Picture This! NJ Festival Orchestra

Internationally acclaimed cellist Mo Mo joins NJFO for season opening concert on Sept 29. The Hollywood blockbuster Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon meets Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in the NJ Festival Orchestra (NJFO) season opener “Picture This! Imagery in Music,” on Sunday, September 29 at Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge. Under the baton of Maestro David Wroe, acclaimed guest cellist Mo Mo joins the orchestra to perform the Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon Concerto, a concert work based on Tan Dun’s score for Ang Lee's Oscar-winning mystical martial arts film. Mo Mo, from Beijing, China, was specially selected by composer Tan as one of the few official performers of his Oscar-winning score, originally written for Yo Yo Ma. “I’m sure many will remember the acclaimed movie Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon and its haunting film score, full of evocative melodies and rhythms, that took the movie industry by storm back in 2000,” commented NJFO Music Director David Wroe. Celebrated by the Weekly Music magazine for his “impeccably logical and also vivid, emotional playing,” guest soloist Mo Mo has firmly established himself as one of the leading cellists of his generation. In recent years, Mo Mo’s performances have resonated with leading orchestras across the United States, China, and Europe at iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, Jordan Hall in Boston, and the Fontainebleau Palace in Paris. His accolades include top prizes at international competitions such as the 2016 Schoenfeld International String Competition in Harbin, China, and the 2017 Koussevitzky Young Artist Award in New York. “We are thrilled to welcome this young and brilliant cellist for our season opening festivities,” continued Wroe. “Mo Mo is one of the newest and brightest stars of the future. He has worked extensively with composer Tan Dun and we are deeply honored that he is travelling from Beijing to perform Tan’s masterpiece with us.” This extraordinary cello concerto is then juxtaposed dramatically with Modest Mussorgsky’s musical paintings Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Yu) as NJ Festival Orchestra leaps into life with more music based on emotions, mythical creatures and stories. “Pictures at an Exhibition – Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky‘s most famous work – is a series of 10 sketches featuring gnomes, laborious oxen, ancient catacombs, castles and more. It is music so iconic that it has spurned countless orchestral arrangements,” continued Wroe. “Now we are thrilled to present Chinese/Australian composer Julian Yu’s take on Mussorgsky’s original, bringing the pictures to life with vibrant western and Chinese orchestral effects to create, perhaps, the most imaginative of all the arrangements.” NJFO’s season opening concert “Picture This! Imagery in Music,” made possible in part through generous support from the NJ State Council on the Arts, takes place on Sunday, September 29 at 2:30pm at the Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge. For tickets and information go to sieminskitheater.org or call 908 580-3892. Mo Mo’s performance of Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon Cello Concerto will be will also be performed on Friday, September 27 at 7pm in the sanctuary of St Helen’s Church, 1600 Rahway Ave, Westfield. For tickets and information go to www.njfestivalorchestra.org or call 908 232-9400. Tickets are also now available to NJFO’s Holiday Concerts “The Return of The Three Holiday Tenors” in Westfield (December 7) and Madison (December 8), and “Back to Broadway,” NJFO’s New Year’s celebration on December 31 at 5pm in Westfield. For tickets and information go to www.njfestivalorchestra.org or call 908 232-9400. Tickets start at $40 (children and students $25.)

Event Links

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/2633611-0

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2633611-2

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