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Sonic Revelry: New Year’s Eve in NYC

David Daniels and Joyce DiDonato in "The Enchanted Island." Photo by Nick Heavican/Met Opera, culled from the Met Opera website..

If you’re a classical music lover who will be in New York City on New Year’s Eve, perhaps Times Square isn’t on the top of your list of destinations for revelry. Here are three more than viable options for your last concert experience of 2011:

The Metropolitan Opera’s New Year’s Eve Gala: The Enchanted Island (6:30 p.m.)

A world premiere. A substantive and glamorous cast featiring Plácido Domingo, Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Danielle de Niese, and Luca Pisaroni. The country’s most prominent opera company. A fantastical pastiche of Shakespeare’s storytelling and music by Handel, Vivaldi, and others. A new libretto, in English. Enough said.


Bargemusic’s New Year’s Eve Celebration, featuring the music of Bach (7 p.m.)

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is among the most enduring in history. As we endure toward the New Year, Bargemusic–located alongside the East River at Brooklyn’s Fulton Ferry Landing–presents Brandenburg Concerto Nos. 2-6, as well as the composer’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin (BWV 1060). Tickets for this special event are only available by reservation, so contact Bargemusic immediately to see if there is any remaining availability (see the link above).


92Y presents A Champagne New Year’s Eve: the Knights ( 8:00 p.m.)

Led by co-Artistic Directors Colin and Eric Jacobsen of the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, the Knights are comprised of some of the most compelling young classical musicians in New York. This celebratory orchestral concert has a little sonic something for everyone—Baroque composer Henry Purcell’s Fantasia Upon One Note in F major, Beethoven’s iconic Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, and contemporary classical master Terry Riley’s incalculably influential In C.

See you in the New Year!