On July 1, Wolf Trap Foundation and the National Park Service will mark a major milestone with a special anniversary concert, Fifty Years Together: A Celebration of Wolf Trap, featuring the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of JoAnn Falletta and an all-female cast of special guest artists, including Broadway and film star Cynthia Erivo, world-renowned soprano Christine Goerke, and Joyce Yang, a silver medal winner at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The gala concert pays homage to Wolf Trap Foundation’s founder, Catherine Filene Shouse, a champion of the arts and of the advancement of women.
Leading up to the gala anniversary concert, Wolf Trap will offer four free concerts for area front-line healthcare and education workers and volunteers beginning with the Wolf Trap debut of Marin Alsop conducting the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic (June 24) followed by three ensemble performances by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band (June 25-27).
After the 50th-anniversary concert, July performances include:
The Americana-folk duo Watchhouse (July 7)
The E Street Band’s Max Weinberg’s Jukebox (July 10 + 11)
The legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band (July 17)
DC’s best-seen-live, go-go music icons Big Tony and Trouble Funk (July 18)
An Evening with Amos Lee (July 21 + 22)
A solo appearance by internationally renowned genre-defying mandolinist Chris Thile (July 24 + 25)
Grammy Award–winning Americana singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan with members of The Knights (July 28)
The musical fusion of The War and Treaty (July 29)
The year 2021 also marks the 50th anniversary of Wolf Trap’s partnership with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO). In recognition of this milestone, and of the NSO’s special status as Wolf Trap’s longest artistic partner, the first part of the 50th anniversary season features a focus on the NSO with an extended residency. The NSO summer season performances will include:
Beethoven and Bologne, featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Bologne‘s Violin Concerto in A major, played by Italian violinist Francesca Dego under the direction of Jonathon Heyward (July 8 + 9)
Norm Lewis, who will join the orchestra to perform some of his favorite songs from Broadway (July 30 + 31)
For more information, including on opera performances and Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, see Wolf Trap’s website.
Summer 2021 tickets will be sold in socially distanced pods (seated groups of 2–8 tickets). Ticket buyers will be responsible for buying a full pod; no single tickets will be sold. All tickets will be delivered electronically.
Tickets for June and July performances go on sale to the public on Friday, May 7 at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at wolftrap.org or by phone at 877.WOLFTRAP. Pricing varies by performance and pod location, and is subject to change. See individual performance listings online or in the Wolf Trap website calendar for prices.
Wolf Trap members have access to exclusive presales and may purchase tickets in advance of the general public. Memberships start at $50; for more information, visit wolftrap.org/membership. Additional information, amenities, and protocols will be posted to the Wolf Trap website as it becomes available.
More performances in August and September, as well as information regarding any previously rescheduled concerts for the same period, will be announced at a future date.
For more stories like this, subscribe to our Things to Do newsletter.