New Jersey Symphony Orchestra to Present 15TH Annual UJA Benefit Concert, 4/22

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Music Director Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) join the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ (UJC) to present the 15th annual benefit concert in support of the United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest NJ (UJA) on Sunday, April 22, at 3 p.m., at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. Internationally renowned pianist Yefim Bronfman performs Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.

To create a special performance experience, the Orchestra will perform Brahms' Hungarian Dances Nos. 1 & 5 and Smetana's Three Dances from The Bartered Bride in between movements of Beethoven's Concerto No. 3. The program opens with Dvo?ák's Carnival Overture.

"This is my first time conducting the UJA concert," Lacombe says. "I am excited to be a part of this tradition. The Orchestra is very relevant to everyone in our state, and this is a unique way to connect with our friends in the Jewish community. Of course I am very happy to work with Yefim again; I've always had a great respect for him as a musician. For a conductor, he is wonderful to work with-his vision is so clear that you just embrace it and go with"

According to Lacombe, "I've wanted to create a program like this for a long time. When I studied in Vienna, I learned about the way concerts were programmed in the time of Beethoven and Mozart. I thought it was interesting that at the time those works were created, people weren't used to listening to new music like a symphony from beginning to end, they were interspersed with other pieces. This program returns to the idea of presenting a great piano concerto separated by other pieces of music.

"This program sort of 'keeps it in the family'-there is this connection between Beethoven and Brahms, and then we go across the border to Czechoslovakia, performing music of Dvo?ák and Smetana. Beethoven had such a big influence on Brahms, who in turn had a great influence on Czech and Hungarian composers; Brahms and Dvo?ák had a great friendship. Carnival and Dance' could be the subtitle of this program; it all goes back to this idea of a celebration."

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). Tickets for children ages 16 and younger are $15 and are available for purchase by phone.