Conductor Xian Zhang discusses the New Jersey Symphony’s season-finale concerts, which include at stop in Red Bank Saturday night.
It was an eclectic slate of programming, one in which sought-after international soloists and the works of the old masters shared the stage with modern Broadway babies and romantic favorites from the contemporary pop playlist.
For its season finale at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra kicks out the jams in classically classical fashion Saturday under the baton of celebrated conductor Xian Zhang.
But as redbankgreen regulars know, the concert won’t be the last opportunity for locals to hear a symphony this summer.
Zhang, the China-born prodigy and animated “audience favorite” who recently became the first woman to wield the baton as NJSO’s music director — and who served an acclaimed tenure as associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic after her 1998 move to the West — comes to the Basie with a program spotlighting the Symphony No. 5 by Shostakovich.
Also on the bill: the Red Bank debut of Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman, whose internationally hailed skills are showcased here on the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Brahms. Take it here for tickets to the 8 p.m. concert, which start at $20.
Then, mark those calendars for Sunday, July 2, when conductor Sameer Patel and the NJSO return to the borough for a free-admission season encore, this one an open-air concert that christens a new set of improvements at the sloping-lawn natural amphitheatre of Marine Park. Go here for the details from redbankgreen.
