NJSO to Present 2016 Winter Festival: Sounds of Shakespeare This January

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe present the 2016 Winter Festival: Sounds of Shakespeare-the second year of a two-season Winter Festival cycle celebrating music inspired by the Bard. The festival, which runs January 22-31, encompasses two concert programs led by Lacombe. The first pairs two works by Berlioz; the finale sees the return of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey for A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Lacombe says: "So many composers have written music based on Shakespeare's work, and this Winter Festival is the culmination of a two-year project exploring some of it. Last year, Romeo and Juliet was a link between all the Winter Festival programs. The Berlioz program that opens the Winter Festival fits in with both the Shakespearean theme and the season-long thread of presenting French music. Symphonie fantastique is a masterpiece we hear very often in concert halls, and we pair that with the rarely performed Lélio, which is a continuation of Symphonie fantastique, with an actor speaking about his life and art and theater. On the second program, we perform Mendelssohn's full incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream-a piece that was conceived to accompany the play itself-as we expand our collaboration with actors from The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey."

The first Winter Festival program (January 22-24 in Newark, New Brunswick and Morristown) features a pair of works by Berlioz-Symphonie fantastique and Lélio. The fourth movement of Symphonie fantastique conjures the Witches' Sabbath from Shakespeare's Macbeth. Berlioz drew inspiration for the finale of the symphony's sequel, Lélio, from The Tempest.

These performances mark the NJSO premiere of Lélio, a rarely performed work that requires extensive forces: a pianist, three vocal soloists, chorus, narrator and orchestra. Lacombe will step from the podium to the piano for the latter work. In a first-time collaboration, the NJSO welcomes the Symphonic Chorus of Manhattan School of Music, under the direction of Ken Tritle.

NJSO Accents include post-concert talkbacks with Berlioz expert Dr. Mark A. Pottinger, chair of the Visual & Performing Arts Department at Manhattan College; Pottinger chats about Berlioz's eccentricities and how the elements of his life and his love of Shakespeare culminate in Symphonie fantastique and Lélio (January 23 and 24).

The festival finale (January 29-31) features the Orchestra's biggest collaboration with celebrated artistic partner The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey to date. Actors will perform an abridged version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, paired with Mendelssohn's incidental music inspired by Shakespeare's comedy.

Shakespeare Theatre Artistic Director Bonnie Monte says: "It's great for an audience to see this kind of meld, to hear the words that initially inspired the music. They can see why Shakespeare's words led a composer to make particular parts of the music sweeping or staccato, and the actors and people who are more familiar with the actual spoken words can see how the composer's music enhances the text that Shakespeare wrote and elevates it to a whole new kind of level. Whether people come from a more symphonic orientation or more theatrical orientation, they get to witness simultaneously how both of these art forms inform each other in a really specific way that you wouldn't necessarily get if you were reading it one day and then listening to the music two days later. There's a new kind of enlightenment that occurs.

"The partnership between the NJSO and Shakespeare Theatre has enhanced both institutions. These projects have been very exciting and have resulted in a kind of an artistic product that is very different for both of our art forms. It's been a thrill to collaborate with Jacques, who has been so open and let me push the envelope in terms of how we interact with the orchestra in very different ways."

NJSO Accents include the second annual #ChoraleYou-a joyful "sing in" in NJPAC's lobby following the January 30concert. Montclair State University's Heather J. Buchanan will conduct a brief rehearsal and performance of Mendelssohn's "There Shall a Star."

Bank of America sponsors Lacombe's last appearance as NJSO music director in each of the Orchestra's six venues across the state. The 2016 Winter Festival marks the music director's final performances in Morristown, New Brunswick and Princeton.

For more information on the Winter Festival and related events, visit www.njsymphony.org/winterfestival.

TICKETS

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

NJSO ACCENTS

Inspired by the concerts and designed to inspire audiences, NJSO Accents are pre- or post-concert events that complement the concert experience and provide audience members with more opportunities to personally connect with the music and music makers. Learn more at www.njsymphony.org/accents.