New Jersey Youth Symphony to Open 45th Season With Iconic Symphonic Works And New Jersey Premiere

The New Jersey Youth Symphony proudly presents its 45th Season Opening Concert on Saturday, October 28 at 7:00 p.m. at the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton. The NJYS Youth Symphony led by Helen H. Cha-Pyo and NJYS Youth Orchestra led by Simon Lipskar will perform works by Louise Farrenc, Jennifer Higdon, Giacomo Puccini, Ottorino Respighi, Jean Sibelius, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Tickets and more information are available at NJYS.org.

The program, spotlighting the exceptional young talent of New Jersey, features an energetic and celebratory performance of Shostakovich's Festival Overture, written exactly 70 years ago, as well as Sibelius's Finlandia and Respighi's The Pines of Rome, iconic symphonic works of the 19th century. Inspired by the NJYS Youth Symphony's recent tour to Italy, The Pines of Rome will feature projected images of these magnificent umbrella-shaped trees, offering our audience an immersive journey to Rome and enhancing the colorful beauty of this work.

Said Artistic Director Helen H. Cha-Pyo, "For 45 years, the New Jersey Youth Symphony has nurtured musical excellence, fostering young musicians through rigorous ensemble training and providing exceptional performance opportunities. This 45th Season Opening Concert stands as a powerful testament to our unwavering dedication to musical excellence and our commitment to creating an inclusive community that not only enriches lives but forms enduring friendships and leaves a lasting positive impact."

The October 28 concert at Trenton's Patriots Theater will celebrate women composers with Farrenc's Overture No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 23 and the New Jersey premiere of Higdon's Cold Mountain Suite. Louise Farrenc, an historically underrepresented French composer, was Paris Conservatoire's only woman professor of the 19th century, an unusual position as the conservatory barred woman composition students until the 1870s. Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain Suite is excerpted from the opera of the same name which debuted in 2015, performed by the Santa Fe Opera. It won the prestigious International Opera Award for Best World Premiere and has since become a favorite of American opera fans. NJYS was part of a consortium commissioning project along with 37 other professional symphonies and youth orchestras throughout the country securing the rights to the NJ premiere performance.

Said Higdon about Cold Mountain Suite, "Set in the Civil War, it's all about love and death, and everything that goes in between, so that meant there were lots of dramatic music that I could pull to make a suite. What I thought were the most dramatic and beautiful, that's what's in this music."

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