Lincoln Center Announces 2025 Summer for the City Festival

Running from June 11 to August 9, 2025, this year’s festival will feature artists including the Brooklyn Rider quartet and the PUBLIQuartet

Having welcomed over one million visitors since its launch in 2022, Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City festival will celebrate its fourth edition — highlighting New York City’s diverse cultural traditions with performances of both contemporary and classic works. 

Among the artists to make their Lincoln Center debut will be the American Modern Opera Company collective of musicians and dancers, who will present 12 productions and several New York premieres. 

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Brooklyn Rider string quartet will be presenting a series of six concerts that will include their most recent commissioning project, The Four Elements: Earth & Air, Fire & Water.

The PUBLIQuartet will also be joining the Peabody Award-winning producer Nadia Sirota’s Living Music Underground series featuring an array of artists pushing the boundaries of classical, jazz, experimental, and pop genres. 

Additionally, the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center will present its second season under its Music and Artistic Director Jonathon Heyward, with premieres and commissions paired with traditional classics.  

The orchestra’s program involves works by Beethoven, Louise Farrenc, Clara and Robert Schumann, and W.A. Mozart. Among the living composers will include Michael Abels, Osvaldo Golijov, Iman Habibi, Gabriela Lena Frank, plus a New York premiere by Anna Clyne, and a world premiere commission by James Lee III.

Guest conductors Dame Jane Glover, Karen Kamensek, and Joana Carneiro, will also be joined by featured soloists including Jess Gillam, Gabriella Reyes, James Ehnes, Leonora Armellini, Yeol Eum Son, and singers from the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Cellist Sterling Elliott will also perform solo in The Avery Fisher Legacy Concert.

This festival season will continue to support deaf and disabled artists and audiences with the return of Deaf Broadway, Big Umbrella Day, and performances centering disability artistry from guest curator Ryan J. Haddad. 

Lincoln Center’s Artist-in-Residence and Summer for the City’s Visual Director Clint Ramos will again be designing the outdoor space for the festival, and is focusing on the theme of birds. 

“For this year’s Summer for the City festival, we continue our reflection on nature and what wisdom it could impart on our urban lives,” Ramos said. “Birds are the main inspiration this year. We meditate on the freedom of their flight and the collective importance of the flock. Birds remind us all to look up and imagine how we, ourselves together, could take flight. This summer is an invitation to soar.”

“The live performing arts are fundamental to who we are and to summer in New York City,” added Mariko Silver, President and CEO of Lincoln Center. “Nowhere do the rhythms of the world come together like here in New York. Summer for the City is such a beautiful expression of the international cultural crossroads we call home.”

“Summer for the City is a celebration of Lincoln Center’s founding promise to always enliven the city with arts for all New Yorkers. We invite you to experience the inspiration and artistry of incredible performers from around the country and around the world,” said Shanta Thake, Lincoln Center’s Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer. 

“This year’s festival brings artists whose visions of the future inspire and bring joy,” Thake continued. “Just as the energy of New York City connects us, we hope New Yorkers of all ages will feel moved by this reminder of shared humanity in an interconnected world. We invite you to come as you are, experience global rhythms, and embrace new perspectives — all without ever leaving New York.”

For more information and to attend the festival, click here. All events are free or on a pay-what-you-can basis. Tickets for all Choose-What-You-Pay concerts will go on sale on May 15 at noon.