For anyone seeking a welcome reminder that this winter will eventually end, no matter what the snow still piled up on local sidewalks and parking lots suggests, look no further than Wolf Trap’s newly released summer schedule.
In honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, a special series celebrating the eclectic music woven into the U.S.’s “rich cultural tapestry” will take center stage at the Filene Center throughout the season, the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced today (Tuesday).
“At Wolf Trap, music and nature create shared experiences that feel especially powerful at this moment in our nation’s story,” Wolf Trap Foundation President and CEO Arvind Manocha said. “With programming that continues to welcome generations of audiences and artists alike, this is a place where people can gather and experience the joy of live performances amidst one of the country’s most distinctive outdoor venues.”
Performances in the America250 series range from the Philadelphia Ballet’s “Stars and Stripes Forever!” showcase (Sept. 10) and jazz singer Harry Connick Jr. (July 3) to the Beach Boys (June 7), blues rockers Tedeschi Trucks Band (Aug. 28-29) and a tribute concert to the late folk singer-songwriter John Prine (June 9).
The Songwriters Celebrate John Prine concert will see several of his friends and collaborators, including Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Margo Price, I’m With Her and son Tommy Prine, singing his music and their own, while backed by Prine’s band.
“John Prine’s songs are woven into the fabric of America with a songwriting legacy now spanning more than five decades. We are so honored to celebrate his legacy at Wolf Trap — a venue where he loved to perform, and one that has championed folk and American music for generations,” said the Prine Family, whose nonprofit, the Hello In There Foundation, partnered with Wolf Trap to organize the concert.
The semiquincentennial series will also offer one of several opportunities to take in the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), which will perform composer Peter Boyer’s “American Mosaic” on Aug. 15 alongside classic compositions by Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin.
Described as a “musical-visual project” that pairs orchestral music with imagery of all 50 states captured by photo historian Joe Sohm, “American Mosaic” was commissioned for the U.S.’s 250th birthday by the NSO and the Kennedy Center, where it’s scheduled for a world premiere on Feb. 19-22.
The world premiere was slated to feature Béla Fleck until the banjo player joined a number of other artists in canceling appearances at the Kennedy Center after the storied institution’s board of directors voted to add President Donald Trump’s name to the building in December.
While likely scheduled months in advance, the NSO’s Wolf Trap concert will offer an alternative venue for experiencing “American Mosaic” for audience members who share Fleck’s qualms about the current “charged and political” state of the Kennedy Center.
Other NSO visits on Wolf Trap’s summer calendar include:
- June 25: St. Vincent
- July 11: Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” in Concert (the animated film, not the live-action remake)
- Aug. 14: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
- Aug. 21: Jon Batiste
- Aug. 26: Gregory Alan Isakov
- Sept. 5: “Hook” in Concert
The America250 series will also encompass two returning staples of Wolf Trap’s summer season: “Blast Off!” (May 24) with “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band — a free fireworks show that traditionally ushers in Memorial Day — and the sixth annual “Broadway in the Park” (June 20) with Arlington’s Signature Theatre.
More highlights from Wolf Trap’s upcoming season outside the NSO’s lineup and the America250 series:
- Three nights of The Police frontman Sting to kick off summer (May 21-23)
- SATACHVAI Band featuring Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on their first U.S. tour (May 30)
- Gary Clark Jr. with Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (June 6)
- Young the Giant with Cold War Kids and almost monday (June 12)
- Melissa Etheridge and Wynonna Judd (June 24)
- The Human League with Soft Cell and Alison Moyet (June 30)
- Pepe Aguilar (July 12)
- Alison Krauss & Union Station (July 16-17)
- Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with Mavis Staples and The War and Treaty (July 18)
- Tori Amos (July 22)
- The Head and the Heart (July 26)
- Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit with Patty Griffin (July 30)
- Chance the Rapper (Aug. 1)
- The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA (Aug. 8)
- James Taylor & His All-Star Band (Aug. 30, Sept. 1-2)
- The Avett Brothers (Sept. 18-19)
In addition, Wolf Trap Opera will stage three shows this summer, starting with Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” (June 18, 21, 25 and 27) and Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” (July 17, 19, 23 and 25) at the Barns. Puccini’s “Tosca” will cap the season on Aug. 7 at the Filene Center.
A full calendar for Wolf Trap’s summer season can be found on its website. Tickets for all performances will go on sale to the public on Friday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m.
Additional shows, along with the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods lineup, are expected to be added “later this spring,” according to the Wolf Trap Foundation.
