GNSO’s season continues May 11 with ‘Late Twilight’

The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra (GNSO) continues its 2023/24 season on Saturday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Aquinas Hall on the Mount Saint Mary College campus in Newburgh. The program will feature three selections, each piece signifying an “ending” of some kind for the assorted composers.

Maestro Russell Ger shares his insights on the program. “The music on this program is about endings. Ravel’s La Valse is a deliberately distorted homage to Viennese waltzes from the 19th century. Written in the aftermath of WWI, the music is pervaded by nostalgia for a time before Europe had been torn apart. This sense of looking back frames the music like a broken looking-glass that twists and warps its object.”

Composed at the end of his career, Strauss’ Four Last Songs “reflect on themes of life, mortality, and the beauty of the world,” Ger explained. Soprano Tracy Cox will be performing this collection with the orchestra.

Rounding out the program is Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, which was the last he wrote. “The work is filled with a palpable longing, yearning, and pathos, constrained by Brahms’ characteristic ‘Classical’ reserve. The powerful finale builds layer upon layer as an endlessly repeating theme grows to looming proportions until it delivers an unstoppable, inexorable, and dramatic close.”

Ticket prices range from $75 to $50; tickets for those 62 and older are $30. They can be purchased at the door, by visiting newburghsymphony.org or calling 845- 913-7157. Students are admitted free to general seating.