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A beloved annual tradition that has drawn more than 1.6 million visitors to the neighborhood since it launched in 2022 is officially coming back this June, once again filling the 16-acre campus with hundreds of performances offered free or on a Choose-What-You-Pay basis.
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Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announced on Thursday that Summer for the City will return for its fifth year, running from June 10 through August 8. This year’s edition leans heavily into dance, with the debut of the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance, a new programming initiative that anchors much of the season.Opening night on June 10 features a triple bill of dance: KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s Rhapsody, a community work performed by 30 New Yorkers; Inayat: A Duet for Four, which merges two ancient north Indian performance traditions; and a swing dance party with Caleb Teicher & Company and the Eyal Vilner Big Band.
The Pasculano Collaborative launches with two major programs. The first is the inaugural Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival, which will transform Alice Tully Hall into a dance venue for three weeks in June and early July. The festival features five international companies, including Akram Khan’s newest work Thikra: Night of Remembering, Basel-based choreographer Jeremy Nedd’s from rock to rock…aka how magnolia was taken for granite, and the U.S. premiere of South Korean choreographer Sung Im Her’s 1 Degree Celsius. The second, Dance Encounters, is a new outdoor series on Hearst Plaza spotlighting New York-based companies, including new commissions from Shen Wei, Butoh artist Vangeline, and a digital film commission titled With Love from Eichterling.
The BAAND Together Dance Festival also returns for its sixth year from July 28 through August 1, reuniting Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem on a single stage.
On the classical side, the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center returns to David Geffen Hall under music and artistic director Jonathon Heyward with three new commissions, including a Billy Childs double concerto written for brothers Anthony and Demarre McGill, a U.S. premiere cello concerto from Jessie Montgomery, and a world premiere from composer Hannah Ishizaki.
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International programming is threaded throughout the summer. Chinese Arts Week runs July 22 through July 29, featuring lion dancing, a Du Yun premiere, and performances from Shen Wei and the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. Other themed events include Ruidosa Fest on July 12, Brazil Day on July 9, K-Pop Dance Night on July 1, globalFEST on August 1, and Jamaica Day on August 8, featuring roots and reggae band Black Uhuru.The campus itself gets a visual redesign from Artist-in-Residence Clint Ramos, with this year’s look centered on movement and radiating outward from the Revson Fountain, which will feature a newly commissioned fountain show. The Dance Floor returns as a hub for social dance nights and silent discos throughout the summer.
Other season highlights include a Juneteenth celebration curated by Carl Hancock Rux, a Hip-Hop concert from the duo dead prez on June 11, the first New York City revival in 25 years of Glenn Branca’s Symphony No. 13, “Hallucination City,” written for 100 guitars, and the return of Big Umbrella Day on June 13, a campus-wide event designed for neurodivergent audiences and their families.
Choose-What-You-Pay tickets, which start at $5, go on sale to Lincoln Center members on May 13 and to the general public on May 20. Free events are general admission on a first-come, first-served basis, with Fast Track reservations available for select programs each Monday at noon. The full calendar is available at SummerForTheCity.org.
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