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The New York Philharmonic will play two free concerts in Central Park this week
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Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic. Photo: Chris Lee
It’s time to pack up your picnic basket and head for the park. Honoring a beloved tradition, the New York Philharmonic will perform two free concerts—on the evenings of Tuesday, July 14 and Friday, July 17—on Central Park’s Great Lawn. Fireworks will follow both concerts.
If the weather is clear, New Yorkers will probably start assembling late in the afternoon, spreading out their picnic blankets in choice locations near the stage, dishing out fried chicken, zipping open cans of beer and even popping bottles of champagne. The concerts begin at 8:00 PM, but it pays to get their early, if you can.
Alan Gilbert, the Philharmonic’s new music director who officially replaces Lorin Maazel in September, will conduct both concerts—Mozart and Beethoven on Tuesday, Copeland, Mozart and Mahler on Friday. Gilbert is the child of two Philharmonic violinists and they were his first teachers. His father, Michael Gilbert, is retired, but his mother, Yoko Takebe, will now be playing under her son’s baton.
Gilbert, who conducted his first Central Park concert last summer, has fond memories of attending the shows when he was a boy, to hear his parents perform. “I love New York,” he told the audience last July. “I love Central Park and I love the Philharmonic’s concerts in the parks.”
The New York Philharmonic in Central Park – Alan Gilbert, Conductor
Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 8:00 PM
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 – The Jupiter Symphony
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Friday, July 17, 2009, 8:00 PM – Nathan Gunn, Baritone
Copland: Old American Songs (selections)
Mozart: Selected arias
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
For weather updates, call the Parks Hotline: (212) 875-5709
For directions to the Great Lawn in Central Park click here
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