Wolf Trap celebrates 50th Anniversary with Cynthia Erivo, Joyce Yang, Christine Goerke
Other highlights include Wolf Trap Opera's "Sweeney Todd" and the NSO featuring Norm Lewis
Next week sees the post-pandemic reopening of the revered outdoor amphitheater at Wolf Trap, named the Filene Center in honor of the park’s founder and chief benefactor Catherine Filene Shouse. And you couldn’t possibly pick a better date for it than July 1, which is the date of the very first performance in the venue exactly 50 years ago, when the National Symphony Orchestra christened the venue with a special concert featuring the late Van Cliburn.
On this particular July 1, however, Broadway and film star Cynthia Erivo will join Wolf Trap Opera alumna Christine Goerke and Joyce Yang, a silver medal alum of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, as special guests of the NSO and an all-female, multi-genre toast to the golden jubilee led by guest conductor JoAnn Falletta. Tickets to “Fifty Years Together: A Celebration of Wolf Trap” are still available at $47 apiece, although sold only in pods of two to eight, spaced out to allow for social distancing.
Other highlights to come in the first month of shows include the Wolf Trap Opera production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert (7/2-3), Max Weinberg’s Jukebox, in which the longtime drummer of Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band leads a four-piece group covering hit songs as selected by the audience (7/10-11), two solo appearances by progressive bluegrass musician Chris Thile of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers fame (7/24-25), and the NSO featuring Norm Lewis in symphonic renditions of some of the celebrated stage and screen performer’s favorite Broadway songs (7/30-31).
Recently, Wolf Trap announced its slate of shows for August and September — with more expected in the weeks ahead — a time when the venue will mark its complete post-pandemic return, with audiences at full capacity, meaning upwards of 7,000 people per show, and tickets available for individual purchase.
The late-summer highlights include Renée Fleming with the NSO (8/6), Pink Martini featuring China Forbes (8/11), Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (8/12), “A Tribute to Marvin Gaye” featuring Raheem DeVaughn and Friends (8/14), “ABBA The Concert” (8/15), Harry Connick Jr. and Band (8/20), Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with Michael Franti & Spearhead (8/24), the Indigo Girls with Ani DiFranco (9/22), and The Avett Brothers (9/23-24).
The Filene Center at Wolf Trap is located at 1551 Trap Road in Vienna. Tickets for all shows will be available starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 25. Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit www.wolftrap.org.
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