• By Mabel Pais

The New Jersey Symphony presents new Resident Artistic Partner Allison Loggins-Hull’s ‘Can You See?,’ as opening piece, with three performances in NJ locations (see program below) of Brahms and Chopin with Christoph König conducting.

The program opens with ‘Can You See?’ In 2021, Loggins-Hull was commissioned to write the piece for the New Jersey Symphony Chamber Players. This weekend’s performances mark the East Coast premiere of Hull’s expanded version for full orchestra.

The program continues with Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a favorite around the world. Tony Siqi Yun, the 23-year-old Canadian-born pianist who was Gold Medalist at the First China International Music Competition (2019) and recipient of the Rheingau Music Festival’s 2023 Lotto-Förderpreis, is set to appear in this part of the program as soloist. Yun made his debut with the Symphony last year at the 2024 Lunar New Year Celebration Concert.

The second half of the program features Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1. Following its premiere in 1876, Brahms’ First quickly garnered the nickname ‘Beethoven’s Tenth,’ particularly for the fourth movement’s simple hymn-like melody that reminded some listeners of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy.’ To this day, it remains beloved by concertgoers for its emotional power.

PROGRAM

Brahms and Chopin

New Jersey Symphony Classical

Christoph König conductor

Tony Siqi Yun piano

New Jersey Symphony

Newark – Thursday, February 20, 1:30 pm, NJPAC

Red Bank – Saturday, February 22, 8 pm, Count Basie Center for the Arts

New Brunswick – Sunday, February 23, 3 pm, State Theatre New Jersey

A Classical Conversation will take place on Sunday, February 23, at 2 pm at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick before the performance. Concertgoers will be able to learn more about the music from Symphony musicians, guest artists, and other engaging insiders.

For more information on concerts and tickets, visit njsymphony.org/events.

Christoph König

Christoph König began his tenure as chief conductor of the Spanish Radio Television Symphony Orchestra (RTVE) in Madrid with the 2023–24 season and has been music & artistic director of the Solistes Européens Luxembourg since 2010. Starting with the 2024–25 season he takes on the position of principal guest conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic. Celebrated for his clarity, precision, and elegant approach, König is in high demand as a guest conductor all over the world. Since his debut in the US in 2010, he has conducted many symphony orchestras like Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Houston, Oregon, and Toronto, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

König has been affiliated with many of the leading opera houses of the world such as Zurich Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bonn Oper, Semper Oper Dresden, Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Teatro Real in Madrid.

“König offered a fresh, sensitive, elegant, and totally unmannered interpretation. Beethoven’s full textures were uncommonly well balanced.” Pittsburgh Tribune, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Symphony No. 6)

König was born in Dresden where he sang in the famous Kreuzchoir. He studied conducting, piano, and singing at the Musikhochschule Dresden and furthered his studies in masterclasses with Sergiu Celibidache and Sir Colin Davis, whose assistant he later became with the Sächsische Staatskapelle at the Semper Oper Dresden. Connect with König @facebook.com/ccckoenig. 

Tony Siqi Yun

The Canadian-born pianist Tony Siqi Yun, Gold Medalist at the First China International Music Competition (2019) and the award recipient of the Rheingau Music Festival’s Lotto-Förderpreis (2023), is quickly becoming a sought-after soloist and recitalist. At the age of 23, he has been hailed as a “poet of the keyboard” (Pianist Magazine), and The Philadelphia Inquirer noted his thrilling performance and “interpretive flashes that point to an emergent big personality: moments of grandness or deep expressivity.”

In 2024–25, he appears with the Nashville Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic orchestras, among others. He also returns to China this season, appearing with orchestras in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Major recital debuts this season are with Washington Performing Arts, San Francisco Symphony’s Shenson Spotlight Series, and Friends of Chamber Music Denver.

He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2023–24 under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin with Orchestre Metropolitain, following his 2022–23 debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Yun has appeared recently with the Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Hamilton (ON) Philharmonic, and Rhode Island Philharmonic; outside North America, he has recently appeared with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Yun is a 2024 graduate of The Juilliard School, where he was a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship and studied with Professors Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio. Follow Tony on Instagram @tonysiqiyun.

The New Jersey Symphony

The New Jersey Symphony is a GRAMMY and Emmy Award-winning orchestra. Under the direction of the Music Director Xian Zhang, the Symphony performs more than 60 concerts at mainstage venues across the state, including Newark, Princeton, New Brunswick, Red Bank, and Morristown as well as schools and public spaces statewide. Programming at the Symphony reflects an unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion while providing students across the State unparalleled opportunities to achieve musical excellence through its Youth Orchestra and other outreach programs.

For more information about the New Jersey Symphony, visit the website at njsymphony.org.

Connect with the NJ Symphony

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(Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Spirituality, Cuisine, Health & Wellness, Business, and Education)