Dudamel and the NY Philharmonic with Spanish Harlem Orchestra, May 8, 2026.
©️2026 James Estrin – The New York Times
‘Uno, Dos, Uno!’: Under Dudamel, Classical Music Meets Salsa
Gustavo Dudamel brought the New York Philharmonic and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra together for the first time, at Lincoln Center and uptown.
The New York Times
May 11, 2026
By Adam Nagourney
Photos by James Estrin
*NY Times Subscription is required
“The nearly 3,400-seat United Palace Theater, about 1,200 seats more than Geffen Hall, was sold out, and two-thirds of the audience had never attended a Philharmonic concert before, the orchestra said. About 43 percent of the audience came from Washington Heights, Harlem and Inwood.”
“Cumbanchero!” the musicians shouted at the end of “El Cumbanchero,” a 1949 composition by Rafael Hernández Marín. It was a moment that received cries of approval from the younger crowd in Washington Heights and cheers from the more dressed-up Lincoln Center audience — which clapped to salsa rhythms as Dudamel invited them to do something out of the ordinary during a performance at Geffen Hall: make some noise.”
“Dudamel and Hernandez said merging these two bands proved easier than expected. “Not difficult,” Dudamel said during a break backstage. “You can feel the orchestra getting the style very naturally. You can see it in their faces.”
