With the arrival of summer New York vibrates with one of the most anticipated events of the summer season: the open-air concerts of the Lincoln Center, which start on Tuesday its thirtieth edition, in which Latin music has always had a leading role.
The audience has danced to the rhythm of salsa, merengue, tango, disco, Brazilian music, mambo, cha cha cha, swing or Froxtrot, among other vibrant sounds from all over the world, which have been present during these three decades of the Midsummer Night Swing, in Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, which becomes a gigantic ballroom under the stars.
In 1989, the Lincoln Center celebrated its 30th anniversary by programming performances by different orchestras for 20 nights with which audiences of all ages danced to the rhythm of various genres.
New Yorkers fully enjoyed those nights and wanted more music, dancing and enjoy the energy of being outdoors, and that’s how the concerts were born at Damrosch Park, one of several Lincoln Center events.
Prior to the beginning of the concerts, the public has the opportunity to take a short dance course of the music genre that they will hear that day -swing, salsa, tango, etc.- that will allow them to venture to move the skeleton next to the hundreds of people who do not miss these concerts.
“Over the past thirty years, the Midsummer Night Swing has become a summer tradition for New Yorkers and visitors alike, uniting people from all walks of life at Damrosch Park,” Jill Sternheimer, Director of Public Programming at the Damrosch Park, said in a statement. Lincoln Center.
The season opens this Tuesday with the saxophonist and conductor Vince Giordano who performed in the first Midsummer Night Swing, in 1989.
Latin music arrives on Wednesday with the flavor of the legendary Cuban orchestra Los Van Van, founded by Juan Formell, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary.
Since his death in 2014, his son Samuel has taken the lead of the band, continuing the tradition of five decades of the Charanga, Salsa, Son Cubano and Songo.
On June 29th it is the turn of the Los Hacheros orchestra of New York, which arrives on the scene of this event with an aesthetic of swing, they are montuno, guaracha and salsa, remembering the greats of the golden age of Latin music, according to with the Lincoln Center.
The Latin party will continue on July 4, the day of US independence, which will be celebrated with the salsa of the orchestra of bassist Bobby Valentín, ex-member of the Fania Stars.
Lovers of Brazilian music will enjoy on July 9 the singer Elba Ramalho, known as “the queen of Forró” (a genre that fuses several national rhythms), while two days later New Yorkers can listen and dance tango with the Orquesta Típica Messiez, in his debut in New York, directed by the Argentinean pianist and composer Emiliano Messiez.
The concerts close on July 13 with the Harlem Renaissance orchestra and its tribute to the late saxophonist and jazz musician, Illinois Chicago.
The celebration this year is twice as long as the Lincoln Center, one of the most important cultural centers of New York, which houses the Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Ballet, among others, also celebrates the 60th anniversary of its Foundation.
