The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra (GNSO) will perform a special concert on Saturday, February 18 at 4 p.m. at Aquinas Hall on the Mount Saint Mary College campus in Newburgh. Four distinguished pianists will perform concertos by composing giants Mozart, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff with the GNSO under the direction of Maestro Russell Ger.

“This concert will cover the whole spectrum of piano repertoire. Mozart’s gorgeous Concerto for Two Pianos was written for the composer and his sister to perform together around his 23rd birthday,” Ger says. “Almost exactly 100 years later, Richard Strauss wrote his Burlesque for piano and orchestra when he was just 21. Amazingly, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 was also completed when he was also 21-years-old, so the first half of this concert is an astonishing collection of youthful ingenuity and bravura. The second half of the program will feature Rachmaninoff’s justifiably famous Piano Concerto No. 2, a true Romantic tour de force. It always leaves the audience breathless at the pianistic virtuosity and the lushly soaring melodies.”

The pianists include Alan Murray, who is making his third appearance with the GNSO, having previously performed works by Prokofiev and Beethoven, and Frank Siegel, who performed Mozart K.466 with the GNSO. Stanley Sisskin and Janet Wu have similarly distinguished careers.

This special concert represents the fourth 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.

This is a special concert not included in the annual subscription. All tickets are priced at $25. Call 845-913-7157 or visit newburghsymphony.org. Students are admitted free to Open seating. Snow date for the concert is Sunday, February 19, at 4 p.m.