POTSDAM -- The region's only year-round symphony orchestra will feature “blue cathedral” by one of America's most acclaimed and most frequently performed living composers, Jennifer Higdon, when it performs its fall concert, Autumn Reflections.

The Orchestra of Northern New York will perform Saturday, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in SUNY Potsdam's Hosmer Hall and Sunday, October 28th at 3:00 p.m. in Watertown's First Presbyterian Church.

Higdon has become a major figure in contemporary classical music, receiving the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her “Violin Concerto,” a 2010 Grammy for her “Percussion Concerto,” and a 2018 Grammy for her “Viola Concerto.”

Higdon enjoys several hundred performances a year of her works, and “blue cathedral” is one of today's most performed contemporary orchestral works, with more than 500 performances worldwide. Her works have been recorded on more than sixty CDs.

Opening the program is Carl Nielsen's “Prelude to Act II from Saul and David,” one of the 20th century's most eclectic composers, followed by “blue cathedral.”

The second half of the program features one of the great orchestral masterpieces, the powerful and strikingly beautiful “Symphony No. 4” by Johannes Brahms.

"By his mature years of the 1880s, Johannes Brahms’ great professional success, conscientious management of finances, and a simple lifestyle had enabled him the freedom to compose in accordance with his own wishes," writes Dr. Gary Busch, author of the program notes for the concert.

"Much as his model Beethoven had done during his late years, Brahms’ priorities self-consciously shifted to create works not just for his own time, but for future generations. Brahms composed the first two movements of his final symphony during the summer of 1884, completing the remaining two the following summer. That October the composer himself conducted the completed symphony to resounding public acclaim," Busch said.

Tickets are available at the door or at Brick and Mortar Music, 15 Market St. in Potsdam, and the CPS box office on the SUNY Potsdam campus (315-267-2277).

Adult tickets cost $25, seniors and military personnel tickets cost $20, and college students with I.D. pay $10. Children, 17 and younger, are always admitted free to any ONNY concert.

ONNY is funded, in part, by the Northern New York Community Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

The orchestra, now celebrating its 31st season of music that inspires and excites, is a 501(c)3 charitable organization.

Donations keep ticket prices affordable and allow ONNY to offer discounts for seniors, military, and college students.

For more information about becoming a supporter of ONNY, contact executive director, Kathy Del Guidice, at 315-267-3251 or onnybusiness@gmail.com.