It was a fitting ending as the Middletown Symphony Orchestra closed its final performance with 'Thanks for the Memories.'
The orchestra played its final concert May 7, after 75 years.
"It seems it was written in the stars that our final concert falls on May 7, 2017 - exactly the same date 75 years earlier when Valda Wilkerson conducted the first concert of the Middletown Symphony," writes Music Director Carmon DeLeone on the orchestra's website.
The symphony announced in May, 2016, that 2017 would be its final year.
"After a great history of providing orchestral concerts and entertainment to the Middletown area since 1942, the Symphony Board of Directors has unanimously made the decision to close the curtain on the orchestra and end our musical programs in May of 2017 at the end of the 2016/2017 concert season," wrote Board President Stephen J. Ifcic in a letter to supporters.
"Although a decision of this nature never comes easily," said Ifcic, "the fact is that there are many choices and much competition for an individual’s time and financial resources today, and we certainly took that into consideration."
The final performance consisted of:
Smith / Key - The Star Spangled Banner
Gioachino Rossini - William Tell Overture
Wolfgang Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G Minor (Mvt. 1)
Maurice Ravel - Bolero
Michel Legrand - Suite from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
