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Carnegie Hall will present Gloria Estefan and Emily Estefan: A Night of Rhythm and Storytelling featuring eleven-time Grammy Award-winning artist Gloria Estefan and acclaimed singer-songwriter Emily Estefan in their Carnegie Hall headlining debuts on Monday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. For one unforgettable night, Carnegie Hall will become the meeting place of Broadway, Latin music, and an inspiring true story that has touched hearts around the world.
Emily Estefan will perform her own original music, while Gloria Estefan, appearing with Miami Sound Machine, will perform some of her greatest hits throughout the evening, celebrating the music and legacy that have defined her remarkable career. The concert also reunites the artists behind their acclaimed new musical, Basura, composed by the mother-daughter team and inspired by the extraordinary true story of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra of Cateura—a group of young musicians who transformed discarded materials into instruments and, through music, changed their lives. Basura received its world premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in May 2026. Read a review of the production!
The evening features performances by the young musicians of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura alongside members of the original world-premiere cast and orchestra that first brought the musical to life. Conducted by Cynthia Meng (Basura, Ragtime), the concert also reconnects with Tony Award-winning choreographer Patricia Delgado whose dynamic choreography helped shape the heartbeat of Basura, bringing movement, joy, and authenticity to a story that explores how hope and beauty can emerge from the most unexpected places.
Gala packages and a limited number of concert-only tickets for Gloria Estefan and Emily Estefan: A Night of Rhythm and Storytelling will go on sale to the general public on Thursday, August 13 at 12:00 noon.
This gala evening supports Carnegie Hall’s artistic, education, and social impact programs, and the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, an orchestral project where young artists from Paraguay illustrate music’s power to transform lives. This event will directly benefit both organizations, helping advance their shared mission of using creativity and the arts to drive meaningful social change and inspire communities around the world.
The new musical, Basura, tells the extraordinary true story of a group of resilient students and their unlikely music teacher who share a seemingly unreachable dream of starting an orchestra. At the center is Nambi, a hardworking young adult who discovers a profound, hidden gift the moment she holds a violin. When the students find themselves without actual instruments to play, they must rely on their imagination and ingenuity to repurpose discarded materials. License plates and paint cans become violins with forks as their tailpieces, oil cans are transformed into colorful cellos, and drainpipes reimagined as saxophones. Together they create instruments that are nothing short of magnificent and, against impossible odds, they transform themselves into a celebrated orchestra that travels the world. Basura is a vivid, heart-swelling story based on the real journey of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra and the 2015 documentary film Landfill Harmonic.
