Students each year
Education programs reach as many as 20,000 students annually across New Jersey. 3
We are the musicians of New Jersey.
Sixty-six professional artists. One statewide orchestra. A living cultural resource worth protecting — for every stage, classroom and community we serve.
01 / Who we are
Artists. Teachers. Neighbors.
We are the 66 full-time union musicians of the New Jersey Symphony — the largest single employer of union musicians in the state. We are represented by the Musicians Guild of Essex County, AFM Local 16, and speak collectively through our elected Orchestra Committee. 1
66full-time musicians with salary and benefits 1
2015Xian Zhang appointed music director — the first woman in the role 2
2025Joshua Bell begins as principal guest conductor 2
“A vital, artistically significant musical organization.”— The Wall Street Journal, quoted by New Jersey Symphony 5
02 / Our reach
A statewide stage. A lifelong invitation.
Years of youth orchestras
The Youth Orchestras have built a nearly 35-year pipeline of young musicians. 3
Music in school
The El Sistema-inspired Character, Achievement and Music Project brings sustained instruction into schools. 3
Musicians up close
Our own musicians design and perform chamber programs that bring the orchestra into communities. 3
Newark · NJPACNew Brunswick · State TheatreRed Bank · Count Basie CenterMorristown · Mayo Performing Arts CenterPrinceton · Richardson Auditorium
03 / The next chapter
Growing in Jersey City. Rooted in Newark.
Jersey CityNewark
The planned Symphony Center in Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District adds a permanent headquarters and a 550-seat flexible performance hall, with expanded education and community partnerships. Later reporting places the move into the new space in 2027. 4
This is growth, not retreat. Mainstage concerts continue at NJPAC, while music education continues in Newark and throughout Essex County. A stronger statewide orchestra can belong deeply to more than one city. 3 4
04 / The work
The musicians are the mission.
We are not a line item apart from the orchestra. We are the people who make the orchestra sound.
World-class performance takes a working life. Rehearsals and concerts are only the visible portion: preparation, practice, instrument care, teaching, travel and community work happen around them.
New Jersey’s 66 salaried, benefited orchestra positions are a rare professional infrastructure for artists in this state. 1 The case for the Symphony is not that its musicians should cost less. It is that an ambitious state deserves the artistic capacity, education reach and civic value they create.
05 / Meet the musicians
The people behind the sound.
Onstage, in classrooms and across the state, every performance is shaped by individual artists with their own stories. Meet a few of the colleagues who make up our 66-member orchestra. 9
06 / Stand with us
Keep a world-class orchestra in New Jersey.
Show up. Fill the halls in Newark and across the state. Bring someone who has never heard the orchestra live.
Speak up. Tell civic leaders, funders and neighbors why professional music belongs in New Jersey.
Share the facts. Sixty-six careers, five major venues and as many as 20,000 students a year are a public asset worth sustaining.
Sources
Read the record.
- 1NJArts.net — 2025–26 season and musician workforce
- 2New Jersey Symphony — leadership overview
- 3New Jersey Stage — venues, education and Jersey City expansion
- 4NJArts.net — Symphony Center and Newark commitments
- 5New Jersey Symphony — El Sistema NJ Week
- 6Nonprofit Quarterly — Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra
- 7NYS Music — Musicians of the New York Philharmonic
- 8ICSOM — orchestra musicians’ national network
- 9New Jersey Symphony — musician roster and portraits