Classical & Opera

Orange numbers indicate outdoor concerts
Click on a concert venue to buy tickets.

JUNE

9 Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project
Hot on the heels of two sold-out indoor concerts at Alice Tully Hall (June 5 and 6), cello superstar Yo-Yo Ma brings his globe-trotting Silk Road Project players out to the plaza for a free concert under the twilight sky. Expect hot fiddles, sizzling drums, sounds from all over the planet and a massive crowd. Or stay home in your air-conditioned apartment, help yourself to a pitcher of something cold and watch the concert on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center. FREE Damrosch Park (at Lincoln Center). 8pm.

23 The Knights Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, said to be the oldest free outdoor concert series in the country, kicks off its 104th summer with a performance by the Knights, a versatile young chamber orchestra from Brooklyn. The nearly all-Bach concert includes a joint appearance by brother-and-sister violinists Scott and Lara St. John in the Double Concerto for Two Violins. FREE Central Park Naumburg Bandshell. 8pm.

JULY

13 Metropolitan Opera Recital SeriesThe Met may not have resumed its old tradition of touring a full cast and orchestra around the city every summer, but this year’s special series of six vocal recitals throughout the five boroughs ought to be the next best thing. The trek begins in Central Park with a concert featuring Broadway hunk (and future Met leading man) Paulo Szot with two rising stars, Lisette Oropesa and Alek Shrader. Hit the Met website (metoperafamily.org/metopera) for details, including instructions for reserving a spot at SummerStage. FREE Central Park SummerStage. 8pm.

14,17 New York Philharmonic in Central Park
Alan Gilbert’s tenure as music director of the Phil officially starts in the fall, but he’ll get warmed up with these popular free summer events. The orchestra will also play under the stars in Prospect Park (July 15) and Van Cortlandt Park (July 16), and offers free indoor events in Staten Island (July 18) and Queens (July 20); see nyphil.org for specifics. FREE Central Park Great Lawn. 8pm.

28,29 Mostly Mozart Festival Opening Night
Effervescent music director Louis Langrée and his stylish Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra begin the season with an inviting mix of selections and two stellar guests: Powerful Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is featured in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and versatile English mezzo-soprano Alice Coote lends her robust pipes to a Haydn scena. Mozart’s grand Symphony No. 41, nicknamed “Jupiter,” provides a big finale. Avery Fisher Hall (at Lincoln Center). 8pm, $35–$65.

AUGUST

5,6,7,8,9 Asphalt Orchestra
Bang on a Can takes it to the streets with an avant-garde marching band featuring some of downtown’s strongest wind, brass and percussion players, with renowned choreographer Susan Marshall designing their drills. Don’t expect “Stars and Stripes Forever”—this corps pounds the pavement with new charts by Stew and Heidi Rodewald (Passing Strange), Tyondai Braxton and Goran Bregovic, plus arrangements of tunes by Björk, Frank Zappa, Meshuggah and more. FREE Broadway Plaza (at Lincoln Center). 7pm.

13,14,16 A Flowering Tree
Mostly Mozart mounts the New York premiere of John Adams’s fourth opera, a deliriously beautiful fantasy inspired by a South Indian folktale and Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Visionary director Peter Sellars helms the production, with fanciful sets by George Tsypin; the cast includes excellent young singers Jessica Rivera, Russell Thomas and Eric Owens, backed by the shiver-inducing voices of Schola Cantorum de Venezuela. Rose Theater (at Frederick P. Rose Hall). Aug 13, 14 at 7:30pm; Aug 16 at 5pm. $40–$75.

14,15 Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä has worked wonders as leader of the Minnesota Orchestra, and his guest appearances with the Mostly Mozart Festival’s versatile house band are nothing to sneeze at. Vänskä has a special feel for Beethoven’s music, and tonight’s concert includes nothing but; as an added incentive, these performances mark the New York orchestral debut of pianist Yevgeny Sudbin, definitely a star in the making. Avery Fisher Hall (at Lincoln Center). 8pm, $35–$60.

INDEX NYC summer concert guide
Your next three months—planned.

See more in Summer in NYC
See more in Music