaramouche for alto saxophone and "Escapades" for saxophone from John Williams' score to Catch Me If You Can; he will also perform the saxophone part in the concert's finale, Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. The celebratory concert program opens with Maurice Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales.

Performances take place on Friday, September 25, at 7:30 pm and Sunday, September 27, at 3 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and Saturday, September 26, at 8 pm at the State Theatre in New Brunswick.

Lacombe says: "I had a great collaboration with Branford Marsalis at the Cincinnati Symphony a few seasons ago, and we've been wanting to work together again, so we built this program on his repertoire. Milhaud's Scaramouche for alto saxophone is a piece I have a special relationship with, going back to my early career in Trois-Rivières; I've played the version for saxophone and piano a lot, but this is the first time I will be conducting the orchestral version. For my finale season with the NJSO, French music has a more significant presence, starting with the opening program and closing program as well. "

The New York Times has hailed Marsalis' classical appearances, writing of a 2011 engagement with the New York Philharmonic, praising the "gracious poise and supple tone" and "insouciant swagger" he brought to the classical works on the program.

Lacombe says: "I thought Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition would be a fun thing to do with Branford playing the saxophone part sitting in the orchestra. Branford is an internationally acknowledged star, but he's very humble, and he likes to sit and make music with other musicians. I think he approaches classical music a bit like he would approach jazz music -- there's a spontaneity to it that I very much enjoy."

The music director says: "The suite from John Williams' Catch Me If You Can score is exciting; Williams is known as an icon of film music, but he is also an important American composer [beyond film]. He is a great orchestrator, and I find in his music some colors he learned from the French school, so that's why I think it works so well on this program."

The NJSO honors luminary opera singer Marilyn Horne at its Opening Night Celebration on September 25 at NJPAC; Opening Night festivities begin at 5:30 pm with a cocktail party and close with a post-concert gala dinner and dessert. The Orchestra will present Horne the NJSO-Victor Parsonnet, M.D., Leadership Award, a legacy award recognizing outstanding commitment to the quality and enrichment of life through an active role in the arts.

Concert tickets start at $20 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).

CONCERT PROGRAM

Opening Weekend: Branford Marsalis Joins the NJSO

Friday, September 25 at 7:30 pm | NJPAC in Newark

Saturday, September 26 at 8 pm | State Theatre in New Brunswick

Sunday, September 27 at 3 pm | NJPAC in Newark

Jacques Lacombe, conductor

Branford Marsalis, saxophone

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

RAVEL Valses nobles et sentimentales

WILLIAMS "Escapades" for saxophone from Catch Me If You Can

MILHAUD Scaramouche for alto saxophone

MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition

Full concert information is available at www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/opening-weekend-branford-marsalis-joins-the-njso.

OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra honors luminary opera singer Marilyn Horne at its Opening Night Celebration on Friday, September 25, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. Opening Night festivities begin at 5:30 pm with a cocktail party and close with a post-concert gala dinner and dessert. Music Director Jacques Lacombe and the NJSO open the 2015-16 concert season at 7:30 pm with a program featuring saxophone legend Branford Marsalis.

THE ARTISTS

Jacques Lacombe, conductor - A remarkable conductor whose artistic integrity and rapport with orchestras have propelled him to international stature, Jacques Lacombe has been Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and of the Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières since 2006. After his finale season with the NJSO, he takes up the post of Chief Conductor of the Bonn Opera in Germany. He was previously Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Music Director of orchestra and opera with the Philharmonie de Lorraine.

Lacombe has garnered critical praise for his creative programming and leadership of the NJSO. Time Out New York has named the Orchestra's acclaimed Winter Festivals "an eagerly anticipated annual event" for their innovative content. The New York Times wrote, "It was an honor to be in the hall" for Lacombe's NJSO performance of Busoni's Piano Concerto with Marc-André Hamelin at the 2012 Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall.

Lacombe began the 2015-16 season with the opening of the 75th season of the Tanglewood Music Festival in an All-American concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In addition to NJSO engagements, this season, Lacombe leads Werther with Juan Diego Florez, Joyce Di Donato and the Orchestre National de France; as well as introductory performances in Taiwan and Peru and his debut in Bonn with von Reznicek's Holofernes.

Last season, Lacombe launched the NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute for young composers, which grew out of the New Jersey Roots Project he introduced in his first season with the Orchestra. Recent NJSO highlights include the "Sounds of Shakespeare" Winter Festival, featuring both violinist Sarah Chang and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; the theater company returns for the festival this January.

Lacombe appears regularly with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at L'Opera de Monte Carlo. He has conducted several productions at the Metropolitan Opera and Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, as well as with opera companies in Vancouver, Turin, Marseille, Munich and Philadelphia.

He has appeared with the Cincinnati, Columbus, Québec, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras. This season, he returns to orchestras in Nice and Mulhouse, France, and debuts with orchestras in San Antonio, Omaha and Nancy, France.

Lacombe has recorded for the CPO and Analekta labels; he has recorded Verdi's Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana and Janá?ek's Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen with the NJSO. His performances have been broadcast on PBS, the CBC, Mezzo TV and Arte TV, among others.

Born in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Québec, Lacombe attended the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal and Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. He was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Québec in 2012 and a Member of the Order of Canada in 2013 -- among the highest civilian honors in the country.

Branford Marsalis, saxophone - NEA Jazz Master, renowned Grammy Award-winning saxophonist and Tony Award nominee composer Branford Marsalis is one of the most revered instrumentalists of his time. Leader of one of the finest jazz quartets today, and a frequent soloist with classical ensembles, Marsalis has become increasingly sought after as a featured soloist with such acclaimed orchestras as the Chicago, Detroit, Düsseldorf and North Carolina symphonies and the New York Philharmonic, with a growing repertoire that includes compositions by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem and Vaughan Williams.

Making his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic in the summer of 2010 and returning the following season, Marsalis unequivocally demonstrated his versatility and prowess. This is his NJSO debut.

The New Orleans native was born into one of the city's most distinguished musical families, which includes patriarch/pianist/educator Ellis and siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason. Having gained initial acclaim through his work with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and his brother Wynton's quintet in the early 1980s, Marsalis also performed and recorded with a who's-who of jazz giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins. He has also collaborated with such diverse artists as Sting, the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby.

Dedicated to changing the future of jazz in the classroom, Marsalis has shared his knowledge at such universities as Michigan State, San Francisco State, Stanford and North Carolina Central, with his full quartet participating in an innovative extended residency at the NCCU campus.

Whether on the stage, in the recording studio, in the classroom or in the community, Branford Marsalis embodies a commitment to musical excellence and a determination to keep music at the forefront.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra embodies that vitality through its statewide presence and critically acclaimed performances, education partnerships and unparalleled access to music and the Orchestra's superb musicians.

Under the bold leadership of Music Director Jacques Lacombe, the NJSO presents classical, pops and family programs, as well as outdoor summer concerts and special events. Embracing its legacy as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and regularly performs at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and bergenPAC in Englewood. Partnerships with New Jersey arts organizations, universities and civic organizations remain a key element of the Orchestra's statewide identity.

In addition to its lauded artistic programming, the NJSO presents a suite of education and community engagement programs that promote meaningful, lifelong engagement with live music. Programs include the three-ensemble NJSO Youth Orchestras, school-time Concerts for Young People performances and multiple offerings -- including the El Sistema-inspired NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project) -- that provide and promote in-school instrumental instruction as part of the NJSO Academy. The NJSO's REACH (Resources for Education and Community Harmony) chamber music program annually brings original programs -- designed and performed by NJSO musicians -- to a variety of settings, reaching as many as 17,000 people in nearly all of New Jersey's 21 counties.

For more information about the NJSO, visit www.njsymphony.org or email information@njsymphony.org. Tickets are available for purchase by phone 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or on the Orchestra's website.