A Highbrow Battle of Bands Is Set Tonight

A scheduling oversight will result in the convergence of two orchestras performing free concerts tonight in Central Park.

The New York Philharmonic will return to the Great Lawn for its 44th year to play selections from Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky, as well as three Sousa marches. Just about a half-mile south, at the Naumburg Bandshell, the Brooklyn Philharmonic will be performing pieces by Beethoven, Mozart, and Stravinsky.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Adam Teeter, said it was not immediately apparent that both orchestras had booked for the same day because the Brooklyn Philharmonic scheduled through the Naumburg Foundation, rather than through the city Department of Parks and Recreation.

He said promoters for the concert are taking it in stride.

"We're kind of referring to it as an unofficial battle of the symphonies that neither orchestra was aware of," he said. He insisted, however, that the schedule would give audiences options based on their tastes, rather than create competition.

"We're playing somewhat different programs," Mr. Teeter said. "Of course they have fireworks, but we have soloist Tim Fain."

During the summer, Central Park's fields and open spaces fill with public and private events; it is common for a single calendar day to have 30 different programs, the city parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe, said.

Mr. Benepe said that although he heard about this particular scheduling dilemma so recently that it would have been "too late and unfair" to the orchestras to rebook, it has actually worked out serendipitously.

The Naumburg Bandshell is far enough away from the Great Lawn to prevent any sound interference, and because the Brooklyn orchestra's concert begins 30 minutes earlier, at 7:30 p.m., it will be over in time for the New York Philharmonic's fireworks finale.

A student who lives in Midtown, Deborah Francisco, 20, said the prospect of free classical music would bring her and four friends to Central Park this evening. But although she said deciding which concert to attend had been difficult, one element clinched it.

"Does the Brooklyn concert have fireworks at the end? That's why I'm going to the other one," she said.