The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra will host College Night on Friday, March 1, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. A special $10 student ticket includes entrance to the Orchestra's Pictures at an Exhibition concert and a post-concert all-student party with light refreshments and live entertainment provided by student musicians and performing groups from various New Jersey colleges and universities.
The NJSO will provide free round-trip bus transportation to the concert from select New Jersey college campuses. Pick-up times and locations are posted at www.njsymphony.org/college; the site will be updated as additional buses become available.
The Orchestra has set aside a block of tickets as Tweet Seats, from which college students can post live concert commentary on social media. The NJSO (@NJSymphony) will tweet live program notes during the performance.
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is the centerpiece of a concert program of Russian and French Romantic music. NJSO Concertmaster Eric Wyrick makes his annual solo appearance with the Orchestra, performing Chausson's Poème and Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. The program also includes Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor (with a theme famously adapted as the song "Stranger in Paradise" from Kismet and later sampled in hip-hop tracks and video game scores); Eugene Tzigane conducts.
NJSO Music Director Jacques Lacombe says of Wyrick: "Eric is really a top violinist, and we are very lucky to have him as our concertmaster. He has the qualities of both a soloist and a chamber musician, which is very rare to. He has such clear vision and instincts, and whenever he solos with the NJSO he really brings the Orchestra with him."
The March 1 performance at NJPAC begins at 8 pm; a pre-concert Classical Conversation about the music with conductor Eugene Tzigane begins at 7 pm.
For more information on College Night, visit www.njsymphony.org/college.
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