Orchestra of St. Luke’s is one of NYC’s leading chamber orchestras. They are known for performing the full range of classical music from Bach to new music, opera to Broadway, film scores to dance scores. Their Five Boroughs Music Festival, produced by Chamber Music America, is a New York rite of spring.
Latin Concerts
May 2026
African American Bohemian Classical
Orchestra of St. Luke’s with Joseph Parrish “Finding an American Voice” 🇺🇸 🇨🇿
How African American composer Harry T. Burleigh influenced Czech composer Antonín Dvořák
Dvořák Sonatina in G Major for violin and piano
Burleigh Selected works for voice and piano, “Southland Sketches” for violin and piano
Five Boroughs Music Festival
– May 7, Thu, 7:30pm; Hostos Center, Mott Haven, The Bronx
– May 14, Thu, 7pm; Flushing Town Hall, Flushing Queens
– May 16, Sat, 3pm; Staten Island Museum, Randall Manor, Staten
Island
– May 17, Sun, 4pm; Brooklyn Public Library – Central Branch, Prospect Heights
– May 18, Mon, 6pm; New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center
FREE with RSVP
Joseph Parrish is a bass-baritone opera singer from Baltimore. The Juilliard graduate and 2022 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions winner is a champion of diversity in classical music.
Dvořák was a composer from Bohemia (now Czechia), the crossroads of Europe. He lived in New York from 1892-1895 while working as the director of the National Conservatory of Music in America. Take that in, it’s America’s National Conservatory. There he composed some of his most famous masterpieces, including the popularly named “New World Symphony” which influenced American classical music forever after. You can hear direct influences in both the “Jaws” and “Star Wars” movie themes.
Reading Longfellow’s epic poem “Song of Hiawatha” made Dvořák dream of Native American. But he was directly influenced by Black spirituals taught to him by his student Harry T. Burleigh. A lot of classical music is inspired by folk melodies and rhythms. The Czech was so impressed that he believed Americans should stop looking to Europe for inspiration because we have our own folk traditions.
Many people know about the “New World Symphony,” but few know that it was inspired by Black spirituals. It’s crazy how mixed we are, and wonderful how we influence each other. When Dvořák returned home, he took a little Black culture with him, back to the crossroads of Europe.
Italian Classical
The Seasons of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”
Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, Upper East Side
May 6, Wed, 6:30pm
$FREE with registration
April 2026
Gala
Orchestra of St. Luke’s Gift of Music Gala
Honoring OSL Trustee Marc de la Bruyère and cellist Alisa Weilerstein
Featuring violinist Stella Chen
The Pierre, Upper East Side
Apr 27, Mon, 6pm
$1,000+