NJSO Accompanies Screening of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN Live This Weekend

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents Singin' in the Rain with live orchestral accompaniment this weekend, February 7 and 8 in Newark and New Brunswick, respectively. Conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos returns to lead the NJSO in the full film score as the movie screens above the stage.

The American Film Institute has named the classic 1952 film the greatest musical film and fifth greatest American movie of all time. Critic Roger Ebert writes: "There is no movie musical more fun than 'Singin' in the Rain,' and few that remain as fresh over the years ... 'Singin' in the Rain' is a transcendent experience, and no one who loves movies can afford to miss it ... [The film] remains one of the few movies to live up to its advertising. 'What a glorious feeling!' the posters said. It was the simple truth."

Performances take place on Saturday, February 7, (8 pm) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark and Sunday, February 8, (3 pm) at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. The February 8 performance is presented in collaboration with the State Theatre. NJSO Accents include special festivities preceding each concert. Patrons can arrive early and join in a sing-along of great film songs beginning one hour before each performance.

Tickets start at $20 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org, by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or in person. The NJSO Patron Services and Sales office is located at 60 Park Place, 9th floor, in Newark; tickets are available by phone or in person Monday-Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. Tickets are also available, by phone only, on concert-weekend Saturdays, 11 am to 5 pm.

Tickets for the February 8 performance are also available from the State Theatre ticket office online at www.StateTheatreNJ.org, by phone at 732.246.SHOW (7469) or in person. The State Theatre ticket office is located at 15 Livingston Ave in New Brunswick-hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 10 am to 6 pm; Wednesday, 11 am to 7 pm; Saturday, 1 to 5 pm, and at least three hours prior to curtain on performance dates unless otherwise specified.

THE PROGRAM:

Singin' in the Rain

Saturday, February 7, at 8 pm | NJPAC in Newark

Sunday, February 8, at 3 pm | State Theatre in New Brunswick

Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

The February 8 concert is presented in collaboration with the State Theatre.

Full program information is available at www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/singin-in-the-rain.

NJSO ACCENTS:

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.

Pre-concert sing-alongs -- Sat, Feb 7, and Sun, Feb 8

Arrive early and join in a pre-concert sing-along of great film songs beginning one hour before the performance.

Learn more at www.njsymphony.org/accents.

THE ARTISTS:

Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor - Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of opera and symphony, conducting in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Royal Albert Hall, as well as leading orchestras in musical theater productions on Broadway.

Kitsopoulos is in his eighth year as music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and continues as general director of Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005. He serves as music director of the Festival of the Arts BOCA, a multiday cultural arts event for South Florida, and he was most recently appointed artistic director of the OK Mozart Festival in Oklahoma.

Kitsopoulos' 2014-15 season includes a return to the New York Philharmonic and appearances with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Houston, North Carolina, Florida, San Antonio, Louisville and Toledo. A frequent guest conductor at Indiana University, he returns to IU for Menotti's Last Savage and Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.

Other recent highlights include appearances with the Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras, as well as the Calgary Philharmonic, National Arts Centre Orchestra and the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Internationally, he has conducted China's Macao Orchestra with the Cuban band Tiempo Libre, Tokyo Philharmonic and the Russian National Orchestra. Kitsopoulos maintains a busy opera schedule and is much in demand as a theater conductor, both on Broadway and nationwide. He is currently music director and conductor of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella on Broadway. His most recent recording is the Grammy Award-winning original Broadway cast album of the Tony Award Award-winning Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, released in 2012 on P.S. Classics.

NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - Named "a vital, artistically significant musical organization" by The Wall Street Journal, 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 school-time Concerts for Young People performances and multiple offerings -- including the three-ensemble NJSO Youth Orchestras and 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.

Photo by permission of the Gene Kelly Image Trust.