The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra (GNSO) will present “Broadway in Your Backyard” on Saturday, July 27 at 4 p.m. at Aquinas Hall on the Mount Saint Mary College campus in Newburgh. The program features four exciting soloists who have appeared on Broadway singing the works of Gilbert & Sullivan, George Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber, to name but a few.
“Fun is the watchword for this performance,” said Russell Ger, Music Director of the GNSO. “The show encompasses the entire history of Broadway, from a Viennese operetta in 1874 to modern classics like Rent. Audience and musicians alike will enjoy hearing how the style evolves over the decades from the classically derived Gilbert & Sullivan, to the inescapable influence of jazz starting in the 1920s with Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, through the rock & roll of the 70s with Lloyd Webber, ABBA and Larson. Our team of soloists is phenomenal: Alexa Green, Susan O’Dea, Adam Rennie and Andrew Hubacher. This should be one of the crowning highlights of the summer!”
Completing his third year of GNSO leadership, Ger has led the orchestra to new attendance records since its season-opening concert in October and second annual Holiday Concert in December. This will be the eighth concert of the year, including six subscription performances. .
Ger has also been busy when not leading the Newburgh orchestra. He recently finished third in the Makris International Conducting Competition in Belgrade, Serbia, which included 36 competitors invited from around the world. Significantly, he was also the recipient of the special Orchestra Prize, nominated by the ensemble as their preferred candidate.
It was pretty exhausting,” said Ger, who flew to Serbia on June 24 (two days after the GNSO Mahler concert) and returned to Newburgh on July 3 to begin rehearsals for the sold-out Boscobel concert of the GNSO on July 7. There were originally 100 applicants for the competition, with 36 selected to conduct in Belgrade. After the preliminary round there, 12 candidates were selected to advance to the semi-finals. At this stage, each candidate rehearsed the orchestra for 30 minutes and gave a short performance for the jury. From this group, Ger was chosen as one of four finalists to perform before a public audience, after which he placed third.
“I felt like I was on the run from the moment I got off the plane in Belgrade,” he said. “When we weren’t rehearsing or trying to memorize new music, we could only eat or sleep. No time for sightseeing. But, as exhausting as it was, it was tremendously satisfying to plant the flag of the GNSO in Europe in a victorious manner.”
Since there is no rest for the weary, Ger is now preparing for the GNSO’s final concert of the 2019-20 season on Saturday. Tickets - Balcony $50, Reserved $40, Open $35, Senior Citizen $25 – can be purchased online or at the door. Call 913-7157 or visit newburghsymphony.org. Students are admitted free to Open seating.
The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra is one of the leading cultural institutions of the Hudson River Valley. It was founded in 1995 by Dr. Woomyung Choe and its first president, George Handler, who was followed as president after 10 years by the late Fred McCurdy. In addition to its regular concerts, the Orchestra performs special engagements, such as the Mozart concert this year in March and another performance at Boscobel on July 7.