NJSO Presents SCHUBERT 9: THE GREAT, Now thru 5/20

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The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) presents Schubert's Ninth Symphony, "The Great," in Newark, Princeton and New Brunswick Now thru May 20.

Guest conductor Christoph König leads the Orchestra in a program that also features operatic music of Mozart, Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. Soprano Olga Peretyatko performs the legendary "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Queen of the Night" aria) from Mozart's The Magic Flute, "Ah! non credea mirarti" from Bellini's La Sonnambula and "Ah! tardai troppo … O luce di quest'anima" from Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix.

Music Director Jacques Lacombe says: "For a lot of composers, the Ninth Symphony is something very special. Schubert's Ninth is really a masterpiece, and that really plays a special role in the repertoire." Crafting a program of operatic music around Schubert's Ninth, Lacombe says, came out of the composer's connections to the operatic tradition.

"Schubert wrote a lot of operas, and even though we don't know him primarily for those operas today, his melodies for orchestral instruments or for piano can feel almost as if they were written for the voice. "The Kings Of opera were the Italians. To put on the program a sort of tribute to the Italian composers of the bel canto era-Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti-speaks to a time where borders [between symphonic and operatic music] weren't exactly NJSO: 'SCHUBERT 9: THE GREAT' – Page 2 so black and white. Mozart had gone to Italy to study, so he was influenced by those composers, and a lot of Mozart's orchestral music seems to be written in the style in which he wrote opera."

Performances take place tonight, May 17, (1:30 p.m.) and Saturday, May 19, (8 p.m.) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, Friday, May 18, (8 p.m.) at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton and Sunday, May 20, (3 p.m.) at the State Theatre in New Brunswick.

Classical Conversations begin one hour before the performances on May 19 and 20 and are free to ticketholders. TICKETS Tickets range in price from $20 to $85 and are available for purchase online at www.njsymphony.org or by phone at 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476).