THE FIFTIETH SEASON: June 21, 5 pm; July 8, 15, 22, 29, 8 pm FREE!

In June and July of 2008, the Washington Square Music Festival, a free outdoor classical and Music of the Americas concert series, is celebrating its 50th season by presenting five evenings of great music under the stars performed by musicians who regularly play in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan and New York City Opera orchestras and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Saturday, June 21, 5 pm is a folk concert. July 8, 15, 22 are chamber orchestra ensembles and July 29 is the Charles Mingus Orchestra -- all Tuesdays at 8 pm.

Performance space is in the southeast quadrant of Washington Square Park at the foot of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Rainspace is New York University’s Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4 th Street.

The Festival was founded in 1953 by violinist and neighbor Alexander Schneider: www.sasha-schneider.com/ member of the famed Budapest String Quartet, and the Washington Square Association, Inc. Over the years the concerts have become a venerable summer tradition, shaped by Peggy Friedman, executive director, our late music director Henry Schuman, and our current music director, Lutz Rath, as well as talented musicians, countless patrons, volunteers and neighborhood agencies that make the Festival such a popular Tuesday evening event.

The sole activity of The Washington Square Music Festival is to present free concerts. New York has other free outdoor classical concert series, but only the Washington Square Music Festival is sponsored by a local civic organization—that organization, the Washington Square Association, Inc., dates back to 1903. www.washingtonsquarenyc.org/

The Festival often features young musicians. Several now-famous performers have appeared in Washington Square in early stages of their careers, including soprano Marilyn Horne and her husband, the late Henry Lewis, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, violinist Tom Chiu and conductor Gerard Schwarz. Internationally known musicians who have appeared in the Square include: conductor Gürer Aykal & violinist Suna Kan (The Presidential Orchestra of Turkey), conductor and oboist Henry Schuman; composer-conductor Virko Baley, and violinist Ole Böhn (concertmaster, Norwegian Opera Orchestra), soprano Gabriella Tucci. On the jazz front, the Charles Mingus Orchestra, Felix Swing Band and Panama Francis and His Savoy Sultans have made the audience in Washington Square Park dance in the aisles while Johnny Colon and His Orchestra brought classic salsa to the Park, and Cuartetango String Quartet brought sizzling Argentine tango with authentic dancers.

The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible with major funding from the Katherine & Earle K. Moore Foundation, the Horace Goldsmith Foundation and the Washington Square Park Council; and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation through the good offices of Senator Thomas K. Duane and Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick; and New York City Councilmember Alan J. Gerson. US Recording Companies fund in part the instrumental music for the series, as arranged by Local 802, American Federation of Musicians.  Generous grants from New York University Community Fund, Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, The Washington Square Association, Carmine Street Block Association, Con Edison, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Greenwich Village Block Associations, Washington Square Hotel, Greenwich Village/Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, BAMRA, Tio Pepe Restaurant, UPS Foundation and Emigrant Savings Bank are deeply appreciated.     

Peggy Friedman, Executive Director
Jean Lyman Goetz, Festival Manager
Laima Hood, chair, Board of Directors
Suzette Jacobs, Associate Music Director
Lutz Rath, Music Director

www.villagealliance.org

PO Box 1066, Village Station, New York NY 10014-0706 | 212-252-3621 | info@washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org