The River To River Festival takes place each summer from June through August in a many public venues in Downtown New York City (from Chambers Street down to the southern tip of Manhattan). The website lists tons of free things to do including live music, concerts, dance, shows, tours, and speaking engagements.

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TV Shows offer free music performances in the summertime all over the city.

• ABC Good Morning America Concerts every week in Central Park (used to be at Bryant Park) at 7am. Performances are usually at 8:30am.
• NBC Today Show Concerts every week at Rockefeller Plaza at 7am.

Excellent nationally-known artists perform and they usually play one or two songs! Admittance is first come first served.

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The South Street Seaport holds a summer music festival full of free outdoor shows.  Starts with a Guest DJ and bands go on around 7pm.  Bands this year include Superchunk, Polvo, Obits, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

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The  NY Philharmonic has offered free summer concerts at Central Park for more than 40 years. Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, the classical concerts have a fireworks finale too!

This year, the NY Philharmonic offers two free indoor concerts as well at CUNY Staten Island College and Queens College.

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We recommend you bring your own chair for popular musical acts (like Lauryn Hill and Boyz II Men performed last year).

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The Metropolitan Opera offers free summer events in parks of NYC and New Jersey.

This year, the company will present a six-performance series of recitals in the parks of all five boroughs for the Summer Recital Series.  Performances include Tony Award winner Paulo Szot and opera singers Lisette Oropesa and Alek Shrader with accompaniment by pianist Vlad Iftinca. Actor/conductor Damon Gupton will host several of the concerts. All performances are free and no tickets are required, except for the concert at SummerStage. For information on how to obtain free SummerStage tickets, please visit their website beginning June 1.

Starting August 29, the Met will present its first-ever Summer HD Festival, featuring screenings of ten productions from the company’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series. The HD productions will be shown in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights—for free.  Start times will range from 7:30pm to 8:00pm.  The screenings are free with no tickets required; 2800 seats will be available each night on a first-come, first served basis. There are no rain dates.

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