New York Philharmonic to Present Share the Stage as Part of 2016 Concerts in the Parks

The New York Philharmonic will present Share the Stage during the 2016 Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, featuring performances by local musicians in their home boroughs. Share the Stage was launched in 2015 as part of the 50th anniversary of the Concerts in the Parks to salute the diversity of New York City's resident musicians. Share the Stage will precede the Orchestra's concerts in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island for the second consecutive year. The 2016 Share the Stage performers will be Marika Hughes & Bottom Heavy (Prospect Park, Brooklyn, June 17); Street Beat Brass Band (Cunningham Park, Queens, June 20); Afro-Puerto Rican drummers BombaYo (Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, June 21); and historic Richmond Town favorites, folk musicians Bob Conroy and Norm Pederson with Bill Doerge (Free Indoor Concert in Staten Island, June 22). Share the Stage in Brooklyn, Queens, and Bronx takes place 6:30-7:00 p.m.; Share the Stage in Staten Island takes place 7:00-7:30 p.m.

The 2016 New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, will return for the 51st season with five free outdoor concerts, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, on the Great Lawn in Central Park, Manhattan (June 15 and 16); Prospect Park, Brooklyn (June 17); Cunningham Park, Queens (June 20); and Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx (June 21). In addition, New York Philharmonic musicians will perform at the Free Indoor Concert at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden on June 22, 2016. Major corporate support for the 2016 New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks and the Free Indoor Concert has been provided by MetLife Foundation, Citi, and Emirates Airline.

Alan Gilbert will conduct Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, with Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill as soloist, on the concerts June 15, 17, and 20-21; R. Strauss's Ein Heldenleben, featuring Concertmaster Frank Huang in the concertmaster solos, June 15 and 20-21; Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, June 16; Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica, June 16-17; Rossini's La gazza ladra Overture, June 15 and 20-21; and Beethoven's Fidelio Overture, June 16-17. The Free Indoor

Concert in Staten Island will feature Concertmaster Frank Huang as soloist and leading a chamber orchestra in Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and selections from Piazzolla's Four Seasons of Buenos Aires; tickets are free, but required for this event, and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2556262.

All performances begin at 8:00 p.m.; there will be fireworks by Bay Fireworks following the performances in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.

The New York Philharmonic's free parks concerts have become an iconic New York summer experience since they began in 1965, transforming parks throughout the New York area into a patchwork of picnickers, and providing music lovers with an opportunity to hear the best classical music under the stars. More than 14 million listeners have been delighted by the performances since their inception.