Classical Music in New York City

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NYC Classical Music Scene

As the American gateway to Europe, New York City has long had a European classical music focus, but that is changing.

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Classical Music Radio

WQXR is New York City’s classical music radio station. wqxr.org

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Classical Orchestras

American Composers Orchestra produces new work by American composers. americancomposers.org

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra is part of America’s largest classical music organization.

New Jersey Symphony plays diverse classical music in Newark, New Jersey. njsymphony.org

The New York Philharmonic is one of the world’s great symphony orchestras. Tania León is a New Music Advisor. Gustavo Dudamel takes over in 2026.

Orchestra of St Lukes is an active producer of contemporary classical music, and music for dance.

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Classical Music Halls

92nd Street Y, in the Upper East Side, has a strong classical guitar program.

Americas Society, in the Upper East Side, has a strong classical music program.

Carnegie Hall, in Midtown, is one of the world’s great concert halls.

David Geffen Hall is Lincoln Center’s home for classical music.

Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center is the home of America’s largest classical music organization.

The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Hudson Yards, is the home of Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

Merkin Hall Kaufmann Music Center in Lincoln Square, Manhattan; is an intimate venue for classical music, musical theatre, and musical revues for families.

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Churches with Classical Music

Cathedral Church of St John the Divine; in Morningside Heights, Manhattan; is famed for sacred music in the Cathedral’s incredible acoustics.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

St. Thomas Church

Trinity Church

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Experimental Classical Music

Le Poisson Rouge, in Greenwich Village, hosts some classical music.

National Sawdust, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, presents some classical music.

Roulette Intermedium; in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; presents experimental classical music.

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Artists

• Andrea Bocelli pop opera 🇮🇹
• Ara Malikian classical 🇪🇸
• Assad Brothers guitar duo 🇧🇷
• Berta Rojas guitarist 🇵🇾
• Gustavo Dudamel conductor 🇻🇪
• Leonard Bernstein conductor 🇺🇸
• Los Angeles Philharmonic
• New York Philharmonic 🗽
• Nilko Andreas guitarist 🇨🇴
• Paquito d’Rivera classical jazz 🇨🇺
• Rosa Antonelli Steinway pianist 🇦🇷
• São Paulo Symphony Orchestra 🇧🇷
• Tania León 🇨🇺

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Choirs

Distinguished Concerts International dciny.org

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Classical Music Festivals

• Chamber Music America National Conference
• New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks
• Prototype Festival of contemporary opera

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Latin Origins of Classical Music

Like most human culture, classical music derives from religious ritual. European classical music starts with the Gregorian chants, or sacred songs of Christian monks in Rome, around the 800s.

Classical music of the Americas is often inspired by Indigenous and African Diaspora traditions, in the same way that European classical music is inspired by European folk traditions.

Opera is a subset of classical music. Ballet is the classical dance. Classically-trained Creole musicians created jazz.

Classical music notation is Italian. Though we only focus on Latin artists and compositions, our point of view is that all classical music is Latin because of its Italian origins.

Brazil and Mexico have strong classical music traditions.

Opera is one of classical music’s vocal forms. Ballet is its traditional dance.

Classical Music has Latin origins. In the same way that Latin Music began as religious music in Mother Africa, Classical Music as we know it today began as religious music in Italy.

In the USA, we are taught that everything is European, but digging deeper exposes Classical Music’s Greco-Roman, Egyptian and Arab roots. So Classical Music is really Asian, African and European. Venice, Italy was the traditional gateway to Asia, so it played an important role in Classical Music’s development.

In Europe, Classical Music began as church music. It then evolved into Chamber music played in salons for a privileged elite. Basically it was rich people’s party music. Even today, people like to pretend to be rich (think social media) so as a merchant class emerged, Classical Music’s popularity spread.

In colonial times, the European Diaspora brought Classical Music to the Americas. The Creole (mixed race) children of European immigrants were taught Classical Music traditions. Many were even educated in Europe. Jazz was created by classically-trained Creole musicians.

In the United States, Classical Music is influenced by Jazz, Hollywood and Broadway. In South America, it mixed with folk traditions in the same way that European composers looked to their folk traditions for inspiration.

Classical Music from Sacred to Profane

Like most music around the world, classical music was developed for sacred ceremony.

Medieval Era

What we now consider classical music arose from chant forms in the medieval Catholic Church.

String instruments played with a bow descend from the Arabic rebab. It looks a lot like the Chinese violins that people play in NYC subway stations. Islamic traders controlled the first trade routes between Europe and Asia. The bowed instruments come from somewhere in Asia.

Renaissance Era

Music for social dancing and modern music notation developed during the Italian Renaissance (roughly 1400-1600). The invention of the printing press in Germany around 1440 increased the music’s spread.

Baroque Era

The Baroque Era (roughly 1600 to 1750) is the beginning of what’s called the “common practice period” which includes the Classical and Romantic eras. In this period, tonal systems were standard.

Johan Sebastian Bach is the Baroque archetype. There is also Vivaldi in Italy and many Italian composers. The music was chamber music played for an elite. The harpsichord was popular. Opera begins to appear.

Classical Era

In the Classical Era (roughly the 1750s to the 1820s), the piano replaced the harpsichord, musical forms standardized, and instruments developed into what we know today.

It was a time of German and Austrian dominance with Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven leading the way. Opera begins to develop.

Romantic Era

The Romantic Era (roughly the 1800s to the early 1900s) was characterized by much more dramatic compositions.

Composers begin to break out of the structures of the Classical Era. Large symphony orchestras appear with a lead violinist. A rising middle class begins to enjoy classical music.

Wagner composes grand operas. Tchaikovsky writes grand ballets. Chopin stretches the form and starts to express himself before and after the beat. You have to feel the music to play it.

Modern Era

The Modern Era (roughly 1890 to the 1930s) leaves the standards of the common practice period behind. Life is changing rapidly, so tonal systems change and instrumentation changes. It’s still classical music, but instead of looking to a glorified past or an inward vision, the music spins out into the universe.

As life gets more urban, composers look to folk traditions for inspiration. Bartók starts making weirdly beautiful compositions.

The Jazz Age rises and American influences begin to enter the music. Classical, popular, Hollywood and Broadway traditions begin to blend together.

If classical music begins in African Egypt, now Africa is back in the game.

Composers like Stravinsky, Debussy and Gershwin stand out. Heitor Villa-Lobos is one of the early Latin Americans to enter the canon.

Post Modern Era

The world goes to war for a second time and the nuclear bomb blows apart all preconceptions. Europe is destroyed. It’s New York now.

Straight ahead jazz starts to swing and then jumps into bebop. Anything and everything can be music, including silence.

John Cage goes completely abstract. Philip Glass both stretches and compresses time frames. Laurie Anderson starts using trash technology to make music. Classical and pop music have completely blended together.

Today

Latin New Music composers have a unique cultural framework. We have great Latin interpreters of European classical music, wonderful Indigenous Baroque music, and great Latin composers inspired by folk traditions of the Americas.ds

So here we are. We have all this great music to enjoy.