New Jersey Symphony To Celebrate Lunar New Year With Year Of The Horse Concert
Sunny Xia and Haochen Zhang make New Jersey Symphony debuts.
New Jersey Symphony will mark the Year of the Horse with its ninth annual Lunar New Year Celebration on Saturday, February 7, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.
The concert will be led by Sunny Xia, associate conductor of the Seattle Symphony, making her New Jersey Symphony debut. Pianist Haochen Zhang, winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, will also appear with the orchestra for the first time.
The Lunar New Year concert tradition was introduced by music director Xian Zhang in 2019 and continues as part of her tenth season with the New Jersey Symphony. The program is designed to welcome families, first-time concertgoers, and returning audiences through a blend of Eastern and Western musical traditions.
The program will include Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture, Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Choi Sunghwan’s Arirang Fantasy, the traditional folk song Hulunbuir Grassland arranged by Anqi Wang, and Li Shutong’s Farewell Song arranged by Nicholas Hersh. Additional selections include Johann Strauss Jr.’s Voices of Spring waltz and Georges Bizet’s Farandole from L’Arlésienne and Choeur des gamins from Carmen.
Guest performers will include the Peking University Alumni Chorus, conducted by Emma Ge Yu; the Starry Arts Group Children's Chorus, directed by Rebecca Xiaoxing Shen; and the Edison Chinese School Lion Dance Team.
Ticket holders are invited to attend a free pre-concert Cultural Exchange Festival beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Prudential Hall lobby. The event will feature performances, artisans, and artifacts from the Shanghai Museum. The festival is co-curated by the Shanghai Museum and the Eastern Culture Exchange Association, with support from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York.
Tickets for the Lunar New Year Celebration start at $36 and are available through the New Jersey Symphony website.
Program Highlights
Li Huanzhi – Spring Festival Overture
Franz Liszt – Piano Concerto No. 1
Choi Sunghwan – Arirang Fantasy
Traditional / Anqi Wang – Hulunbuir Grassland
Li Shutong / Nicholas Hersh – Farewell Song
Johann Strauss Jr. – Voices of Spring
Georges Bizet – Farandole from L’Arlésienne
Georges Bizet – Choeur des gamins from Carmen
Event Information
Saturday, February 7, 2026, 7:30 p.m.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark
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