The Met’s Annual Summer Recital Series Returns with Six Free Concerts in All Five Boroughs of New York City

Met singers Janai Brugger, Jack Swanson, and Benjamin Taylor to perform on June 14 at Brooklyn Bridge Park and on June 16 at SummerStage in Central Park 

Additional recitals to feature Met Lindemann Young Artists soprano Tessa McQueen, mezzo-soprano Hannah Jones, and bass-baritone Sunghoon Han

The series is presented in collaboration with Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage

New York, NY (April 30, 2025)—The Metropolitan Opera’s 2025 Summer Recital Series, now in its 16th season, begins June 9, with six free outdoor recitals in all five boroughs of New York City, presented in collaboration with Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage.

The concerts at SummerStage in Central Park (Manhattan) on Monday, June 16, at 8PM and in Brooklyn Bridge Park (Brooklyn) on Saturday, June 14, at 7PM will include performances by soprano Janai Brugger, tenor Jack Swanson, and baritone Benjamin Taylor. Brugger returns next season as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and as Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, and Taylor returns as Jake in the Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Swanson will make his company debut this season as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Met assistant conductor Howard Watkins will accompany at the piano.

Rising stars of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program—soprano Tessa McQueen, mezzo-soprano Hannah Jones, and bass-baritone Sunghoon Han—headline four additional recitals on Monday, June 9, at 7PM in Jackie Robinson Park (Manhattan); Wednesday, June 11, at 7PM at the Williamsbridge Oval (Bronx); Friday, June 13, at 7PM at the Stapleton Waterfront (Staten Island); and Sunday, June 15, at 7PM in Socrates Sculpture Park (Queens).

McQueen, in her first year with the program, made her Met debut as Countess Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto and is currently singing the Priestess in Verdi’s Aida. Jones, in her first year of the program, made her Met debut as one of the Voices of the Unborn in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten and was a member of the Denyce Graves Foundation’s inaugural Shared Voices program. Han, in his first year of the program, will perform in the Program’s Patron Concert of opera scenes and Met Orchestra Workshop with Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Mariam Bombrun, in her first year of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, will join the singers at the piano.

The Met’s Summer Recital Series will feature famous opera arias and duets, as well as other classical favorites.

The Met’s Summer Recital Series is funded by the Elizabeth B. McGraw Foundation, in honor of Mrs. McGraw and her son, John. Additional support has also been provided, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and in collaboration with the Department of Parks and Recreation.

No tickets are required. There are no rain dates for any of the park recitals. For more information, please visit cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage.