NY Phil & Spanish Harlem Orch, May 9 2026
- ladiesvoices
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Jim, Michael, Dave, and I heard the New York Philharmonic and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra on May 10, 2026. The concert didn’t appear to be part of the NY Phil season, it seemed to be a pop-up concert at a Washington Heights venue, a project conceived of by the incoming artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel. We heard about it because Michael got an email from the venue, the United Palace. Jim, Michael, and I all live within five minutes of the United Palace - - I had walked past it maybe a hundred times since I moved to the Heights a year and a half before but had never been inside.
The United Palace was built by the Loew’s group as a grand movie palace in 1930. It appears to have been in more or less continuous use (in some form or another) since then. A refurbishment fundraising campaign started in 2011, which was boosted by local resident Lin-Manuel Miranda. My first glimpse of the space was on the telecast of the 2023 Tony Awards. I’m sure Miranda had something to do with the show taking place at that venue. I’m equally sure that many people in the audience had never been to that neighborhood.
The interior decoration (by Thomas Lamb) is described on the United Palace Wikipedia page as a mixture of Aztec, Classical, Egyptian, Islamic, Mayan, and Mughal architecture. Why not. It’s marvelously garish, grand like Radio City Music Hall but with a different concept of taste. Here's a virtual tour:
I loved it and can’t wait to go back. Michael told me they’re screening Sunset Boulevard in September. I am SO there. The space itself is so opulent, overdone, and spooky, it'll be the perfect environment for that movie.
I’d heard the NY Phil many times but had never heard or even heard of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. The group is three singers and ten instrumentalists: two trumpets, two trombones, flute/saxophone, timbales, congas, bongos, bass, and piano. They were one hot band. Their band leader and pianist is Oscar Hernández. Here's a taste of what they do:
The program (full program below) was a mixture of solo numbers by the SHO, solo numbers by the NYP, and numbers for everyone. The numbers for everyone felt to me like the SHO with the NYP playing backup. This impression is supported by the fact that the SHO was amplified and the NYP appeared to not be amplified. Often I saw the strings in the NYP sawing away but there was no auditory evidence of them being in the building. The winds in the NYP had more presence, they often laid down a carpet that the SHO danced on.
The three singers in the SHO (suave, middle-aged gentlemen) had a delicious blend, took turns doing solos, and did a darling bit of dancing, always in synch, never betraying the fact that they each had about a 2.5-foot diameter in which to maneuver. I loved them.
I had two favorite moments in the concert. First, one of the early numbers started with a beguiling Latin beat but at one point, without a change in tempo, it suddenly dropped into a crisp, fierce, distinctly Cuban beat. As soon as that started there was a ROAR from much of the audience. They were thrilled and I was thrilled by their thrill. The other favorite moment was also early on - - I could swear, maybe in that same number, I heard someone let out the distinctive HUY! of Pérez Prado. That, as Little Richard once said, made my toe go up in my boot. Here's a Prado presentation with the HUY! happening around 0:12. It's a little understated but you can get the idea:
On the flip side I was wild for the Villa Lobos piece the Philharmonic played. I need to explore more of his stuff, it was somewhat experimental and quirky in a sort of Messaien way (never a bad choice). Here's a performance by an orchestra in Brazil:
Hernández and Dudamel both made comments (in English and Spanish) about the special nature of the collaboration. I could see that the members of the SHO were thrilled to be sharing the stage with the NYP. Not all of the members of the NYP communicated that same feeling, many of them seemed to be doing just another concert, like they were playing Brahms or something. The brass players in the NYP clearly were having a good time and were blown away by the playing of the SHO. I noticed the saxophone player in the NYP wide-eyed and grinning from ear to ear whenever the SHO saxophonist had a solo. That was touching.
The concert had two special guest artists, one that was in the program, one that was not. The one in the program was musician, actor, and onetime minister of tourism for Panama, Rubén Blades. He sang a solo in a song he had written. The guest artist not in the program was Dudamel’s father, who was introduced by his son and played trombone with the SHO for the last few numbers. THAT was touching.
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“Llegó La Hispanica” by Oscar Hernández (SHO)
“La Salsa Dura” by Manolo Simonet (SHO)
“La Música Latina” by Carlos Cascante (SHO + NYP)
“Danzón for My Father” by Oscar Hernández (SHO + NYP)
“El Cumbanchero” by Hernández Marín (SHO + NYP)
“Toccata / O trenzhinho do caipina (The Little Train of the Brazilian Peasant)” from Bachianas Brasilieras #2 by Heitor Villa-Lobos (NYP)
“Espérame en el Cielo” by Francisco López Vidal (SHO + NYP)
“Mambo 2021” by Oscar Hernández (SHO + NYP)
“Times Square: 1944” from Three Dance Episodes from On the Town by Leonard Bernstein (NYP)
“Mi Gente” by Johnny Pacheco (SHO + NYP)
“Las Calles” by Rubén Blades (SHO + NYP + Blades)
“La Banda” by Willie Colón (SHO + NYP)
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