New Jersey Symphony. Joshua Bell, violinist and conductor. May 14, 2026.

NJPAC, Newark, NJ.  First Tier (Seat F01, $62).

Bell performed Saint-Saens' Third Violin Concerto.

Program

Egmont Overture, Op. 84 by Beethoven.

Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 61 by Camille Saint-Saens.

Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, "Italian" by Mendelssohn.

This is a concert of pieces that please the listener.  It showcases the ability of the orchestra, of the soloist, and of the conductor.  In this case the latter two are one Joshua Bell.

Joshua Bell became the principal guest conductor of NJ Symphony this season (25/26), and, as far as I can tell, does one program with the orchestra every season.  To put that in context, the NJ Symphony runs through about 12 programs (not counting special events and movie soundtracks).

For the Egmont Overture, Bell played a concertmaster who also led the performance.  As such he replaced the regular concertmaster, and sat on a piano bench rather than a typical orchestra chair.  For the Saint-Saens concerto, he was the soloist and the conductor (when he was not player), typical of what folks leading as soloists do.  We heard the Italian symphony about two weeks ago at Carnegie Hall, so it was still somewhat fresh in my mind.

The Egmont overture was part of a suite of incidental music composed for Goethe's play portraying the life of Lamoral, Count of Egmont.  One might say it's very Beethovenian, what with the many contrasting passages.

The Egmont Overture kicked off the enjoyable concert.

The most famous violin pieces written by Saint-Saens are Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and the third violin concerto.  Both contain beautiful and somewhat singable melodies, and are technically difficult but not out of reach for the serious student.  Of course, playing them well is quite another matter altogether.  It was another day in the office for Bell.  For some reason this violin concerto has somewhat fallen out of favor, the last two times I heard it was in 2017 and 2007, per this blog's entries.  I couldn't remember the tunes before the performance, but they came back once the concerto started.

Eric Wyrick sat in the concertmaster's chair for the rest of the concert.  Here shaking hands with Bell after the Saint-Saens violin concerto.

It pleases me to say that today's Italian symphony was better than what I heard two weeks ago.  And I enjoyed that performance.  (Of course my recollection of the OSL performance is hazy by now.)

Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony brought the concert to a conclusion.

Today's concert was designated as "relaxed performances," thus accommodating those who may find some noises unpleasant or rigid concert etiquette challenging.  The general audience knows this going in, and is asked to be understanding.  Someone did make considerable noise during the concert, and the orchestra simply played on.  That doesn't mean the performance isn't affected by the noises, or the enjoyment somewhat diminished.

I was half expecting Bell to do an encore piece, but appreciate that he worked hard enough.