From left, New York Philharmonic musicians at Green-Wood Cemetery: Max Zeugner, David Finlayson, Richard Deane, Ethan Bensdorf, Leah Ferguson, Yoobin Son, Alison Fierst, Christopher Martin, Qianqian Li, Na Sun, Sumire Kudo, Cong Wu, and Quan Ge. Photo: Jonas Fredwall Karlsson
“The New York Philharmonic has been emerging from its pandemic shell in stages,” writes Justin Davidson in Thursday’s (5/27) New York Magazine. “Impromptu performances from the back of a pickup truck, a string ensemble in an empty church, the first appearance in front of a tiny audience spread through a huge space at the Shed— these bits of concert life have kept the players faintly tethered to their routines. Soon, 17 members of the orchestra will pop up among the sepulchres at Green-Wood Cemetery as part of the series ‘Death of Classical.’ That might not seem like the obvious location to stage the revival of performance culture, but when Green-Wood opened in 1838, it was intended to be one of New York’s grandest, most verdant, and most romantic public parks…. The cemetery performance will still be a long way from the full force of 100 musicians, with their sound that moves like an ocean breaker, rumbling, flowing, and bursting with beautiful violence. ‘I miss that swell, that surround sound,’ says the trumpet player Ethan Bensdorf…. He’ll finally get to experience that at a Memorial Day concert in the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, though the public will only hear it livestreamed.”
