“The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra will offer ‘Forbidden Fruit’ to its expanding audience in its first concert of 2018” on January 20 in Newburgh, New York, states an unsigned article in Monday’s (1/8) Warwick Advertiser. “The program, under the direction of Maestro Russell Ger, will feature Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ Overture, Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet Fantasy,’ and Berlioz’s ‘Symphonie Fantastique.’ … ‘Don Giovanni explores both the lighthearted and darker implications of the Don’s flippantly irreverent seductions,’ Ger said, ‘while Tchaikovsky’s famous soaring love theme portrays the ardent intensity of the young lovers, Romeo and Juliet…. Berlioz’s astonishing “Symphonie Fantastique” … tells the story of … an unrequited passion.’… In his first year at the helm of the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra, Ger became well-known for his informed and witty commentary from the podium at each program. Since September 2016, audiences for the orchestra’s performances virtually doubled… The orchestra [added] an extra concert in March 2017. Six performances are also scheduled for the 2017-18 season…. In addition to its regular concerts, the orchestra annually visits a local high school where its professional musicians play ‘Side-by-Side’ in a formal concert with student musicians (in October 2017 this took place at Warwick Valley High School).”
Posted January 10, 2018
