NJSO Presents 'Fire: Light & Legend', featuring Kaija Saariaho's 'Notes on Light,' 1/20-22

Music Director Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra present Fire: Light & Legend, the third and final program in the Orchestra's 2012 Winter Festival-FIRE. The festival's closing program touches on the earliest days of the symphony with Haydn's "Fire" Symphony, and it reaches forward into contemporary life with Kaija Saariaho's cello concerto Notes on Light, performed by Anssi Karttunen-the Finnish cellist for which Saariaho wrote the work. The program's finale is a new vision for a Beethoven classic-The Creatures of Prometheus-and the true capstone of the NJSO festival. 

Kaija Saariaho, Carnegie Hall's composer-in-residence, is an important figure in modern music. Prior to theJanuary 21^st concert, Saariaho will host a Classical Conversation pre-concert talk about her inspirations and her cello concerto Notes on Light. She will also be on hand to hear Karttunen perform her piece.

"Notes on Light has an almost transparent quality-it creates beautiful colors, like when you look at a prism and the colors are slowly changing," Lacombe says. "It's extremely well written for both the cellist and the orchestra. It's more a piece about mood and colors than anything else, and it will create a very nice contrast between the Haydn and the Beethoven."

Performances take place on Friday, January 20, (8 p.m.) at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton,Saturday, January 21, (8 p.m.) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark and Sunday, January 22, (3 p.m.) at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. A special Winter Festival pre-concert event-"Hero as Myth: Prometheus Unveiled"-begins one hour before the January 20 and January 22 performances in Princeton and New Brunswick, respectively. Notes on Light composer Kaija Saariaho gives a Classical Conversation at 7 p.m. on January 21 in Newark. The January 21 performance will also feature an Information Fair & Artisan Marketplace; artisans who work with fire and environmental organizations will host displays in the Prudential Hall lobby before the concert and during intermission.