David Daniels as Prospero and Joyce DiDonato as Sycorax in âThe Enchanted Island.â
If you would like a symphonic soundtrack for your New Year’s Eve celebration, concerts throughout New Jersey and New York have you covered. Toast to the sounds of Beethoven, baroque opera, Broadway and traditional Viennese waltzes at the events listed below.
• The Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York combines baroque music and Shakespearean stories in “The Enchanted Island.” The pastiche — devised by British director Jeremy Sams and conducted by period specialist William Christie — brings together characters from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Tempest” as well as pieces by Handel, Vivaldi and Rameau, among others. Singers include Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Plácido Domingo, Danielle de Niese, Lisette Oropesa, Anthony Roth Costanzo and Luca Pisaroni.
The New Year’s Eve gala opening for this opera, which runs through Jan. 30, begins at 6:30 p.m. $55-$650; call (212) 362-6000 or visit metopera.org.
• The State Theatre presents its annual “Salute to Vienna” with the Strauss Symphony of America led by Viennese maestro Alexander Steinitz, soprano Rebecca Nelsen, tenor Thomas Sigwald, and dancers from the Vienna Imperial Ballet. The concert begins at 6 p.m. at 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick. Tickets are $47-$107, call (732) 246-7469 or visit statetheatrenj.org. Ticket/restaurant/hotel packages are available; call (732) 247-7200, ext. 517.
• In “That’s Entertainment,” the Westfield Symphony Orchestra gives its regards to Broadway with music from “Chicago,” “Les Misérables,” “Phantom,” “Gigi,” “Camelot,” “Showboat” and more. David Wroe conducts, with Sandra Joseph and Peter Lockyer, both of “The Phantom of the Opera” as well as Minda Larsen and Maxime de Toledo as soloists. The concert takes place at 7 p.m. at the Westfield High School Auditorium, 550 Dorian Road, Westfield. Tickets are $40-$70 in advance, $45-$75 at the door; call (908) 232-9400 or visit westfieldsymphony.org.
• This year’s’s New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace, an annual event created by Leonard Bernstein in 1983, features a Michael Tippett oratorio as well as a performance by Judy Collins. Beginning at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, “A Child of Our Time” takes on issues of political violence and discrimination against minorities. Spirituals will also be on the program.
Other artists will include soprano Indra Thomas, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, tenor Noah Stewart, and bass Soloman Howard, along with the Dessoff Symphonic Choir led by Christopher Shepard, and the Ubuntu-Shruti Orchestra, under the baton of artistic director George Mathew.
The church is located at 1047 Amsterdam Ave., New York. Admission is free, but reserved seating is $60; call (866) 811-4111 or visit stjohndivine.org.
• “A Champagne New Year’s Eve” at the 92nd Street Y showcases the young, dynamic chamber orchestra the Knights in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Terry Riley’s “In C” and Purcell’s “Fantasia upon One Note in F major.” There will be a champagne toast at intermission. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at Kaufmann Concert Hall, Lexington Ave. at 92nd St., New York. $60-$80; call (212) 415-5500 or visit 92y.org.
• Alan Gilbert leads the New York Philharmonic in a festive program of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story” and his “Candide” overture plus Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Concerto in F, played by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who has given stunning performances of the piece. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at Avery Fisher Hall, Broadway and 66th Street, New York. $65-$245; call (212) 875-5656 or visit nyphil.org.
Ronni Reich: (973) 392-1726 or rreich@starledger.com