New Jersey Symphony has announced its 2025-26 season.
New Jersey Symphony has unveiled its 2025-26 season, which will celebrate Xian Zhang’s 10th anniversary as the orchestra’s music director through popular masterworks of the classical canon; premieres and commissions by living composers; and guest artists, both returning and new.
There will be 55 main-stage programs in five New Jersey cities, with a handful featuring genre-bending artists such as TwoSet Violin, actors from The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and singer-songwriter Ben Folds. And a concert of music by American composers will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The Symphony made the announcement at an event at NJPAC in Newark, March 12, that included a conversation between Zhang; the Symphony’s new president and CEO Terry D. Loftis; and vice president of artistic planning Erin Lunsford Norton.
BENJAMIN EALOVEGA
XIAN ZHANG
It is the Symphony’s most ambitious season since its 2022-23 star-studded centennial season. “It’s certainly a longer season compared to the last two years,” Zhang said at the event. “This one comes back really strong. It’s a very daring and very confident season that we come out of the softer seasons. And after the centennial season, we’re really robust.”
The classical subscription season will kick off Oct. 10-12 with “Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1” featuring pianist Joyce Yang, who has worked with Zhang in the past and last performed with the Symphony in 2016. “Her Russian repertoire — the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov — I’m always very convinced,” Zhang said.
The season will wrap June 4-7, 2026 with Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, plus returning guest pianist Emanuel Ax performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22. Zhang picked the former because it is one of the first pieces she conducted with the Symphony and one of the pieces she thinks it plays the best. The concert will also host the world premiere of a Symphony commission by resident artistic partner Allison Loggins-Hull.
In concerts titled “Randall Goosby Returns,” Jan. 8-11, the violinist will join Zhang in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto. The two first played together at the Symphony’s “Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto” concert in 2023. “He really blew me away,” Zhang said.
The announcement comes during an exciting period of expansion and musical chairs at New Jersey’s statewide orchestra, with a new headquarters and 550-seat performing arts venue, The Symphony Center — located in Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District — slated to open in spring 2026.
“We’re entering a new era and it’s really wonderful,” Zhang said. “We have a new home to look forward to. We just met with the architects yesterday to talk about the acoustics and how to manage the rehearsal space. Jersey City will be a new territory to us, but it opens up so much new opportunity and new audiences, and more space to expand education and the chamber music series.”
In addition to NJPAC, the 2025-26 performance halls include The State Theatre in New Brunswick, The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and The Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University. Subscription offerings are available at all five venues.
Zhang, music director since 2016, will continue in the role through the 2027–28 season alongside her new post as music director at Seattle Symphony, starting in September.
JOSHUA BELL
Joshua Bell was recently appointed the Symphony’s principal guest conductor, from the 2025-26 season through the 2028-29 season. The violinist, who has been collaborating with the Symphony for more than three decades, will appear on one program weekend each season; his first appearance in the new role will be May 14-16, 2026, conducting two works by Mendelssohn: The Hebrides and Symphony No. 4. For Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, he will perform as both soloist and conductor, as he did at the “Joshua Bell Leads the New Jersey Symphony” concert in 2023.
Loftis stepped in as president and CEO earlier this year, relocating from Texas and his former position at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Numerous things inspired him to throw his hat into the ring for consideration, including attending a concert by the Symphony in Princeton.
“That was one of the nights that I texted the search firm and said, ‘I want this job!’ Xian is fantastic, the orchestra is absolutely incredible, and I want to be the guy that leads this organization into the future.”
He said he also admires the orchestra’s daring history, “including the fact that this orchestra was the first in the United States to have its first African American music director with Henry Lewis.”
MICHELLE CANN
The Symphony will pay tribute to the 250th anniversary of American independence with an all-American program, Nov. 6-9, with returning pianist Michelle Cann in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue plus Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement, conducted by Tito Muñoz in his Symphony debut. Cann last played with the Symphony in 2023 in Strauss’ Burleske. The concert will also include the Northeast premiere of Carlos Simon’s Zodiac, a New Jersey Symphony co-commission (with the Jacksonville Symphony), and Aaron Copland’s Suite from Billy the Kid.
“This program is a survey of American music and it’s special in that each piece takes inspiration from different American folk and popular music,” Lunsford Norton said. “From jazz and ragtime and the two piano concertos on the first half, to gospel and blues influences of Carlos Simon — and Copeland famously took real cowboy songs and folk songs and put them into his Billy the Kid Suite.”
Masterworks of the symphonic repertoire take up much of the season, particularly the rich and harmonic Middle European composers that Zhang regularly conducted abroad as music director of Sinfonica di Milano, the historic Milan-based orchestra she led from 2009 until joining the Symphony in 2016.
One of the composers she is particularly looking forward to exploring is Gustav Mahler, whose Songs of a Wayfarer will be heard in the “Mozart’s Requiem” concert, April 16-19, 2026. “The Mahler is a beautiful set of Lieder that I recently did in Brussels,” Zhang said. “We don’t play much Mahler here — maybe one piece a season — so I’m very happy that will happen.”
DASHON BURTON
The all-vocal program will include longtime choir collaborator Montclair State University Chorale in the title work as well as in the choral version of Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane. Bass-baritone Dashon Burton will also sing the solo in the Mahler work.
Zhang is also looking forward to the “Xian Conducts Prokofiev & Strauss” concerts April 10-12, 2026 with violinist Francesca Dego in her Symphony debut with Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto. Dego’s performances with Zhang over the years include a last-minute performance in Italy of Brahms’ Violin Concerto when she was only 16. The program also includes Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, which Zhang called the biggest and most ambitious piece of the season; its manuscript calls for eight horns and players in the wings.
Anton Webern’s Im Sommerwind, which Zhang has conducted often in Europe with other orchestras, will also be on the program. This will be the first time New Jersey Symphony has played it. “Every season I wish I could bring a piece to this orchestra that they have never played in its 102-year history,” she said, mentioning that Stravinsky’s Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss — played at “The Firebird with Xian Zhang” concerts, March 7-9 — was another piece the orchestra had never played before.
“This is the very last piece Webern wrote that was tonal,” Zhang said of Im Sommerwind, a lush orchestral tone poem that departs from Webern’s mature compositions of radical, atonal style. “He showed this piece to Schoenberg and asked him what he thought about the piece, and Schoenberg said there is no way out of this — this is it — meaning that you’ve hit a dead end and you cannot write more tonal music. Now we look back and there’s modernism in it but, in a way, there is a surrealistic thing about Webern that is very unique to him.”
Two of Beethoven’s great symphonies, the Fifth and Sixth, will be the focus of two concerts, starting with “Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony” Feb. 26-March 1. The concert will also feature Kevin Puts’ Contact played by the string ensemble Time for Three; the piece is from their 2022 album, Letters for the Future, which was conducted by Zhang with The Philadelphia Orchestra and won multiple Grammy awards.
Beethoven’s symphonic masterworks will continue March 27-29, 2026, with “Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony” conducted by Zhang, alongside two Mozart works.
EVA GEVORGYAN
A pair of Symphony debuts for conductor Ruth Reinhardt and pianist Eva Gevorgyan on Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 will be heard on March 12-15, 2026, with Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Romanian Folk Dances. Zhang calls the Bartók Concerto “a showcase piece” and said its inclusion in programming has been discussed for the past eight years or so.
“I think the orchestra will enjoy it very much,” she said. “It’s one of the pieces they’ll have the most fun with. It’s the ultimate orchestral piece. If you’re a player of any instrument from the orchestra, you will play an excerpt from that piece for almost any audition.”
The Symphony will revisit partnerships with other New Jersey cultural institutions to develop new programs, including a special collaboration with The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. The event, Jan. 29-Feb. 1, will be an original music-and-theater presentation of “Romeo & Juliet,” featuring selections from both Tchaikovsky’s and Prokofiev’s compositions interspersed with excerpts from the play. The theater last collaborated with the Symphony a decade ago.
A handful of events were designed to draw new and emerging audiences into the concert halls. The wildly popular YouTube violin/comedy duo TwoSet (Eddy Chen and Brett Yang) will make a stop at NJPAC in Newark on Oct. 5 as part of their inaugural world tour. They will be backed by the full symphony orchestra.
Singer-songwriter and pianist Ben Folds will perform his songs with the Symphony, June 13–14, 2026. Folds recently made news by stepping down as an artistic advisor at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a position he served for eight years, in response to President Trump’s moves to control the Washington, D.C., venue. Breaking longstanding tradition, Trump replaced the president, removed his predecessor’s board members and installed himself as chair, exerting control over programming.
The Symphony will continue its annual holiday and family programming with Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” with New Jersey Ballet in December (dates TBA); Handel’s Messiah with The Montclair State University Singers, Dec. 19-21; a Lunar New Year Celebration Concert with The Peking University Alumni Chorus, pianist Haochen Zhang and conductor Sunny Xia on Feb. 7; and family concerts on Nov. 8 and March 28, 2026.
In October, New Jersey Symphony will provide live music for scenes from “Fantasia.”
The Symphony at the Movies series, which performs live scores, will include Disney’s “Fantasia,” Oct. 23-26 (Lunsford Norton called it “one of the pillars of introducing classical music to a broad audience”); “Elf,” Dec. 6-7; and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” May 29–31, 2026.
Summer concerts will take place throughout the state, with details TBA.
Zhang and Lunsford spoke about the many factors that go into planning the season. For example, they can only stage so many choral masterworks per year. “You have to consider what you’re planning it for,” Zhang said. “NJ Symphony has over 60 core members of the orchestra so that means it limits my chances of how much huge repertoire you can do in a season. It cannot be every week and it has to make economical sense as well.”
She also said that star artists have to be booked a couple of years in advance, so they are already looking ahead to 2026-27 season, to lock in the big names.
The fact that the Symphony plays in five venues also presents some challenges, but makes the organization more adaptable and flexible. “It’s like a puzzle,” Zhang said. “This is actually one of the unique challenges for the NJ Symphony to plan because we’re in so many different venues. We’re not like one of those other American symphonies — say, like Cleveland or Chicago — where you’re in your home hall, day and night. We have quite a complex planning process.”
“And we’re scrappy as a result,” joked Lunsford Norton.
Zhang has built up the orchestra over the last 10 years in many different ways, including hiring 13 new musicians. The Symphony is the largest single employer of union musicians in the state, employing 66 full-time musicians who receive salary and benefits.
On the artistic side, when I spoke to her in 2022 in anticipation of the Symphony’s centennial season, she said her ambition was to expand the general scope of sound into a wider range and variety: “From the much softer, much more precise and lighter sounds, style-wise, to bigger sounds. To stretch it and to make it fuller.” She believes she has succeeded in this goal.
“Musically speaking, I’m already witnessing the change in the orchestra. We sound so much more vibrant in a way, particularly improvements in the brass and wind sections … I would be very happy, and I think that we’re getting there, that I would leave the orchestra in very good shape artistically, very vibrant and robust.”
She has three more years with the orchestra before joining Seattle Symphony full time, and hopes to make the transition as smooth as possible, and find a music director that the orchestra likes and enjoys being with. “That would be great,” she said. “For me that would be a wish come true, to make sure that the orchestra and the musicians would be happy.”
Loftis said part of his vision for the Symphony has to do with expanding its reach. “We in New Jersey seem to know how fantastic this organization is (but) we need to get on the top of the hill and shout this truth to outside of the geographical borders of New Jersey. The rest of the nation and the rest of the world needs to know how fantastic this organization is.”
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Brett Yang, left, and Eddy Chen of TwoSet Violin.
Here is the full lineup of all the concerts in the 2025-26 season. For information and tickets, visit njsymphony.org.
“TwoSet Violin”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Oct. 5 at 2 p.m.
TwoSet Violin (Eddy Chen and Brett Yang, violins). Program TBA.
“Season Opening: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 12 at 2 p.m.; Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Xian Zhang, conductor; Joyce Yang, piano. Program includes Jessie Montgomery’s Hymn for Everyone; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1; Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8.
“Fantasia in Concert”
Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.; Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m.; State Theatre, New Brunswick, Oct 26 at 2 p.m.
Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor. Program includes music heard in “Fantasia” (1940) and “Fantasia 2000” (1999), accompanied by footage from the films.
MANUEL BRAUN
TITO MUÑOZ
“Rhapsody in Blue”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Nov. 6 at 1:30 p.m. and Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m.; Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m.; State Theatre, New Brunswick, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.
Tito Muñoz, conductor; Michelle Cann, piano. Program includes Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement; George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue; Carlos Simon’s Zodiac (Northeast premiere; New Jersey Symphony co-commission); Aaron Copland’s Suite from Billy the Kid.
“Discover Rhapsody in Blue”
Interactive family concert.
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m.
Tito Muñoz, conductor; Michelle Cann, piano. Program includes George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue; Aaron Copland’s Suite from Billy the Kid.
“Elf in Concert”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Dec. 6 at 2 p.m.; Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m.
Conner Gray Covington, conductor. Screening of “Elf” (2003) with New Jersey Symphony playing John Debney’s score.
“New Jersey Ballet’s Nutcracker with New Jersey Symphony”
Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown. Dates TBA.
ANTHONY PARNTHER
“Handel’s Messiah“
Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, Dec. 19-20 at 7:30 p.m.; Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.
Anthony Parnther, conductor; Caitlin Gotimer, soprano; Maria Dominique Lopez, mezzo-soprano; Orson Van Gay II, tenor; Shyheim Selvan Hinnant, bass-baritone; Montclair University Singers (Heather J. Buchanan, director). Program includes George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
“Holiday Singalong”
Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, Dec. 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Sing-along of songs and carols with the Montclair State University Singers (Heather J. Buchanan, director).
“Randall Goosby Returns”
State Theatre, New Brunswick, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m.; Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.; Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m.; Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, Jan. 11 at 2 p.m.
Xian Zhang, conductor; Randall Goosby, violin. Program includes Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia; Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.2, “Ukrainian.”
“Romeo & Juliet”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Jan. 29 at 1:30 p.m., Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.; Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Xian Zhang, conductor; actors from The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (performing excerpts from play). Program includes Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture; Sergei Prokofiev’s Selections from Romeo and Juliet.
“Lunar New Year Celebration Concert”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunny Xia, conductor; Haochen Zhang, piano; Peking University Alumni Chorus. Program TBA.
From left, Ranaan Meyer, Charles Yang and Nick Kendall of Time for Three.
“Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony”
Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.; Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. and March 1 at 2 p.m.
Markus Stenz, conductor. Program includes Richard Wagner’s Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin. Kevin Puts’ Contact (performed by Time for Three); Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
“Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, March 12 at 1:30 p.m.; Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, March 13, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, March 14, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; State Theatre, New Brunswick, March 15, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Ruth Reinhardt, conductor; Eva Gevorgyan, piano. Program includes Béla Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances and Concerto for Orchestra; Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
“Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, March 27-28, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, March 29, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Xian Zhang, conductor; Juan Esteban Martinez, clarinet. Program includes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major, K. 136 and Clarinet Concerto; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral.”
“Discover Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony”
Interactive family concert
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, March 28, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Xian Zhang, conductor. Program includes Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral.”
FRANCESCA DEGO
“Xian Conducts Prokofiev & Strauss”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, April 10, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. and April 12, 2026 at 2 p.m.; Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, April 11, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Xian Zhang, conductor; Francesca Dego, violin. Program includes Anton Webern’s Im Sommerwind; Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2; Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben.
“Mozart’s Requiem”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, April 16, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. and April 18, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; State Theatre, New Brunswick, April 19, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Xian Zhang, conductor; Mei Gui Zhang, soprano; Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano; Eric Ferring, tenor; Dashon Burton, bass-baritone; Montclair State University Chorale (Heather J. Buchanan, director). Program includes Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane; Gustav Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem.
“Joshua Bell Leads Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian’ “
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, May 14, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. and May 16, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, May 15, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, May 17, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Joshua Bell, conductor and violin. Program includes Felix Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) and Symphony No. 4, “Italian”; Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole.
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Concert”
Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, May 29, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, May 30, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; State Theatre, New Brunswick, May 31, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Constantine Kitsopoulos, conductor. Screening of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (2017) with New Jersey Symphony playing John Williams’ score.
EMANUEL AX
“Season Finale: Symphonie fantastique”
State Theatre, New Brunswick, June 4, 2026 at 7 p.m.; Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, June 5, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank, June 6, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, June 7, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Xian Zhang, conductor; Emanuel Ax, piano. Program includes a new work by Allison Loggins-Hull (world premiere, New Jersey Symphony commission); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22; Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.
“Ben Folds with the New Jersey Symphony”
Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, June 13, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.; State Theatre, New Brunswick, June 14, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Ben Folds, piano and vocals. Program TBA.
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