The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO ) is a symphony orchestra located in the state of New Jersey, United States. Philip James founded the orchestra in 1922. The orchestra is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Neeme Järvi, the NJSO's music director from 2005 to 2009, is currently the orchestra's conductor laureate and artistic advisor. Since January 2007, the NJSO's President and Chief Executive Officer is André Gremillet.

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Location and venues

During the 1940s, the orchestra performed at Newark Symphony Hall. Currently, The NJSO does not have a single main performance venue. Instead, the orchestra gives concerts at venues in eight cities around the state:

• Newark: New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)
• Englewood: Bergen Performing Arts Center
• Red Bank: Count Basie Theatre
• Morristown: Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts
• New Brunswick: State Theatre
• Princeton: Princeton University, Richardson Auditorium
• Trenton: Patriots Theater at the War Memorial
• Millburn: Paper Mill Playhouse

A 2007 internal evaluation by the orchestra studied the trends of attendance at each of the venues over the six seasons prior to the 2007-2008 season:

"Gremillet said the organization looked at every concert performed at the seven venues during the last six seasons and ranked the venues financially and artistically. Financially, the best city was Morristown, where the average concert at the Community Theatre at the Mayo Center for the Arts lost 11 percent over the six-year span. The worst was Trenton, where an average concert at the Patriots Theatre at the War Memorial lost 114 percent. Princeton's Richardson Auditorium, New Brunswick's State Theatre and NJPAC in Newark were in the top grouping; the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank and BergenPAC in Englewood at the bottom. NJPAC was at the top of the artistic ranking, while Trenton again was at the bottom.

Gremillet said the programming changes resulted from a six-month effort that began last January. A committee of staff, board members and musicians examined all areas of the company to create a three-year road map to financial viability. ^[1]

In February 2008, the NJSO announced the addition of a further performance venue effective with the 2008-2009 season, the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. ^[2]

"Golden Age" string collection

In recent times, the NJSO is known for its purchase of 30 string instruments, including several made by Stradivari, for its string players, purchased from the collection of Herbert R. Axelrod in 2003. Lawrence Tamburri, then the orchestra's president and chief executive officer, speculated that this purchase would help make the orchestra more of a tourist attraction. Neeme Järvi has stated that this was one major reason that he chose to accept the NJSO music directorship. The orchestra named this collection the "Golden Age" string collection, and had hoped that this acquisition would enhance the prestige of the orchestra, and attract increased audiences and donations. ^[3]

However, this purchase ran into controversy after doubts surfaced as to the actual value of the collection. Axelrod had claimed their value at USD $49 million, and sold it to the NJSO for USD $17 million ^[4]. However, it turned out that the $17 million value was closer to the current market value. Furthermore, newsreporter investigations raised doubts as to the complete claimed authenticity of several of the instruments in the collection. ^[5] The later criminal charge and guilty plea of Axelrod for an unrelated charge of federal tax fraud caused embarrassment to the NJSO on this transaction ^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]} In spite of the unfavourable publicity as a result of this controversy, the NJSO had planned to retain the violins and not sell them, as of July 2006 ^[11].

In April 2004, Simon Woods became the NJSO's president, after Tamburri had left the NJSO for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Woods himself left the NJSO in July 2005 for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The investigation into the Golden Age collection had occurred during Woods' tenure. ^[12] The appointment of Gremillet as the orchestra's next chief executive after Woods was in October 2006.

In March 2007, Gremillet and the NJSO stated that, faced with severe budgetary fiscal and deficit issues, they would try to sell the Golden Age instrument collection. ^[13] The original agreement with Axelrod was that the orchestra would retain the instruments for at least 10 years, but Axelrod gave his assent to allow the orchestra to try to sell them. ^[14] The intentions are to use the funds from the sale of the instruments to retire orchestra debt ^[15] and to build up the orchestra's endowment fund. ^[16] The orchestra had stated that their ideal scenario would be that the collection is bought as a whole and then lent back to the orchestra, but commentators have noted that realizing such a plan is very difficult. ^[17]

In addition, a Vienna actress, Kyra Sator, had alleged that she is the proper owner of one of the instruments in this collection and threatened legal action against the orchestra in February. Gremillet stated that the orchestra would "vigorously defend our title to this instrument" and noted that it was "extremely puzzling to receive such a letter four years after the deal". ^[18] As well, the Newark newspaper The Star-Ledger had reported that Järvi might reconsider extending his contract with the NJSO in light of this planned sale of the instruments. When asked about this in 2007, he stated: "It's very possible, but I haven't thought about it yet."

In November 2007, the NJSO announced that they had sold the Golden Age instruments to the American investment bankers (and twin brothers) Seth Taube and Brook Taube, along with a group of other investors, for USD $20 million and a portion of the proceeds from any future sales of the instruments. Part of the agreement allowed the orchestra to retain playing rights to 28 of those instruments for a minimum of 5 years. ^{[19] [20]}

Additional History

Other press comments have noted that in spite of the financial troubles and controversy over this instrument collection, the orchestra has improved artistically during Järvi's tenure. ^[21] In October 2007, the NJSO announced that Järvi had extended his contract as music director through the 2008-2009 season, with a commitment to 6 weeks of subscription concerts. ^[22] In February 2008, the orchestra confirmed the conclusion of Järvi's tenure as the NJSO's music director at the end of the 2008-2009 season. In March 2009, the NJSO indicated that Järvi had agreed to serve as the orchestra's artistic adviser after the conclusion of his contract as music director. The orchestra also reduced its staff and the number of subscription concerts scheduled for the 2009-2010 season. ^[23]

The NJSO has had a series of radio broadcasts in the US since the 2006-2007 season. ^[24] Gremillet announced in October 2007 that the radio broadcasts would continue. ^[25] In addition, he stated the NJSO's accumulated debt is at USD $15 million as of October 2007. ^[26] After the announcement of the November 2007 sale of the Golden Age instruments, Gremillet stated that their scheduled sale cost will allow the orchestra to retire its accumulated debt of USD $14.2 million, and restore USD $3.1 million used from the NJSO endowment used for the purchase of the instruments.

In December 2007, the NJSO announced the retirement of Victor Parsonnet as the orchestra's chairman of the board, a post he has held since 1991, effective 1 January 2008. Stephen Sichak and Ruth Lipper are scheduled to replace Parsonnet as co-chairs of the board. ^{[27] [28]}

The NJSO has made several records for the Delos label with former music director Zdenek Mácal, including works of Hector Berlioz, Antonín Dvorák, Reinhold Glière and Modest Mussorgsky. ^[29]

Music directors

• Philip James: 1922-1929
• Rene Pollain: 1929-1939
• Frieder Weissman: 1940-1947
• Samuel Antek: 1947-1958
• Matyas Abas: 1958-1960
• Kenneth Schermerhorn: 1962-1968
• Henry Lewis: 1968-1976
• Thomas Michalak: 1977-1983
• Hugh Wolff: 1985-1991
• Zdenek Mácal: 1993-2002
• Neeme Järvi: 2005-2009

References

1. Peggy McGlone, "New Jersey Symphony puts itself on a fiscal diet," ''The Star-Ledger'', December 17, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
2. New Jersey Symphony announces 2008-2009 season
3. Mark Mueller, "NJSO's cautionary tale: Economic reality stirs string sell-off". ''The Star-Ledger'', March 11, 2007.
4. Peggy McGlone and Mark Mueller, "FBI probes symphony purchase of violins," ''The Star-Ledger'', May 13, 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
5. Mark Mueller, "False Notes," ''The Star-Ledger'', August 2, 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
6. Alix Kirsta, "Orchestral manoeuvres in the dark," ''The Guardian'', June 11, 2005.
7. Emily Quinn, "Axelrod Pleads Guilty in Tax Case, Avoids Charges Over Instrument Sale," ''Playbill'', December 9, 2004.]
8. Violin Collector Known for Sale to Orchestra Is Sentenced to 18 Months in Tax Fraud
9. Struggling to Shake Off Its Past
10. Rare Instruments Purchase Causes Symphony's Deficit
11. Vivien Schweitzer, "New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Will Not Sell "Golden Age" String Instruments," ''Playbill'', July 20, 2006.
12. New Jersey Symphony Chief to Head Glasgow Orchestra
13. "New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Takes Action Toward Long-Term Financial Stability", NJSO Press Release, March 8, 2007.
14. Peggy McGlone, "NJSO giving up prized strings". ''The Star-Ledger'', 9 March 2007.
15. Orchestra to Sell Off Instruments It Prized
16. New Jersey Symphony to Sell Collection of Rare String Instruments
17. Peggy McGlone, "NJSO's plan to sell rare collection has a string attached". ''The Star-Ledger'', 1 April 2007.
18. Mark Mueller, "With new allegation, violins' tale grows more tangled". ''The Star-Ledger'', 1 April 2007.
19. Peggy McGlone, "NJ Symphony sells its ill-fated strings to twin investment bankers," ''The Star-Ledger'', November 23, 2007.
20. Symphony Will Sell a Collection in Dispute
21. Bradley Bambarger, "Baroque riches at NJSO". ''The Star-Ledger'', 13 March 2007.
22. Bradley Bambarger, "NJSO plays it safe on opening night," ''The Star-Ledger'', October 15, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
23. State’s Top Orchestra Faces Changes
24. Neeme Järvi and New Jersey Symphony Sign Agreement for Nationwide Radio Broadcasts
25. Neeme Järvi Extends Contract as New Jersey SO Music Director by One Season
26. Symphony chief singing an optimistic song
27. Dr. Victor Parsonnet, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's Chairman of the Board, Announces Retirement; Ruth Lipper and Stephen Sichak, Jr. Named as Successors
28. Peggy McGlone, "Symphony Orchestra's guiding spirit steps to sidelines," ''The Star-Ledger'', December 20, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
29. New Jersey Symphony Begins to Consider Life Without Macal