NYC Digest - 2026-09-03

Six free things today — lunchtime piano in Bryant Park, Golden Hour at Greeley Square, saxophonist Grace Kelly at Bryant Park, the Astoria Players’ free Shakespeare opener, the Little Island bake sale, and night two of the Met Opera HD Festival (Tristan, Acts II–III) — plus a free brass festival tomorrow. Tales from the Hood (Sat), School of Rock (Sun) and the West Indian Day Parade (Mon) are still on from earlier digests.

Live Music

• Piano in Bryant Park — TODAY 12:30–2:30pm, Upper Terrace, Bryant Park: the free weekday ragtime/stride/jazz series runs every weekday through Oct 1.
• Golden Hour at Greeley Square Park — TONIGHT 6:30–8:30pm, Greeley Square (33rd & Broadway): free sunset music — Americana, jazz, emerging indie.
• Bryant Park Picnic Performance: Grace Kelly + Ashni — TONIGHT 7–9pm, Bryant Park Lawn: free jazz from saxophonist-vocalist Grace Kelly with Ashni, presented by the Asian American Arts Alliance.
• Bryant Park Picnic Performance: Brass Festival — TOMORROW Fri 9/4, 7–9:30pm: free brass night with New Breed Brass Band, Aberdeen and Brass Queens.

Festivals & Culture

• Met Opera Summer HD Festival — still on through Mon 9/7, Josie Robertson Plaza, Lincoln Center: tonight 8pm is the second half of Tristan und Isolde (Acts II–III — Act I screened last night), then I Puritani Fri, Eugene Onegin Sat, El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Sun, La Bohème Mon; free, ~2,500 first-come seats a night.

Theater & Performance

• Astoria Players — A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Weekend Two — TONIGHT 6pm, North Lawn under the Hellgate Bridge: the neighborhood troupe opens its second free Shakespeare weekend (Thu 9/3–Sun 9/6).

Food & Markets

• Our Little Bake Sale — TODAY, Little Island: Natasha Pickowicz + 20-plus bakers and restaurants (Bar Susanne, Dean’s, Ho Foods, Sofreh) selling one-of-a-kind pastries — free admission, $10 treat vouchers, proceeds to Make the Road New York.

Film & Screenings

• Free outdoor screening of Tales from the Hood — Sat 9/5, doors 8pm / film 8:30, The Tiny Cupboard, 10 Cooper St (Bushwick/Bed Stuy border, Chauncey J): the 1995 Black horror anthology on the patio — free, no RSVP, 21+.