By Tracy Zwick
August 7th through 9th
Free Jazz and Latin Music at Sunset Sounds: Friday August 7th from 7 to 8:30 p.m.; 125th and Marginal streets in West Harlem Piers; free
The Jazz Foundation of America is presenting an evening of free jazz and Latin music tonight, headlined by pianist Marcus Persiani, conguero Matthew Gonzalez and Trio Cachimbo. It’s part of Riverside Park Conservancy’s series of free “Summer on the Hudson” programming.
Free Guided Tours at AMNH: Offered every half hour, seven days a week, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; 200 Central Park West between West 77th and 81st streets; pay-what-you-wish for general admission for NY state residents
Did you know that with any level of admission, including pay-what-you-wish admission for New Yorkers, you can join a 75-minute free highlights tour in English or a bevy of other languages? If you’re looking for air conditioning and an opportunity to learn about treasures that have been under our noses on the UWS for ages, this sounds like a great weekend option. The museum also offers free “Spotlight Tours,” which last an hour and go in-depth on a specific area of the museum’s collection. To view the day’s schedule, check out the information desk in the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall on the first floor. Specially designed experiences are available for visitors with disabilities and for neuro-divergent children.
Summer for the City Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center: Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center; free
The Festival Orchestra’s season comes to a close this weekend with a free program featuring conductor Jonathon Heyward, flutist Demarre McGill and clarinetist Anthony McGill. On the program is Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, “Spring”; the New York premiere of a new work by Billy Childs featuring both the McGill brothers as soloists; and the world premiere of Hannah Ishizaki’s “Change Thy Course” – which was inspired by the Schumann symphony. The evening begins with Frederick Delius’s “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring.”
NY Buddhist Church’s Obon Festival: Sunday, August 9th from 12:30 to 4 p.m.; West 106th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive; free
This annual festival returns Sunday with Japanese folk dancing, Taiko drumming, origami activities for kids, cultural demonstrations and more. It’ll take place just steps from the historic New York Buddhist Church, established in 1938, on West 106th Street. In Japanese Buddhist tradition, Obon is an annual festival that “honors the ancestors, typically celebrated with services, visits to the cemetery, lanterns, and folk dancing.”
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
