Overview:
The concert will take place at the Family Partnership Center on November 15.
Arguably the longest-running musical group in the region, the Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra played its first concert in 1934. On November 15, the beloved orchestra will open its 91st season with a performance at Poughkeepsie’s Family Partnership Center that features special guest violinist Arnaud Sussmann.
The Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1932 as the Dutchess County Philharmonic Orchestra and has a long and storied existence under the batons of conductors George Hagstrom, Ole Windingstad, Claude Monteux, Imre Pallo, and Randall Craig Fleischer. It was Monteux who brought the musicians to prominence, when in 1959 he reorganized the ensemble as a fully professional regional orchestra to perform classics and pops concerts and bring educational programs to area school children. The orchestra has accompanied the likes of the Who, Kenny Loggins, Josh Groban, Manhattan Transfer, Peter Cetera; Fleischer’s “Rocktopia” program even made it to Broadway. Currently led by HVSO Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Andre Raphel, the ensemble has also performed July 4th concerts, annual Messiah performances, and has performed at Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center.
“Sussmann has an old-school sound reminiscent of what you’ll hear on vintage recordings by Jascha Heifetz or Fritz Kreisler, a rare combination of sweet and smooth that can hypnotize a listener,” raves Minnesota’s Pioneer Press. “His clear tone [is] a thing of awe-inspiring beauty, his phrasing spellbinding.” The opening concert will include works by Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, and Mozart.
The Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-2026 season opening concert will take place at the Family Partnership Center in Poughkeepsie on November 15 at 3pm. Tickets are $55-$68 (seniors ae $38; students K-12 and college levels are $15; children under five are free).
