One of the 20th century’s most celebrated and influential musicians, violinist Isaac Stern performed on our stage more than a dozen times over 50 years, from his first concert in 1943 to his last in 1994. On a May evening in 1979 – just a month before his historic, groundbreaking trip to China – Stern performed an evening of chamber music in Kaufmann Concert Hall. The concert was to open with a solo violin performance, which Stern originally planned to be Bach’s B-Minor Partita …
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On April 21, 1948, 21-year-old Harlem-born actor Harry Belafonte made his off-Broadway debut at The 92nd Street Y, New York in Sojourner Truth with the American Negro Theatre. Based on the life of the Black abolitionist and early civil rights icon, the play earned the young actor what he called, in his memoir, “my first critical praise in print” — a column written by activist and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who had attended the performance …
Before he was one of Hollywood’s most glamorous stars, Tony Curtis was Bernard Schwartz, born in Manhattan in 1925 to Hungarian-Jewish emigrants, and an active member of The 92nd Street Y. The not-yet Tony Curtis participated in athletics, clubs, and performances, and on February 7, 1941, made his acting debut in the Y Playhouse production of Thunder Rock …
In 1883, while teaching English to Eastern European Jewish refugees at 92NY, poet Emma Lazarus wrote “The New Colossus” to fund the construction of the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal …
On February 23, 1941, noted tap-ballet dancer and choreographer Paul Draper made his first solo appearance at The 92nd Street Y, New York. In an explosive era of innovation that would come to define the institution, Draper would go on to make invaluable contributions …
On October 19, 1956, Sylvia Plath penned a letter to her husband, poet Ted Hughes, having heard about the 92nd Street Y and Harper’s poetry contest that was to kickstart his career …
On February 2, 1961, Norman Mailer’s reading at The 92nd Street Y, New York caused a ruckus. While reciting a string of characteristically crude couplets, the author found himself on the receiving end of a curt curtain call at the hands of an offended Dr. William Kolodney, the institution’s educational director …
On January 27, 1938, renowned Jewish physicist Professor Albert Einstein paid a visit to The 92nd Street Y during the annual board of directors meeting. Scarcely documented, the enigmatic genius’ trip to 92NY would remain the stuff of hearsay and local lore for decades …
All donations until June 30, 2024 will go twice as far thanks to two anonymous donors in honor of this milestone anniversary.
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