LOUNGE on the lawn, catch the free music – feed the hungry. That’s the drill this summer in the parks, when the New York Philharmonic adds a new, philanthropic edge to its alfresco concerts, which kick off today in New Jersey.
For the first time ever, the Phil is teaming up with food banks in the New York metropolitan area. Concertgoers – who traditionally spread out their blankets and picnic out under the stars – are asked to bring canned food and other nonperishable items they can drop off at collection bins at the entrances to each park.
On Wednesday the orchestra goes to Central Park’s Great Lawn to play Berlioz’s “Le Corsaire Overture,” Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pathetique”) and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, featuring 20-year-old Stefan Jackiw, who, when he isn’t winning performance awards, studies at Harvard. The son of two physicists, he started playing at age 4.
Come July 17, the Phil returns to Central Park with conductor Andrew Davis and Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman in a program of Richard Strauss, Massenet and more.
The music starts at 8, the picnicking starts whenever you get there – and the evening ends with fireworks, courtesy of the Gruccis.
For other venues and concerts, visit nyphil.org; call the hot line, (212) 875-5709, for weather updates.