Jean-Yves Thibaudet Plays Ravel with New Jersey Symphony

Jean-Yves Thibaudet is set to perform with New Jersey Symphony this January. Kevin John Edusei will conduct the four performances.

The performances will take place Thursday, January 9, 2024, at 1:30 pm at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark; Friday, January 10, 2024, at 8 pm, at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton; Saturday, January 11, 2024, at 8 pm, at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark; and Sunday, January 12, 2024, at 3 pm, at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick.

The program begins with Donghoon Shin’s Of Rats and Men, which draws inspiration from two short stories: Franz Kafka’s “Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse’ (“Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk”) and the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño’s “Police Rat.” Shin’s piece makes use of the entire orchestra's instrumentation while maintaining a transparency that allows different layers of sound to emerge. The first half of the program closes with Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, a work built upon broad musical influences. The sprightly outer movements feature jazz and blues influences, while Ravel drew inspiration from Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet for the central, beautifully simple slow movement.

The second half of the program features Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, which was composed between 1901 and 1902. Arguably Sibelius’ best-known work, the Second Symphony is known for its unconventional first movement form and the stirring nationalistic hymn that forms the main thrust of the finale.

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