New Jersey gets a concert hall
OrchestrasThe New Jersey Symphony, a peripatetic orchestra, has been given a 30-year lease on a new Jersey City hall with 550 seats.
The venue is owned by the city and the gift comes at a vital time. The NJSO has sacked staff and cut concerts to stay solvent this season.
Not many visitors go to Jersey chiefly for the music.
About 300k people live in Jersey City and 725k in Hudson County, so in theory they shouldn’t have to rely on “visitors” to fill the concert hall.
Of course, building and holding an audience is way more difficult that most arts administrators seem to understand — wee se orchestras in cities with 1+ million people that struggle to fill their hall to 70 percent capacity, while some in much smaller cities are regularly at 80 and 90 percent capacity.
Not many visitors go to New Jersey. Period.
…..and you have to pay a toll to escape…..:)
Well, John Carpenter directed Escape From New York, as well as Escape from L.A., but not Escape From New Jersey.
In any case, call me Snake.
Some go for great Portuguese food in the Ironbound district of Newark. But beware that some restaurants are touristy. Others are not. You do your own research.
I remember a great dinner in a Portuguese restaurant in Newark. I had stopped over in NJ on my way back from Mexico City to see friends. They took me there en route to the airport to go home.
Great news! NJPAC is a pain in the butt.
A whole 550 seats. Sell-out crowds may not be a problem. But it is in Jersey City…one of the crime-ridden, filthy places you can imagine. Needs serious gentrification.
“Not many visitors go to Jersey chiefly for the music.”
Some of us went when Neeme Jarvi was music director. And Princeton University has a decent music department.
And speaking of Princeton, the marvelous store Princeton Records Exchange is still thriving. I try to get there as often as I can, although transportation can be an issue – less from NY or perhaps Philadelphia, but certainly from the DC area where I live (it’s about a 3 or more hours drive in good traffic).
Exactly what will they use it for, have they said? There is a 500 seat hall in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (Newark) which is their main performance venue.
Why are New Yorkers depressed? Because the light at the end of the tunnel is New Jersey-
The should call it “NJH”.
“Neeme Järvi Hall”
Can’t achieve much ticket revenue with a 500 seat hall though or accommodate all of your subscribers…so hopefully the reduction in hall rental charges will be significant. This orchestra has struggled for forever.
The orchestra will continue to perform in the half a dozen places it performs in now around the state.
I appreciate that it is blatantly AI, but that picture is weird. The conductor is gesturing but to whom? Few have instruments, and none are looking at him. Someone at the back of the first violins, just in front of the piano, is raising a glass in toast. Principal cello seems to be playing a recorder of sorts. The music stands have no music on. The bass section appears to have left completely.
According to today’s (8/22/24) NY Times:
“The space is owned by Jersey City, which will allow the symphony to use it under an initial 30-year lease agreement. The symphony plans to raise an additional $12 million to furnish the space and fine-tune its acoustics.”
One wonders about their ability to raise the funds unless they have a major donor who has already pledged to come forward. Remember that this was the orchestra which lost millions when it tried to be an “all Stradivarius violin section.”
The organization is mess. Poor leadership making poor hiring decisions leading to turmoil. Feel bad for those musicians.
I haven’t heard the orchestra in a couple of years, but when I did it was really first-rate and it has an impressive music director in Xian Zhang.
This venue will not to be used for their subscription concerts. They plan to use it just for the rehearsals and chamber music concerts. It also has some spaces and they are planning to rent to public and earn income, but many of the musicians are against to the idea from the beginning. But of course the board members and the management ignored the musicians voice. Whenever the NJS does something new, they always fail and musicians know that. Terrible and stiff staff members, but at least the CEO will leave in a month.
Does “given a 30 year lease” mean no cost and complete operating possession?
They could make money on the side by booking the hall on the nights the orchestra is not performing. And day events when the orchestra is not rehearsing.
My first private teacher was Vern Post who is the long-time second ‘bone in NJSO. Thank you Vernon for laying the foundations for my own performing career.