The Met Opera's 2023 Summer Recital Series to Feature Six Free Concerts in All Five Boroughs

The Metropolitan Opera's 2023 Summer Recital Series will kick off the New York summer season with six free outdoor recitals, featuring established artists and young talents of the opera world, to New Yorkers in all five boroughs starting June 20. The series, now in its 14th year, has become an operatic summer tradition. Presented in collaboration with Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage, the series will start at Central Park SummerStage (Manhattan) on Tuesday, June 20, at 8PM, and then at Brooklyn Bridge Park (Brooklyn) on Friday, June 23, at 7PM. The concerts feature Met soprano Gabriella Reyes, who will star in next season's new production of Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas; baritone Will Liverman, star of the forthcoming Met premiere of Anthony Davis's X: The Life and Times of Malcolm; and tenor René Barbera, who recently sang the Italian Singer in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. They will be joined by Met assistant conductor Dimitri Dover at the piano.

Four additional concerts will take place on Saturday, June 24, at 7PM in Jackie Robinson Park (Manhattan); Monday, June 26, at 7PM at the Williamsbridge Oval (Bronx); Wednesday, June 28, at 7PM in Socrates Sculpture Park (Queens); and Friday, June 30, at 7PM in Clove Lakes Park (Staten Island). The program for these concerts will feature rising stars of the Met-soprano and Lindemann Young Artist Development Program graduate Erika Baikoff, who recently appeared as Barbarina in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Tebaldo in Verdi's Don Carlo; mezzo-soprano and current Lindemann Young Artist Cierra Byrd, who sang Bertha in Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones; and baritone Thomas Glass, who won the 2019 Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition and sang Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly during the 2021-22 season. Met assistant conductor and member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program Juan José Lázaro will join the singers at the piano.

The Met's Summer Recital Series will feature famous opera arias and duets, as well as other classical favorites.

The Met's Summer Recital Series is funded by the Elizabeth B. McGraw Foundation, in honor of Mrs. McGraw. Additional support has also been provided, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and in collaboration with the Department of Parks and Recreation.

No tickets are required. There are no rain dates for any of the park recitals. For more information, please visit metopera.org.

Photo credit: Chris Lee