Jacques Lacombe Conducts NJSO in RITE OF SPRING Tonight

Music Director Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra present Stravinsky's groundbreaking, riot-inducing The Rite of Spring on its 2012-13 classical season finale program, tonight, June 7-9 in Newark and Morristown. The NJSO opens the program with the Prelude and "Liebestod" from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde as part of a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth; the program also features the concert suite from Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande.

Performances take place tonight, June 7, (8 pm) and Sunday, June 9, (3 pm) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark and Saturday, June 8, (3 pm) at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown. A Classical Conversation about the music on the program begins one hour before the June 8 performance in Morristown.

"The premiere of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is a crucial moment in the history of music," Lacombe says. "It was a shock for the audience in the theater for the premiere [on May 29, 1913, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées]. In their own ways, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande were also controversial works at the time they were premiered. [This program came together] with the idea of these key transition moments in history when composers proved that there were new ways to write music. To perform The Rite of Spring so close to the 100th anniversary of its premiere and to again acknowledge the Wagner anniversary makes this program an exciting season finale."

Tickets start at $20 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).

THE PROGRAM:

The Rite of Spring

Friday, June 7 at 8 pm | NJPAC in Newark
Saturday, June 8 at 3 pm | Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown + Sunday, June 9 at 3 pm | NJPAC in Newark

Jacques Lacombe, conductor New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

WAGNER Prelude and "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde DEBUSSY Concert Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

+ Classical Conversation begins one hour prior to the performance (free to ticketholders).

Jacques Lacombe, conductor: New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Music Director Jacques Lacombe is renowned as a remarkable conductor whose artistic integrity and rapport with orchestras have propelled him to international stature. Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal from 2002 to 2006, he led the orchestra in more than 100 performances. He served for three years as Music Director of both orchestra and opera with the Philharmonie de Lorraine in France; he has been Music Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières since 2006.

Following the stunning Mahler 9 concerts that closed the NJSO season in June 2012, Lacombe returned to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden to lead performances of Puccini's La bohème starring Roberto Alagna and Angela Georghiu.

In the 2012-13 season, Lacombe conducts the Opéra de Nice in an all-orchestra program and leads subscription weeks with the symphony orchestras of Québec, Toledo and Montreal, the last in a program of Bernstein and Debussy with pianist Kirill Gerstein; he also makes his Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debut on a program featuring Branford Marsalis. He returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin to lead Carmen.

In recent seasons, Lacombe made his debuts with the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. He led Turandot and Les Contes d'Hoffmann for Opéra de Monte-Carlo and Der fliegende Holländer, Eugene Onegin, Carl Orff's Gisei - Das Opfer, Un Ballo in Maschera, Zemlinsky's Der Traumgörge and concert performances of Waltershausen's rarely heard Oberst Chabert, all at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Oberst Chabert was released as a live CD by CPO in 2011. Lacombe led the world premiere of John Estacio's Lillian Alling at the Vancouver Opera, where he has also led productions of Roméo and Juliette and La Traviata.

Lacombe has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera and at the Teatro Regio in Turin; given the world premiere of Vladimir Cosma's Marius et Fanny at l'Opéra de Marseille and has led the symphony orchestras of Toronto and Vancouver and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Abroad, he has conducted the orchestras in Nice, Toulouse and Halle, as well as with the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris, Slovakia Philharmonic, Budapest Symphony, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Victoria Orchestra Melbourne and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Lacombe received Québec's highest civilian honor in 2012, when he was named a Knight of the National Order of QuébeC. Later that same year, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is comprised of some of the country's finest musicians. The Orchestra is proud to have Jacques Lacombe as its Music Director. Artistic excellence, innovative programming and community engagement are hallmarks of its mission. To best serve the people of New Jersey, the orchestra brings its programs to seven outstanding venues throughout the state. Education and community engagement programs enrich the listening experience for children and adults alike. Select performances of the NJSO are broadcast regionally and throughout North America.

For more information about the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, 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.

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