The Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey will launch its 2026-27 season on Saturday, Oct. 24, introducing the audience to not one, but two premieres: composer Vincent DiMura’s “Harmony Villa” and “L’Hôtel Ritz de Paris: Surrender and Liberation.”
Opening night will also welcome CPNJ’s new music director, acclaimed New York-based conductor Kyle Ritenauer, to Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton.
“Harmony Villa” is written for orchestra, vocalist, pipa and three choruses singing in English and Chinese, celebrating the region’s diverse community of artists. During the piece, a troupe of Asian dancers will be dressed in vivid period costumes, gracing the stage as well as interacting with the audience.
Wenya Fan, CPNJ board member and DiMura’s artistic director, was able to use her connections with the Asian community to bring this group into CPNJ’s performance, providing a unique experience for the audience. It’s just one of the ways the orchestra is hoping to expand its connections with the multicultural Trenton community and region.
“L’Hôtel Ritz de Paris” takes the listener to the famed hotel during World War II, and the composition is bookended by two turning points in history: the surrender of Paris in 1940 and subsequent German army occupation, and the City of Light’s liberation in August 1944.
The work evokes some of the famous figures associated with the hotel during the war, such as Ernest Hemingway and Coco Chanel, to name just two.
“L’Hôtel Ritz de Paris” combines the mighty CPNJ with a Cuban ensemble, solo violin and Latin music elements evocative of the rebellious spirit of the hotel’s residents. The score forms a bridge between classical traditions, world music and cabaret color.
If this is not enough to intrigue, before the concert, DiMura, composer-in-residence at Princeton University, will play the piano while visitors enjoy a fashion show inspired by French couture of the 1940s, featuring performers from the Silk and Rhythm Collective.
The theme of CPNJ’s new season is “Turning Points,” and throughout the season, the group will explore moments when history changes course, composers break new ground and musicians step into what comes next.
For example, the beloved New Year’s Eve concert on Thursday, Dec. 31, marks the turning point of the year. The Sunday, March 7, concert culminates with Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, the groundbreaking “Pastoral,” in which the composer brought innovation to the symphony, transforming the sounds of nature into music.
On Saturday, April 10, CPNJ will perform Brahms’ first symphonic effort, “Symphony in C Minor, Op. 68,” often thought of as a turning point when Brahms emerged from the shadow of his predecessor, Beethoven.
This concert will also feature the winner of the Mary G. Roebling Youth Concerto Competition, showcasing one of the area’s most talented emerging musicians, a young soloist taking an important step forward. This is just one way the orchestra is reaching out to the region’s abundant talent from all walks of life.
CPNJ is committed to making orchestral music accessible to young people and families throughout the Trenton community.
Its Young Composers Initiative, made possible through a New Jersey Economic Development Authority A.R.T. Phase II grant, provides aspiring student composers with instruction from Joel Phillips and the rare opportunity to hear their original works performed and recorded by a professional orchestra.
DiMura’s “Harmony Villa” was written with input from and in collaboration with Foundation Academy’s Glee Club students. The students will join CPNJ for the work’s premiere on opening night.
In addition, CPNJ’s Community Access Program partners with nonprofit organizations to provide their constituents with access to orchestra performances. Affordable and free community programs, chamber performances and educational events further extend the orchestra’s reach throughout the region.
According to Jill Aguayo, CPNJ’s executive director, “Education and community engagement are not separate from our mission — they are central to it. We want young people and community members to know that this orchestra belongs to them and that there is a place for their voices, ideas and creativity in classical music.”
Perhaps the biggest turning point for the orchestra is Ritenauer himself, who comes to CPNJ with an inspiring background and a versatile skill set that spans from the concert stage to opera to ballet.
He’s conducted the National Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He’s a frequent guest conductor for the Juilliard School Orchestra and Dance Division and works regularly in the world of opera, including his role as principal conductor of the Cali Opera Program, as well as being the director of the Cali Orchestra at Montclair State University.
In addition, Ritenauer served for years on the artistic staff of the Manhattan School of Music and is a member of the conducting faculty at the Pierre Monteux School in Maine.
Last spring, he conducted CPNJ in Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and came away from the experience energized by the group.
As part of the orchestra’s search for a new conductor and music director, “…each (candidate) got to conduct rehearsals and a concert, and we did Tchaikovsky’s Fifth as the main piece,” Ritenauer says. “From the first rehearsal, it felt natural to me, I enjoyed working with the musicians, and made very good progress even from the start.”
“It’s interesting how the energy in rehearsal contrasted to the energy with which they performed in concert – they really took a step up,” he adds. “I am looking for an extra special level, and it was there in that performance. It was thrilling, and after the concert I left feeling excited about where the group is at, and where it’s going.”
Speaking about the concept of turning points, “…aside from me (coming here), I feel the group is ready to take their next step, to really solidify themselves as an orchestra, as well as a vibrant member of the Trenton community, providing what an orchestra can do for a (city’s residents),” he says.
Ritenauer explains that, for the future, he wants to plug the idea of “turning points” into CPNJ’s overall programming, but it also relates to the pieces the group will be playing throughout the year.
“I selected repertoire that symbolized turning points in classical music,” Ritenauer says. “For example, we’ll be doing Beethoven’s Sixth, and a collaboration with the Capital Singers (on Poulenc’s Gloria). It’s Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral,’ one of the first symphonies that uses programmatic inspiration.”
“It reflects Beethoven’s love for nature, and depicts it within the music — a babbling brook, bird songs, etc.,” he says. “It was a real innovation when he wrote it but it became more common as time went on.”
By the time Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was embraced, the composer had altered the form into something truly visionary and grand, even turning the pages of music history to the Romantic Era.
“The Ninth was so innovative,” Ritenauer says. “The symphony had always been an entertaining form of music, but Beethoven transformed it into a genre that had some real weight — it’s an hour long, and combines choir and orchestra. Other composers felt a bit intimidated, including Brahms.”
That’s why Ritenauer chose Brahms’ First Symphony for the concert in April: It was a new stage in that composer’s life.
“Brahms waited until middle age (40) to write a symphony, because he felt he was in the shadow of Beethoven,” he says. “That’s very different for composers. Consider Mozart for example, who wrote his first symphony at age 7.”
“This, to me, means the genre had been transformed, the symphony now needed to have masterful craft and emotional depth,” Ritenauer adds. “Once Brahms finally wrote his first, it was a real turning point for music.”
As for “L’Hôtel Ritz de Paris,” Ritenauer describes the work as “immense and easy to love.”
“It’s brand new music, but not too modern – it’s very accessible,” he says. “There a lot of soaring melodies and groove-based Latin influences, big Cuban and Latin ‘flavors’ in general. Vince has a jazz background, in fact he has a background in many genres of music, and what’s interesting is the combination of styles in this piece. I’ve always thought that CPNJ could play all genres, not just classical.”
Between this work, “Harmony Villa” and the fashion show, “It’ll be a vibrant night, and a great kickoff to a new chapter for the orchestra,” Ritenauer says.
Looking into the future and his relationship with CPNJ, Ritenauer has a couple of overall goals, and one is to find ways to optimize the group’s connection to the community, to make the orchestra really matter to Trenton.
“I want us to do our best to mean something to the community,” he says. “I want to help nurture Trenton’s relationship with orchestral music, and (make CPNJ) into an organization that has a positive impact on the city and region.”
“There are a lot of factors in play, but as music director the artistic side is key, to help the group sound better and better with each rehearsal and concert. Just from the work we did last spring, I feel that we have good momentum,” he adds. “It will be really impressive to see and hear when the community comes out to the concerts.”
Reflecting on outreach, Ritenauer has a goal to incorporate a variety of groups within Trenton’s diverse community into CPNJ concerts in any way possible.
“For example, with ‘Harmony Villa’ and the connection with the Asian community, with ‘Hotel Ritz,’ and the Latin influences,” Ritenauer says. “I think this is the direction orchestras should go.”
“We want to build partnerships with other arts organizations, connect with the different demographics of the community, and that’s the priority,” he adds. “It’s all in an effort to make the cultural fabric of Trenton stronger with every concert and collaboration.”
Kyle Ritenauer conducts the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey’s opening concert for the 2026-27 season Saturday, Oct. 24, at 7:30 p.m. at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton.
A preconcert prelude and fashion show begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $30 to $50. Call 609-200-0443 or visit capitalphilharmonic.org.
How ‘Harmony Villa’ came together
In his composer’s notes about “Harmony Villa,” DiMura writes:
“In the process of composition, given enough time, any piece of music is going to be repurposed. We hear stories of composers who reach back decades to find material or repurpose songs into symphonies, as Mahler did often. Harmony Villa fits that bill. It was commissioned by Thomas Cheng (to whom the piece is dedicated) to celebrate the Crystal Park Arts Center.
“The original version was nice but never satisfied. In a kind of convergence, I had three intentions prompted by the musical material: 1, to create a piece for the Chinese choruses that I had been working with; 2, to create seed material with the students from Foundation Academy to expand on the pre-existing material; and finally, to create an orchestral soundscape that might serve as an opening number to introduce a major program. All accomplished through a style of composition inspired by the students at Foundation, a style I never work in, namely minimalism. Harmony Villa is about diverse peoples coming together to teach others and to create art as a community.
“There is a call-response formal structure living above a fusion jazz underscore, culminating in a final statement of that wonderful seed material generated by the remarkable students at Foundation. The work is also a gift to my dear friends Zha Lina and Yang Jin, both of whom are central to my work as a performer and composer. In addition, many thanks to the Capital Singers of Trenton who lay down the soil from which everything grows. Love and blessings. Come! Let us make music together.”
