New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Presents 'The Hero's Fire' Winter Festival Program, 1/6-1/8

Music Director Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra kick off 2012 with The Hero's Fire, the first program in the Orchestra's 2012 Winter Festival-FIRE. Pianist Yevgeny Sudbin joins the NJSO for Scriabin's Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (Symphony No. 5); Arc3design collaborates with the Orchestra to create a special lighting environment for these performances. With ambitions that exceeded the technological capabilities of his era, Scriabin envisioned elaborate projections of color accompanying the music of Prometheus: The Poem of Fire. The color machine he imagined for the work drew on color-sound associations. With Arc3design's lighting displays, a work penned more than a century ago will light up the stage as its composer originally envisioned.

"'Big' is the theme of this program," Lacombe says of the Winter Festival's opening weekend. "The Firebird and Prometheus: The Poem of Fire are very rich in terms of their orchestrations. Both Stravinsky and Scriabin are Russian, so there is an affinity and a link between these two great composers and orchestrators. To open with this Wagner music that also has a really deep sound is exciting, and I enjoy introducing some opera into my orchestral programs."

"The Prometheus myth is so fitting for these Winter Festival programs centered around fire," Lacombe says of the tale that has inspired multiple composers. "Scriabin's music is not often performed, and we have a Scriabin specialist in guest pianist Yevgeny Sudbin, so that will be a revelation for the audience."

Performances take place on Friday, January 6, (8 p.m.) and Sunday, January 8, (3 p.m.) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark and Saturday, January 7, (8 p.m.) at the State Theatre in New Brunswick.

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