From Sinatra to Springsteen, New Jersey has served as the birthplace of music that defined the 20th century – but there are plenty of venues to enjoy the symphonies of the 18th century as well.
Even though New Jersey sits in the shadow of New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall – veritable Meccas for classical music lovers – the state offers more than 50 first-rate symphonies, orchestras and philharmonics performing at top-notch facilities.
“The quality of the musicianship in the state is exceptionally high,” says Julia Kirchhausen, who works for the American Symphony Orchestra League in Manhattan, which has more than 900 member orchestras around the U.S., including 56 in New Jersey. “Not everybody can play for the New York Philharmonic, so where do they go? They go to their own communities and start their own ensembles.”
Classical music, classic instruments
The most famous classical music ensemble in the state is the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, which recently purchased dozens of irreplaceable antique instruments.
For the past two years, the 69-member orchestra has been the only classical ensemble in the world to hold its own collection of 17th- and 18th-century rare and superb stringed instruments, says Philip Leininger, who works for the group.
The collection includes 14 Stradivarius violins and one viola, as well as three violins made by Joseph Guarneri del Gesu. In total, the symphony orchestra owns 30 of the instruments, which are then loaned to the musicians to live, practice and perform with.
“We don’t want these instruments sitting in a museum. They were built to be used,” Leininger says. “It’s one of the unique perks of being a string player for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.”
The instruments have shaped the orchestra’s musical repertoire, Leininger says. For the past few years, the ensemble has focused on music that features the string section and has “strong string melodies,” he says.
This is the ensemble’s first season with its new music director, Neeme Jarvi. Throughout the year, the orchestra will play in seven different halls in seven different municipalities all over the state: New Brunswick, Trenton, Englewood, Red Bank, Princeton, Morristown and Newark.
The orchestra has called the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark its home since the venue was opened in October of 1997. The center, which towers majestically over Route 21 as it runs through Newark, has 2,700 seats in Prudential Hall, its main room, and an additional 500 seats in Victoria Hall, also part of the center.
“There’s a real special-ness to the facility,” Leininger says. “The acoustics are phenomenal, and there’s a real sense of occasion when you go to the Performing Arts Center to see a concert there.”
He adds, “You feel like you’re out on the town.”
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has many concerts scheduled at NJPAC and throughout the state.
Fifty years and celebrating
Near the Jersey Shore, the Garden State Philharmonic is throwing some special performances in honor of its 50th year of bringing classical music to South Jersey.
“We are the Jersey Shore’s orchestra,” says Darlene A. Dryer, executive director of the Garden State Philharmonic. “We’re providing a really basic need to preserve culture in our community.”
On Dec. 18, the philharmonic will perform a holiday pops concert, complete with time-honored Christmas carols. On March 25, the ensemble will celebrate Mozart’s birthday with a concert featuring the famous maestro’s music. Both performances will be at Ocean County College’s Fine Arts Center in Toms River.
The Garden State Philharmonic performs many concerts in the Strand Theatre in Lakewood. Dryer describes the venue as “a gorgeous, renovated, historic theater in downtown Lakewood, the kind you envision in the movies.”
While often overshadowed by ensembles in New York on one side and Philadelphia on the other, Dryer says the Garden State Philharmonic offers every bit of the cultural experience, without the urban hassle.
“What we are able to offer is great parking, limited travel time and no city hassles or dangers,” she says. “That makes people feel more comfortable.”
Educating and entertaining
George Marriner Maull, who has conducted the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey for the past 19 years, estimates that he teaches 3,000 adults each year how to listen to music.
Under Maull’s direction, the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey takes a unique approach in performances it calls “Discovery Concerts.” The ensemble will play a piece of music, then Maull will lecture the audience about what the composer was trying to communicate and give tips on which specific passages to listen for. Then the ensemble will play the piece again.
“Audiences can’t believe how different the same piece of music sounds after they’ve investigated it,” Maull says. “That’s something that’s rare at concerts, to hear the same piece of music twice.”
Six years ago, the philharmonic orchestra’s board of directors decided to put an emphasis on adult education. Since then, it has been Maull’s main focus. A videotaped Discovery Concert, entitled “Bach to the Future,” has been shown on PBS and was nominated for an Emmy Award.
“Once you teach people how to listen to music, they can transfer it to any piece of music for the rest of their lives,” Maull says.
The Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey, which is the only one of the state’s smaller ensembles to perform at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, will perform a Discovery Concert to examine the work of Antonin Dvorak in NJPAC’s Victoria Hall on March 5, 2006.
Credit where credit is due
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra, based in Princeton, highlights overlooked pieces of music with famous conductors, or conductors who themselves have been overlooked, says Joshua Worby, executive director of the symphony orchestra.
“Our programming is innovative and risk-taking. We don’t just rely on the same old set of familiar ‘war horses,’ as they’re known in the field,” Worby says. “We will combine and mix the familiar with the unfamiliar, and our audience has come to embrace that as an opportunity to hear something different that they hadn’t heard before.”
The symphony orchestra, which was founded in 1980, performs in the Richardson Auditorium on the Princeton University campus. The ensemble has no affiliation with Princeton University, though. The 110-year-old stone auditorium has 860 seats in a horseshoe shape underneath a domed ceiling and stained glass windows.
“It’s an extremely intimate setting to hear music,” Worby says. “The acoustics are superb, and the landmark structure is absolutely breathtaking.”
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra will perform a Holiday Pops concert on Saturday, Dec. 17 as well as another pops concert on Feb. 4, 2006.
House calls
While the New Philharmonic of New Jersey performs four concerts each year at the Community Theatre in Morristown, it’s also known throughout North Jersey for bringing classical music to people who can’t make it to the theater.
“We send concerts out to nursing homes and assisted-living facilities,” says Elizabeth Lehmann, executive director of the New Philharmonic of New Jersey. “We make sure that people who love it and get pleasure and comfort from it can get it, even if they’re too frail to get to the theater.”
The 28-year-old ensemble, which ranges from 35 to 55 members depending on the music, has also attracted its share of world-class soloists, Lehmann says.
On Dec. 10 the New Philharmonic will play a birthday tribute to Mozart.
More places to listen
Three more venues that offer an unforgettable concert experience.
Union County Arts Center
On Dec. 10, the Union County Arts Center in Rahway will host the St. Peter by the Sea Orchestra playing a holiday pops concert.
The theater was built in 1928 for vaudeville and because of that, says Danni Rumsey, who works for the Union County Arts Center, the acoustics are incredible.
“You can sit anywhere in the house and hear the orchestra and it sounds wonderful,” she says. “There is nowhere for the sound to get trapped, it just travels throughout the theater.”
Each year the arts center books up to three orchestras.
“The character of the theater has a nostalgic feel about it, which adds to the experience of hearing an orchestra there,” Rumsey says. “Nothing could sell the experience more than coming into the theater and seeing the beauty of the orchestra.”
For more information, visit www.ucac.org or call (732) 499-8226.
PNC Bank Arts Center
The spring and summer months are an ideal time to spend an evening listening to classical music at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. The Garden State Arts Foundation hosts three classical concerts at the arts center each year. Best of all is the price: free.
“About five years ago, our board thought that people would enjoy this music and that there wasn’t enough of it,” says Carolyn Santiago, arts center coordinator for the foundation. “We’ve attracted thousands of people and they keep coming back, so they must be enjoying the concerts.”
As many as 8,000 people at a time have come to enjoy the classical music series, often performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
The venue, on warm, sunny evenings, is unsurpassed. The open-air amphitheater is bordered by woods and a green hillside.
“It’s just a beautiful, magnificent setting,” Santiago says.
For more information, visit www.gsacfoundation.org or call (732) 442-9200.
Park Performing Arts Center
While there are no classical concerts scheduled this year due to renovations, the Park Performing Arts Center in Union City offers a one-of-a-kind listening experience.
The theater, built in 1931 and converted into a movie house in 1940, seats 1,400 and was constructed for live, acoustic music, says John Lewis, executive director of the arts center.
“This was made for music without amplification,” he says.
The walls are all hard with no soft materials, such as drapes, to absorb or deaden the sound, which makes for a vivid listening experience, he says.
The 2006 schedule will be announced in the spring. For more information, visit www.parkpac.org or call (201) 865-6980. – NS
CONTACTS
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
1 Center St.
Newark
(888) GO-NJPAC
www.njpac.org
The Park Performing Arts Center
560 32nd St.
Union City
(201) 865-6980
www.parkpac.org
PNC Bank Arts Center
Garden State Parkway, Exit 116
Holmdel
(732) 335-0400
www.artscenter.com
Princeton Symphony Orchestra
Nassau Street
Princeton
(609) 497-0020
www.princetonsymphony.org
Union County Arts Center
1601 Irving St.
Rahway
(732) 499-8226
www.ucac.org