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(New York, NY, April 16, 2026)—Carnegie Hall today announced the spring and summer schedule for Carnegie Hall Citywide, the Hall’s free concert series that brings a vibrant mix of live performances to venues throughout New York City. Presented in collaboration with esteemed local organizations, the celebrated series features renowned artists of all genres including classical, Broadway, jazz, Latin music, and beyond.
Among the exciting Citywide highlights this spring is a new partnership with Hudson Yards, featuring a series of free outdoor film screenings on the venue’s 30-foot 'Big Screen’ as part of their Spring Family Movie Series at Hudson Yards. This May, families can enjoy The Lion King (May 2), Up (May 9), and Beauty and the Beast (May 30). Each event begins with an interactive performance by Carnegie Hall’s own Ensemble Connect, exploring the music of iconic Hollywood film composers as part of Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound: America at 250 festival.
Carnegie Hall+, the Hall’s video streaming channel, returns to Bryant Park with a free outdoor film screening of Puccini’s Tosca on Monday, June 15. The thrilling, tragic opera set in Rome during the Napoleonic wars stars Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo in the captivating staging by Argentine director Hugo de Ana in Italy’s famed Arena di Verona, offering audiences an immersive introduction to one of opera’s greatest masterpieces.
On Fridays in July, Carnegie Hall Citywide continues its exciting collaboration with Bryant Park Picnic Performances presented by Bank of America with five free concerts in the park. The wide-ranging lineup features innovative chamber music collective The Knights (July 3); celebrated Broadway actress Aisha Jackson (July 10); Louisiana based creole band Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas (July 17); 20-piece jazz and soul band NYC Ska Orchestra (July 24); and Afro–Puerto Rican bomba fusion innovators El Laberinto del Coco (July 31).
Another major highlight of this summer’s Citywide series will be a July 11 performance led by Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra celebrating 15 years of Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, showcasing the power of music to foster creativity, connection, and community. The concert, presented at Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park in Upper Manhattan, will open with a special set of original songs by The Freedom Trap, a dynamic New York-based ensemble of musicians whose artistry was developed through Musical Connections and who carry this work forward today.
Please see below for a complete schedule of Carnegie Hall Citywide events this spring and summer:
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A Free Concert Experience and Family Film at Hudson Yards
THE LION KING ON SCREEN
Saturday, May 2 at 11:00 AM
UP ON SCREEN
Saturday, May 9 at 11:00 AM
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ON SCREEN
Saturday, May 30 at 11:00 AM
Public Square & Gardens, Hudson Yards
11th Avenue and Hudson Boulevard East | Manhattan
Enjoy free and family-friendly events that feature live music, learning, and timeless animated films. The acclaimed Ensemble Connect performs a short concert inspired by musical ideas from the worlds of The Lion King, Up, and Beauty and the Beast. Then, settle in for a screening of the beloved classics on the big screen!
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THE MET ORCHESTRA CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Sunday, May 10 at 4:00 PM
St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church
263 West 86th Street | Manhattan
Featuring a handpicked, rotating lineup of musicians from the historic Met Orchestra, The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble brings exceptional artistry to an ever-changing range of repertoire. Known for its versatility and depth, the ensemble offers audiences a mix of beloved chamber music classics, rarely heard treasures, and works by today’s leading composers. In this performance, experience Valerie Coleman’s delightful Maombi Asante; Gabriela Lena Frank’s Mitos, a richly textured and varied work for wind quintet; and Dvořák’s “American” String Quintet, written during the composer’s summer in Spillville, Iowa.
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GATEWAYS BRASS COLLECTIVE
Thursday, June 4 at 4:00 PM
Times Square
Broadway Pedestrian Plaza between 45th and 46th Streets | Manhattan
The Gateways Brass Collective, resident ensemble of the Gateways Music Festival, unites leading musicians of African heritage to uplift and engage communities. Equally at home in classical, jazz, and contemporary styles, the quintet members have performed with leading ensembles, from the Chicago and Boston symphony orchestras to the Mingus Big Band and The Roots.
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LULADA CLUB
Tuesday, June 9 at 6:00 PM and 7:45 PM
El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Avenue | Manhattan
As New York City’s first all-women salsa orchestra, Lulada Club transforms every performance into a celebration with its electrifying and dance floor–filling live show, commanding stage presence, and world-class musicianship. Experience the blazing brass lines, driving Afro-Caribbean percussion, intricate piano montunos, locked-in bass grooves, and powerful, dynamic vocals of the salsa dura tradition and more.
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PUCCINI’S TOSCA ON SCREEN
Monday, June 15 at 6:00 PM
Bryant Park
Between 40th and 42nd streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues | Manhattan
Carnegie Hall+ presents a free, outdoor film screening in Bryant Park of Puccini’s Tosca—the thrilling, tragic opera set in Rome during the Napoleonic wars. Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo star in this captivating staging by Argentine director Hugo de Ana. Fittingly filmed at Italy’s famed Arena di Verona, the monumental opulence of the ancient Roman arena adds to the spectacle of this intense drama. Conducted by Francesco Ivan Ciampa, the acclaimed production also features Roman Burdenko and Giorgi Manoshvili.
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TONEWALL
Thursday, June 25 at 7:00 PM
Wave Hill
4900 Independence Avenue (at West 239th Street) | Bronx
TONEWALL is the charismatic queer a cappella band of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus performing “uplifting anthems, classic tunes, and sexy hits” with award-winning arrangements and choreography. This electrifying band entertains and empowers in equal measure and has been crowned a Northeast Champion at The International Championship of A Cappella Open.
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IVAN LLANES
Saturday, June 27 at 6:00 PM
Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park
679 Riverside Drive | Manhattan
Cuban American percussionist, vocalist, and composer Ivan Llanes is known for his vibrant and rhythm-driven blend of Afro-Cuban traditions with jazz, Brazilian, and soul elements. Llanes is a New York City mainstay who has performed at venues and festivals such as Joe’s Pub; National Sawdust; The Bronx Museum; Times Square; PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention); Havana’s Jazz Plaza Festival; Festival 2 de Julho in Salvador, Brazil; and more.
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THE KNIGHTS
Friday, July 3 at 7:00 PM
Bryant Park
Between 40th and 42nd streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues | Manhattan
Chamber music ensemble The Knights—led by Colin Jacobsen and Eric Jacobsen—bring a program that fuses classical music with numerous American influences in true “Knightsian” fashion. Arrangements on the program include Bonds’s “Troubled Water,” based on the spiritual “Wade in the Water”; selections from Coleridge-Taylor’s 24 Negro Melodies, arranged by violinist Curtis Stewart; Stones River by violinist Jeremy Kittel, which draws from a multicultural well of American Revolutionary and Civil War music; Colin Jacobsen’s arrangement of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” and other short works; a piece by Jacobsen inspired by Dvořák and bluegrass; and more.
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IVALAS QUARTET
Wednesday, July 8 at 6:00 PM
Madison Square Park
Between 23rd and 26th streets and Fifth and Madison avenues | Manhattan
The Ivalas Quartet is known for performing with “tremendous heart and beauty” (The Strad) and for enriching the classical music world with its dedication to the works of BIPOC composers. The group’s thoughtfully crafted program brings fresh insight to works by leading contemporaries Jessie Montgomery, Derrick Skye, and Angélica Negrón, as well as timeless repertoire by Bloch and Dvořák.
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AISHA JACKSON
Friday, July 10 at 7:00 PM
Bryant Park
Between 40th and 42nd streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues | Manhattan
Broadway favorite Aisha Jackson, whose recent career highlights include her acclaimed performance as Daisy in The Great Gatsby, made history as the first Black woman to play Anna on Broadway in Frozen. She brought the joy of Anna and other Disney princesses to audiences worldwide in Disney Princess: The Concert. The singer’s credits also include her Carnegie Hall debut in 2026 with The New York Pops; soundtrack vocals for KPop Demon Hunters, Snow White, and Dear Evan Hansen; and many more.
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ARTURO O’FARRILL AND THE AFRO LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH THE FREEDOM TRAP
Saturday, July 11 at 3:00PM
Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park
679 Riverside Drive | Manhattan
Multiple Grammy-winning pianist, composer, and bandleader Arturo O’Farrill leads members of his legendary Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) in a concert that celebrates Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison. Through 15 years of collaboration, creative expression, and human connection, Musical Connections has brought professional musicians together with individuals incarcerated at Sing Sing to create and perform music, resulting in a vibrant creative community and remarkable body of original work that continues to grow. The ALJO reflects this same collaborative spirit with its bold fusion of socially conscious artistry, shared music making, jazz improvisation, and wide-ranging Afro-Caribbean rhythms.
The performance opens with a special set by The Freedom Trap, a dynamic ensemble of musicians whose artistry was developed through Musical Connections and who carry this work forward today. Hear original songs featured in the online Sing Sing Voices video playlists, and enjoy a powerful look into the range, depth, and imagination of the music created through this program.
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AMERICAN PATCHWORK QUARTET
Wednesday, July 15 at 6:00 PM
Madison Square Park
Between 23rd and 26th streets and Fifth and Madison avenues | Manhattan
Led by multiple Grammy-winning guitarist and vocalist Clay Ross, the American Patchwork Quartet (APQ) blends timeless American folk song with jazz, country twang, West African influences, and East Asian ornamentation. It’s a modern American musical mosaic that recently earned the group’s debut recording a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Alongside Ross, the APQ features Falu, an 11th-generation Hindustani classical vocalist; Moto Fukushima, an internationally acclaimed jazz bassist; and Koleby Royston, an emerging jazz drummer with chops and artistry rooted in African American church traditions. This performance draws inspiration from Madison Square Park's Celestial Summer programming, embracing the season's lunar spirit and connection.
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NATHAN AND THE ZYDECO CHA CHAS
Friday, July 17 at 7:00 PM
Bryant Park
Between 40th and 42nd streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues | Manhattan
Experience zydeco, the fast and furious, accordion-driven Creole dance music of South Louisiana. With its trademark rubboard percussion, electric guitars, and R&B influences, this is an exciting and modern roots music that’s nearly impossible to resist—and from festival stages to Louisianan dance halls, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas has been one of the most celebrated zydeco bands of the past 40 years.
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CERUS QUARTET
Wednesday, July 22 at 6:00 PM
Madison Square Park
Between 23rd and 26th streets and Fifth and Madison avenues | Manhattan
With a vast repertoire of contemporary compositions—including premieres and commissions by some of today’s leading voices—as well as imaginative transcriptions of classical masterworks, the Cerus Quartet is on a mission to establish the saxophone quartet as a leading voice in 21st-century classical music. The innovative ensemble has recently won the 2025 Concert Artists Guild Louis and Susan Meisel Prize, Gold Medal in the 2025 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, First Prize in the 2024 MTNA National Chamber Music Competition, and many more.
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NYC SKA ORCHESTRA
Friday, July 24 at 7:00 PM
Bryant Park
Between 40th and 42nd streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues | Manhattan
The NYC Ska Orchestra blends big-band jazz, soul, and R&B with the iconic Jamaican music styles of ska, mento, rock steady, reggae, and more. Led by celebrated trumpeter, singer, arranger, and educator Kevin Batchelor, this 20-piece big band also features legendary Jamaican percussionist-vocalist Larry MacDonald and Jamaican master drummer Carl Wright, who together have worked with Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Lee “Scratch” Perry, the Skatalites, Toots and the Maytals, and many others.
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ENSEMBLE CONNECT
Saturday, July 25 at 5:00 PM
Historic Richmond Town
441 Clarke Avenue | Staten Island
Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect is an evolving group of young professional musicians called “the new face of classical music for New York” (The New York Times). With virtuosity, versatility, and an irrepressible sense of adventure, the musicians perform a vast repertoire that ranges from historic standouts to lesser-known pieces and brand-new commissions.
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EL LABERINTO DEL COCO
Friday, July 31 at 7:00 PM
Bryant Park
Between 40th and 42nd streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues | Manhattan
Afro–Puerto Rican bomba fusion innovators El Laberinto del Coco, led by master percussionist Hector “Coco” Barez, blends jazz, funk, reggae, and numerous Latin influences. With traditional bomba elements and instruments such as the barril and cuá, the band expands the boundaries of bomba while staying true to its intoxicating essence.
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