Newburgh Symphony opens 24th season

NEWBURGH — The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra (GNSO) will open its 2018/19 season with a wide-ranging concert honoring three one-hundred year anniversaries on Saturday, Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at Aquinas Hall on the Mount Saint Mary College campus in Newburgh.
The program, titled “Birth to Earth” under the direction of Maestro Russell Ger, will include Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faun,” Holst’s “Mars: The Bringer of War” and Butterworth’s “The Banks of Green Willow.”
The orchestra will also play two selections from Leonard Bernstein: “Chichester Psalms” with the West Point Glee Chorus, and the “West Side Story Symphonic Dances.”
“This program commemorates a remarkable triple centenary,” said Ger. “The birth of American music icon Leonard Bernstein, the death of French master Claude Debussy, and the end of World War One.”
Ger said that tracing an arc through these three events, the music will offer an opportunity to reflect on the fascinating interrelationship that emerges, from Debussy’s meditation on the ephemeral, to Holst’s frightening wartime evocation, to Butterworth’s heartbreaking folk idyll and Bernstein’s irrepressible exuberance.
“This program is a fitting way to begin the Newburgh Symphony’s new season,” said Ger.
Essentials
• Tickets are $50 for balcony; $40, reserved; $35, open seating; $25, seniors; and free for students sitting in the open seating section.
• Tickets can be purchased online or at the door. Call 845-913-7157 or visit newburghsymphony.org.
• For those who arrive early, a concert preview will be offered at 6:30 p.m. by Gordon Shacklett.
• The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1995. For more information, visit newburghsymphony.org or the GNSO Facebook page.