Xian Zhang Conducts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

New Jersey Symphony’s Music Director Xian Zhang will conduct four performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Three of the performances will take place at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark: Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 1:30 pm, Friday, April 4, 2025, at 8 pm, and Saturday, April 5, 2025, at 8 pm. A fourth performance will be offered on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at 3 pm, at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick.

Vocalists Felicia Moore, soprano; Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano; Issachah Savage, tenor; and Reginald Smith Jr., baritone; are set to join the Symphony stage for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 “Choral” along with Montclair State University Chorale under the leadership of Director Heather J. Buchanan. Saxophonist Steven Banks will appear as a soloist in Billy Childs’ Diaspora.

Starting off the program is Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, the opener to the third act of his most famous opera and a concert hall staple. The first half closes with Billy Childs’ Diaspora, where he relays the experience of Black America using three poems by Black poets as guideposts.

The second half features Beethoven’s Ninth, which changed symphonic music when it first premiered. In the Ninth Symphony’s finale, Beethoven used selections from Friedrich von Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy” (“An die Freude”) and was the first composer to incorporate vocal soloists and a chorus into a symphony.

A pre-concert Classical Conversation will take place on Thursday, April 3, at 12:30 pm at NJPAC in Newark. Concertgoers will be able to learn more about the music from Symphony musicians, guest artists, and other engaging insiders.

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