The Empire Strikes Back in Concert With New Jersey Symphony



(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) — The fully renovated State Theatre New Jersey presents Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Concert with New Jersey Symphony on Sunday, May 21 at 3:00pm. The program features a screening of the complete film with Oscar®-winning composer John Williams’ musical score performed live to the film. The concert will be led by acclaimed conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos.

Since the release of the first Star Wars movie over 40 years ago, the Star Wars saga has had a seismic impact on both cinema and culture, inspiring audiences around the world with its mythic storytelling, captivating characters, groundbreaking special effects, and iconic musical scores composed by Williams.

Legendary composer Williams is well known for scoring all eight of the Star Wars saga films to date, beginning with 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope for which he earned an Academy Award® for Best Original Score. His scores for The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi were each nominated for Best Original Score.

Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe® Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy® Awards and 23 Grammy® Awards. With 51 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the Academy’s most nominated living person and the second most-nominated individual in history, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams’ score to 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope as the greatest American film score of all time. The soundtrack to A New Hope also was preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry, for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl’s Hall of Fame in 2000, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2016. Williams has composed the scores for eight of the top 20 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office (adjusted for inflation).

Tickets range from $59-$129. For tickets, more information, or group discounts, call State Theatre Guest Services at 732-246-SHOW (7469) or visit online at STNJ.org. State Theatre Guest Services, located at 15 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick NJ, is open by phone and email only, Tuesday through Friday from 11:00am to 5:00pm. For in-person purchases, Guest Services is open Tuesday through Friday from 12:00pm to 4:30pm. Additional ticket and transaction fees may apply. 

Constantine Kitsopoulos has established himself as a dynamic conductor known for his ability to work in many different genres and settings. He is equally at home with opera, symphonic repertoire, film with live orchestra, music theatre, and composition. His work has taken him all over the world where he has conducted the major orchestras of North America, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Tokyo Philharmonic.

He is music director of the Festival of the Arts Boca and General Director of Chatham Opera. He is general director of the New York Grand Opera and is working with the company to bring opera, free and open to the public, back to New York’s Central Park.

 Constantine Kitsopoulos, photo by Robert Stolpe

This season, Maestro Kitsopoulos will make his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and will conduct return engagements with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit, Phoenix, Houston, Vancouver, New Jersey, and San Francisco symphonies. He has developed semi-staged productions of Mozart’s The Magic Flute—for which he wrote a new translation—Don Giovanni and La Bohème. He has conducted numerous IU Opera Theatre productions; he was assistant chorus master at New York City Opera from 1984–89.

On Broadway, Kitsopoulos has been music director of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, A Catered Affair, Coram Boy, Baz Luhrmann’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème, Swan Lake, and Les Misérables. He was music director of ACT’s production of Weill/Brecht’s Happy End and made the only English-language recording of the piece for Sh-K-Boom Records. 

The Emmy® and Grammy® Award-winning New Jersey Symphony, celebrating its Centennial Season in 2022–23, is redefining what it means to be a nationally leading, relevant orchestra in the 21st century. We are renewing our deeply rooted commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by championing new, and often local, artists; engaging audiences for whom the inspiring depth and breadth of classical music will be new; and incorporating the broadest possible representation in all aspects of our organization—all to better reflect and serve our vibrant communities. Since 2021, Music Director Xian Zhang has worked together with composer, violinist, educator, and social-justice advocate Daniel Bernard Roumain, the orchestra’s resident artistic catalyst, to offer programming that connects with diverse communities in Newark and throughout New Jersey.

Internationally renowned Chinese American conductor Xian Zhang began her tenure as the New Jersey Symphony’s current Music Director in 2016. Since her arrival at the New Jersey Symphony, Zhang has revitalized programming with an industry-leading commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in mainstage concerts. The centennial season opened in October with concerts featuring Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with soloist Yefim Bronfman; Jessie Montgomery’s Banner; Nimbus Dance performing original choreography to Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite; Strauss’ Burleske for Piano and Orchestra with soloist Michelle Cann; Brahms’ Fourth Symphony; and Dorothy Chang’s Northern Star. The centennial season will conclude in June 2023 with Zhang leading the orchestra and violinist Joshua Bell in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and a commissioned world premiere by Daniel Bernard Roumain.

After major renovations, State Theatre New Jersey has reopened and celebrated its 100th Anniversary in December 2021 in a fully renovated theater including newly renovated lobbies, all new restrooms, upgraded HVAC systems, a new elevator for access to all levels, and brand-new theater seats. Originally built as a silent film and vaudeville palace, State Theatre’s historic significance was honored by PBS by featuring it in its documentary series, Treasures of New Jersey, in the fall of 2018. “Treasures of New Jersey: State Theatre New Jersey” can be streamed online.

Today, State Theatre is the largest performing arts center in Central New Jersey and has welcomed more than six million people through its doors since reopening as a nonprofit performing arts center in 1988. State Theatre New Jersey is a cornerstone of the cultural vitality of Middlesex County and averages a total economic impact on New Brunswick and the surrounding area of more than $18 million a year. The mainstage programs have featured high-caliber artists such as Diana Ross, Tony Bennett, Kevin Hart, Ringo Starr, Melissa Etheridge, John Leguizamo, Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Program offerings include Broadway, orchestra, family, dance, comedy, rock/pop, jazz, Performances for Schools, and Sensory-Friendly Performances. 

State Theatre New Jersey’s programs are made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.