For the first time in over 20 seasons, the Central Jersey Symphony will open its concert season with a new music director. Michael Avagliano, a New Jersey native and longtime Edison resident will lead the orchestra in its first performance of the 2008-09 season on at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Nash Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College.
Tickets are available through the Nash Theatre box office as well as the orchestra’s Web site, www.cjso.org.
The program for the concert includes the “Scottish” symphony by Felix Mendelssohn, as well as Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 4 in G, featuring pianist Adonis Gonzalez.
The orchestra has also begun an association with Raritan Valley Community College as the school’s “orchestra-in-residence.” The new relationship allows students from the college the option to become members of the symphony for credit, as the Visual and Performing Arts Department seeks to broaden its opportunities for its music students.
Also, Andrew Silbert, president of the orchestra’s board of trustees, noted the orchestra is still looking for musicians, especially string players. Musicians interested in joining the orchestra can contact them through the Web site, www.cjso.org.
Tickets for Sunday’s performance are $20, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. The orchestra is funded in part by the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission, from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
