92nd Street Y Announces Return To Live Performances

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The latest domino to fall in New York City's gradual reopening, the 92nd Street Y announced Monday that it would carefully resume hosting in-person events this month.

Starting April 29, the cultural center will host a "tasting menu" of programming at its Kaufmann Concert Hall, the organization announced Monday — its first live events since the coronavirus swept the city last March.

The spring "mini-season," dubbed "Almost Home," will begin with a reading by actor André Holland of "The End of White Supremacy: An American Romance," a dramatic monologue by the writer Saidiya Hartman.

No more than 150 tickets will be sold for each show at the 904-seat concert hall, the Y said. Tickets are on sale now.

More shows throughout May include classical music performances by the soprano Alyson Cambridge, the flautist Brandon Patrick George alongside pianist Bryan Wagorn, and clarinetist Anthony McGill with soprano Susanna Phillips.

The reopening will come with strict safety protocols: rows of seats will be closed off to separate performers and the audience, proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test will be required to enter, double-masks will be mandated and air filtration systems have been updated, the Y said.

"This has been a year full of challenges for performing arts venues, including ours," 92nd Street Y CEO Seth Pinsky said in a news release. "We now are so pleased to be able to welcome patrons back into Kaufmann Concert Hall to share once again in the transcendent power of in-person performance."

A kids' event will also be among the new in-person programs: a new dance musical, "Adventure to Neverland," will be held four times on May 8 and 9.

The newly announced safety protocols are already being followed by up to 900 people that enter the 92nd Street Y's Lexington Avenue building each day, the organization said.

The Y has been far from dormant during the pandemic. Since last spring, its digital programs drew an audience of more than 4 million people, including performances by the writers Roxanne Gay and Zadie Smith, the violinist Midori and the pianist Yefim Bronfman.

During the past year, the Y sold more than 100,000 tickets to over 1,400 courses and events — a crucial figure, since ticket sales and classes made up almost 70 percent of its budget before the pandemic, the institution said.

Read more about the new series or purchase tickets at 92y.org.