The New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, returned for the 53rd season of priceless music, absolutely free, in every New York City borough. Native New Yorker James Gaffigan conducted the Orchestra in music celebrating Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein’s centennial, evocative works by Saint-Saëns and Rimsky-Korsakov, and — for the first time ever — original compositions by students in the Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program. Joining the Orchestra were post-graduate students from the Shanghai Orchestra Academy, who performed alongside their Philharmonic mentors during their weeklong immersion in the life of an orchestral musician.
