An estimated 6 million spectators lined 15 miles of waterfront to see the historic Parade of Sail in New York City on July 4, 2026, braving nearly 100-degree heat. They clearly could not resist the spectacular, once in an eon sight of more than 100 tall ships and navy vessels from 20 countries sailing into New York Harbor and up the Hudson River to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary of Independence, in what was billed “the largest-ever flotilla of tall ships”. Many made themselves available for public visits during the six-day festival, July 3-8.
The Parade of Sail was accompanied by what was hailed as one of the longest fly-overs ever, led by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.
In the 60 years that the iconic New York Philharmonic has presented its summer concerts in city parks, 15 million people have reveled in “priceless music absolutely free” and the joy of community of sharing the lawn with 150,000 of your neighbors. The New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks Presented by Didi and Oscar Schaefer is an extraordinary gift to New Yorkers and visitors, presenting these free performances in parks in all five boroughs.
This tradition, which offers the official start of New York City’s summer cultural calendar, continued this year with the orchestra led by its incoming Artistic Director, Gaustavo Dudamel, who conducted the carefully curated program – the 17,196th concert on the Great Lawn – continues this week at Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx (June 5); Prospect Park, Brooklyn (June 6), and Cunningham Park, Queens, (June 7):
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F-minor, Op.36, composed in 1877 after his wedding, then abandonment of his bride, and dedicated to his patron, muse and “best friend,” Nadezbda von Meck, with its “complicated” first movement, as the composer himself wrote (the program notes are fascinating).
Arturo Sandoval’s “Allegro maestoso, from Concerto for Trumpet No. 2,” with the composer himself giving a thrilling performance on the trumpet. Sandoval, Marissa Silverman writes in the notes, was imprisoned in Cuba for illegally listening to jazz. He has since gone on to be a Kennedy Center honoree and 10-time Grammy Award winner.
The New York premier of Gonzalo Grau’s “Odisea: Concerto for Venezuelan Cuatro and Orchestra, with a virtuoso performance on cuatro (a four-stringed ukulele-like instrument) by Jorge Glem, a Latin Grammy Award winner also from Venezuela. Dudamel, a fellow Venezuelan, commissioned the piece in 2021 as artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The concert concluded with selections from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird Suite,” before fireworks, which have become the traditional end to the parks concerts.
There was also a “surprise” appearance by Bernie Williams, a former professional baseball player who is now a musician, composer, philanthropist, and crusader for arts and music education, born and raised in Puerto Rico.
