Conductor Alasdair Neale will perform his final concert as music director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO) on Thursday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. at Woolsey Hall. The first half of the program will feature Ethiopia’s Shadow in America and Andante Moderato for Strings by Florence Price, a trailblazing American composer whose music Neale featured several times over the course of his tenure. After intermission, the orchestra and audience will embark on German composer Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, an epic work appropriately nicknamed the “Titan” for its enormous ensemble of 90 players and emotional exploration of fate, love, mortality, and eternity.

Neale began his appointment with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 2019. Neale was instrumental in facilitating the pivot of artistic and financial resources to create an extensive array of virtual education programs used by tens of thousands of students worldwide during the pandemic, along with the tremendously popular Concerts at Canal Dock Boathouse series. Neale is moving full-time to Europe to be closer to family and will continue to serve as Music Director of the Sun Valley Music Festival, which performs each summer in Sun Valley, Idaho.

The orchestra’s next music director, Perry So, will conduct at “Celebrate New Haven” on June 15 as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and his first season will officially begin at the NHSO’s Opening Night in September.

Tickets start at $15. Tickets for youth 17 and under are free with the purchase of an adult ticket. To purchase tickets, visit NewHavenSymphony.org or call 203-693-1486 Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m.