Met Opera Opening Night Livestream And Steinway & Sons Presents: The 5 Browns Live Coming Up at Summerstage

Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage will present two new free partner performances this week. Today, September 27, a free premiere of the Metropolitan Opera's opening night, Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones, will be streamed live in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park. Tomorrow, September 28, Steinway & Sons will present a free in-person five-piano concert featuring the acclaimed piano ensemble The 5 Browns in Central Park's Naumburg Bandshell, directly adjacent to Rumsey Playfield.

Today, Monday, September 27, SummerStage and the Metropolitan Opera will present the premiere of Metropolitan Opera's opening night for the 2021-2022 season. The opening night performance, taking place in the Met Opera House, will be livestreamed via satellite to a large HD video screen in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. Doors will open at 4:00PM ET and the livestream will begin at 6:00PM ET. The opening night livestream event will feature the premiere of Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the first work by a Black composer to be presented at the Met. Based on Charles M. Blow's moving memoir of the same name and featuring a libretto by Kasi Lemmons, this new staging is co-directed by James Robinson and Camille A. Brown. Brown, who is also the production's choreographer, becomes the first Black director to create a mainstage Met production. Both Brown and Blanchard are SummerStage alums, having performed during the festival in previous years. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the cast starring Will Liverman as Charles, Angel Blue as Destiny/Loneliness/Greta and Latonia Moore as Billie. Fire Shut Up in My Bones tells a poignant and profound story about a young man's journey to overcome a lifetime of trauma and hardship. The opera follows Charles through his adolescence and ultimately leads to a fateful moment: when he must decide whether to break free from his trauma and begin to rebuild his life.

Guests who attend the free live stream of the performance at Marcus Garvey Park will be required to show either proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative PCR test within the last 72 hours in order to enter. Children under the age of 12 may accompany their parent or guardian who provides proof of full vaccination or negative COVID test. SummerStage will accept proof of final Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Moderna or WHO-approved vaccination using the CLEAR app, the NYS Excelsior Pass, NYC Covid Safe app, a physical/photo of CDC vaccination card, or EU digital pass, accompanied by a government-issued photo identification. Masks are required upon entry and strongly encouraged for all guests for the duration of the performance, as is physical distance. Learn more about acceptable documentation, mask guidelines, and other safety protocols here. For more information about the event, visit cityparksfoundation.org/events/met-opera-2021-harlem/.

Tuesday, September 28, SummerStage and Steinway & Sons will present a free five-piano live in-person concert featuring the acclaimed piano ensemble The 5 Browns at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park at 7:00 PM ET. The Bandshell is adjacent to Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. The concert is produced by Steinway & Sons and underwritten by the Paulson Family Foundation. "The 5 Browns - Live in Central Park" will feature five Steinway concert grand pianos and eight piano pieces-from Beethoven to Gershwin to Bernstein-performed by Steinway Artists Deondra, Desirae, Gregory, Melody, and Ryan Brown. The 5 Browns were the first family of five siblings ever admitted to The Juilliard School, and since 2002, the quintet has delivered on its promise to "wake up classical music" through international tours that have brought critical and popular acclaim. This family-friendly program is a natural outgrowth of their child advocacy work and commitment to delivering classical music to the widest possible audience. Their latest album on the Steinway Label, The Little Tin Box, includes musical favorites from their childhood.

The 5 Browns - Live in Central Park program will include:

● Symphony No.5 in C Minor, Op.67, Ludwig van Beethoven/Jeffrey Shumway

I. Allegro con brio

The 5 Browns

● Malaguena from Andalucia Suite, Ernesto Lecuona

Gregory and Ryan Brown

● Scenes from West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein/Kendall Durelle Briggs

The 5 Browns

● Flight of the Bumblebee, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov/Jeffrey Shumway

The 5 Browns

● Star Wars: Suite for Five Pianos, John Williams/Greg Anderson

The 5 Browns

● Rondo Alla Turca, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/Greg Anderson

The 5 Browns

● Clair de Lune from Suite Bergamasque, Claude Debussy/Greg Anderson

Melody, Desirae, and Deondra Brown

● Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin/Jeffrey Shumway

The 5 Browns

Attendees are advised to enter Central Park via Fifth Avenue and 72nd Street, and to proceed to the Naumburg Bandshell. The 5 Browns - Live in Central Park event will follow all state and local regulations regarding large-scale outdoor events. Seating will be available for vaccinated, masked audience members. For more information, visit cityparksfoundation.org/events/the-5-browns/

A full list of upcoming SummerStage shows and a digital brochure is available now at SummerStage.org.