Renata Tebaldi
Besides sporting events, the stadium was used for performances starting in 1918. Performers included Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic (sometimes called the "Stadium Symphony Orchestra"), Renata Tebaldi, Kirsten Flagstad, Marian Anderson, Alfredo Antonini, and Eugene Ormandy. Leopold Stokowski made a series of recordings for Everest with the "Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York." George Gershwin played his "Rhapsody in Blue", and premiered his "Cuban Overture". Performers ranged from Van Cliburn, Renata Tebaldi Jascha Heifetz, and Yehudi Menuhin to Leontyne Price, Roberta Peters, Licia Albanese, Jan Peerce, Renata Tebaldi(soprano)Richard Tucker, Placido Domingo, Pete Seeger, Lotte Lenya, Joan Field, Thomas Hayward (tenor), Harry Belafonte, Jack Benny, Benny Goodman, Yma Sumac and conductor Kurt Adler of the Metropolitan Opera. Due to declining attendances, the concerts were discontinued in 1966.