7/31/2019 The Philharmonic at Van Cortlandt Park

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Har l em News Gr ou p B R O N XHARLEM . QUEENS . BROOKLYN . BRONX

THE PHILHARM ONIC AT VAN CORTLANDT PARKBy Howard Giske

The New York Philharmonic per-

formed outside at Van Cort-

landt Park, Bronx, near

Broadway and 251st St on Tuesday,

July 17. The program, conducted by

Andrey Boreyko, featured Wagner's

Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger

Von Nrnberg, Tchaikovsky's Violin

Concerto, with the dynamic James

Ehnes as soloist, and Brahms's Sym-

phony No. 1. After the concert, there

was a beautiful fireworks show.Classical music is extremely

popular in the Bronx, with a crowd of

hundreds turning out. Whole families

set up folding chairs and blankets on

the grassy field in front of the stage.

Before the music, local politicians

,Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and

NY City Councilman Oliver Koppell,

made brief greetings. Thanks also

went to 2012 sponsors, Didi, Oscar

Schafer, and corporate sponsor Time

Warner.

The opening piece by Richard

Wagner was a quite stately piece, from

his opera, which translates as, TheMaster Singer of Nuremberg. The

music gave the feeling of the introduc-

tion to some important and historic

event. A lighter and even more

impressive piece followed, Pyotr

Ilyich Tchaikovskys Violin Concer-

to, which is quite light and romantic,

especially with its sparkling violin

solos. There was some difficulty in

hearing the softer movements in the

middle of the piece, which is the

downside of performing outdoors, but

the violin solos still rang out, with

soloist James Ehnes doing an

admirable job.

After a brief intermission

came the most compelling and classi-

cal piece of the night, Johannes

Brahms Symphony No. 1. This

piece was what made Brahms reputa-

tion as the successor to the great

Beethoven. The way the symphony

opens with a heavy bass line anddrums is shocking, but despite the

musical dissonance, the piece lawfully

resolves its melodies and counter-

points. It begins in the key of C

Minor, and by the time of the fourth

movement, ends in C Major, reminis-

cent of Beethovens Fifth Symphony.

People in the audience made an effort

to concentrate and assimilate the long

and complicated symphony, and

despite some stiffness in the begin-

ning, by the end, the Philharmonic

was powerfully connecting with the

audience.

At the close of the music,

Eliot Forrest of the radio station

WQXR announced that the recording

of the concert would be broadcast on

the station, 105.9 FM, and a few sec-

onds later at the other end of the field,

the fireworks began. If you missed

fireworks on the Fourth of July, you

have to come to one of these outdoorconcerts that end in fireworks. The 15

minutes of fireworks were truly spec-

tacular.

For those looking for more

free classical music this summer,

dont miss the Metropolitan Opera

Summer Series concert, which will be

at Crotona Park in the Bronx on Tues-

day, July 31st, from 7 pm to 9 pm.

Other free classical music perfor-

mances are by the Bronx Arts Ensem-

ble, performing Sunday August 12th,

in a program called Romantic Sum-

mer Breezes featuring strings and

wind instruments and the music of

Beethoven and Rheinberger. This

takes place at 2 pm at Rockwood

Drive Circle, Van Cortlandt Park, near

Mosholu Ave. and Broadway, and 4

pm at McGinley Center, Fordham

University, Bronx Rose Hill Campus

at Southern Blvd.

For more information see

Summerstage concerts at

http://www.cityparksfoundation.org/ca

lendar/#6 and Bronx Arts Ensemble at

www.bronxartsensemble.org/concert/s

ummer.html

Today Bronx Borough

President Ruben DiazJr., together with

FreshDirect and the Bronx

Overall Economic Develop-

ment Corporation, hosted a job

fair in the rotunda of the Bronx

County Building, interviewing

applicants for positions at

FreshDirects current head-

quarters in Long Island City,

Queens.

Prior to the job fair, the

Bronx Overall EconomicDevelopment Corporation pre-

screened more than 200 appli-

cants for positions with

FreshDirect. More than 70

individuals moved on to the

second round of interviews

with the company.FreshDirect has made

real commitments to our bor-

ough, and todays job fair

shows that they are ready to

hire Bronxites years before

they are located here, said

Bronx Borough President

Ruben Diaz Jr. This job fair is

a great example of how we can

work with businesses to make

development work for every-

one.

Video of todays job fair

is available at: http://youtu.

be/wg3uh30fsQ4.

BOROUGH PRESIDENT DIAZ, FRESHDIRECT & BOEDC HOST JOB FAIR

Audience at Van Cortlandt Park

for NY Philharmonic concertNY Philharmonic performs Fireworks after the music

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. greets hopeful appli-

cants at a job fair for FreshDirect on Wednesday, July 18. Held in

the rotunda of the Bronx County Building, the event was co-host-

ed by the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation.