Newburgh Symphony to present 'Concert of Contertos,' featuring three soloists

The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra (GNSO) will perform a special concert on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 4 p.m. at Aquinas Hall Theatre on the Mount Saint Mary College campus in Newburgh.

This “Concert of Concertos,” under the direction of Maestro Russell Ger, will feature the works of composing giants Mozart, Beethoven and Prokofiev performed by three soloists accompanied by the GNSO orchestra.

“A concerto is any piece for solo instrumentalist and orchestra and usually consists of three movements,” Ger said in the press release announcing the program. “One of the hallmarks of a concerto is the dialogue between the group (orchestra) and the individual (soloist). Sometimes it is cooperative, sometimes competitive and sometimes an outright confrontation."

This special concert represents the second year of a unique partnership between the GNSO and Moxart, Inc., a Philadelphia-area non-profit organization whose mission is to provide musicians with opportunities that would otherwise not be available.

Moxart’s Concerto Program enables accomplished, non-professional musicians to play a concerto with a fine orchestra. After their great success in Philadelphia, Moxart continued to expand by reaching out to the GNSO in the Hudson Valley and the orchestra was delighted to begin building this new partnership.

'An evening to entrance our listeners.'

“After the great success of our inaugural collaboration with Moxart last season,” Ger continued, “we are thrilled to present this program. The three works on display this year couldn’t be more different. Mozart’s dulcet 'Clarinet Concerto,' dating from the last year of his life, is sweet, winsome and, in the middle movement, utterly sublime. By contrast, Prokofiev’s 'Piano Concerto No. 2' from 1923 is bold and energetic, forged in the heady afterglow of the Russian Revolution. Lastly, Beethoven’s youthful 'Piano Concerto No. 2' is gracious and genial, but still bears the characteristic drama that is a hallmark of his later work. All in all, the evening is sure to entrance our listeners.”