The Shape of Light

Five works. One string orchestra. A journey from darkness into light.

Some music seems to stop time.

A bell slowly tolls for a lost friend in Arvo Pärt’s Cantus. Elena Kats-Chernin conjures a strange, shimmering world; Ravel dances past in a flash of impossible lightness; and Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight unfolds with devastating simplicity.

Without winds, brass or percussion, a string orchestra can feel startlingly intimate—as though the distance between player and listener has disappeared. Across this program, sound seems almost physical: it glows, flickers, hovers and fades. These are pieces less concerned with spectacle than with what happens when we become very quiet and listen closely.

And then comes nightfall. Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night begins in darkness and ends somewhere entirely different—a journey through fear, confession, forgiveness and, finally, light.

Five works for strings; five ways of transforming a moment into something that lingers long after the final note.

PROGRAM

Arvo Pärt — Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten

Elena Kats-Chernin — Moon Feather Magic

Maurice Ravel — String Quartet in F major: II. Assez vif – très rythmé

Max Richter — On the Nature of Daylight

— Intermission —

Arnold Schoenberg — Transfigured Night, Op. 4

TICKET INFORMATION: PLEASE REVIEW BEFORE PURCHASE

• Tickets will be either sent in the MAIL or held at WILL CALL on concert day. Please specify the preferred method at checkout.

• Tickets will NOT be sent via e-mail.

• Online ticket sales will not be available after 7PM the evening prior to the concert. 

• Tickets can be purchased at the Box Office the day of the performance. 

• Children under the age of 5 are not permitted in the Balcony.

• Free admission for children and students ages 25 and below are in our open seating area only. Student tickets will not be mailed, but will be available at the WILL CALL desk. Please show valid current Student ID.

• Tickets ordered 21 days or less before the concert date will be held at WILL CALL for pick-up on the day of the concert and will not be mailed.

ACCESSIBILITY

NOTE: Seating in the Balcony is not Handicap Accessible. 

Need to arrange for assistance on concert day? Email gnso@newburghsymphony.org by one week prior to the day of the concert. Thank you. 

Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.  All donations are tax deductible. Ticket purchases are not considered donations.