Xian Zhang Conducts New Jersey Symphony's 2025 Lunar New Year Celebration

New Jersey Symphony will present a special performance for the 2025 Lunar New Year Celebration ringing in the Year of the Snake. Music Director Xian Zhang will conduct the performance on Saturday, January 25, 2025, at 7:30 pm at New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

First developed by Zhang in 2019, the Lunar New Year Celebration weaves together the best in classical music from the East and the West. Zhang leads a program that includes Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture, selections from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, Arirang, “Yuan Ri,” “The Red Dragonfly” arranged by Nicholas Hersh and Puccini’s “E Lucevan le stelle” from Tosca and selections from Turandot.

Min Kwon and Michael Fabiano are set to perform, with special appearances from Starry Arts Children’s Chorus and Peking University (PKU) Alumni Chorus, which consists of former members of PKU’s student choir alongside singers from the Chinese community in New York and New Jersey. The evening will also feature a performance by the Edison Chinese School Lion Dance Team.

Earlier this year, the Symphony held a composition competition and invited New Jersey-based composers of all backgrounds, ages and ability levels to submit their own solo piano arrangement of the Korean folk song Arirang. Patricio Molina, the winner of the competition, will have his arrangement performed at the concert by pianist Min Kwon. Leading up to the performance, Molina will also participate in at least one workshop with Kwon.

All ticket holders are invited to attend a pre-concert Cultural Exchange Festival in the Prudential Hall lobby that will feature artisans and performers from Prince Kung’s Palace Museum in Beijing. Gates will open at 6 pm.

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