Live Music Comes Out to Play This Summer in the DMV

Here’s just a small sampling of extraordinary music to enjoy this summer in the DMV and beyond.

Wolf Trap Opera will present Bizet’s Carmen at the Filene Center on August 15, and four performances at The Barns in July of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites. WETA Classical’s Opera Matinee (Saturdays at 1pm) will feature a recording from last summer’s Wolf Trap Opera production of Kevin Puts’s Silent Night on June 21, and presented Mozart’s Così fan tutte  last Saturday. 

At two National Symphony Orchestra concerts at Wolf Trap — July 18 with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and conductor Katharina Wincor, and July 25 with conductor Tianyi Lu, the Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Children’s Chorus of Washington — WETA Classical will have a presence. Stop by our tent near the main entrance and say hello to our on-air hosts!

For Independence Day celebrations, join the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with conductor Nicholas Hersh and violinist Ellen Pendleton at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore on July 2, at Oregon Ridge Park on July 3, or at the Music Center at Strathmore on July 5. The BSO’s summer season also offers appearances at Boordy Vineyards in Hydes, Maryland: a program of Italian-themed music on July 17, conducted by Cosette Justo Valdés, and a concert with harpist Bridget Kibbey on July 31. Catch an all-Gershwin program with conductor Moon Doh and pianist Drew Petersen in Baltimore on July 19 or in Bethesda on July 20.

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A highlight of this summer’s Mountaintop Masterworks series at the Wintergreen Music Festival in Nellysford, Virginia will be the Greig Piano Concerto on July 12 and 13, featuring conductor Mélisse Brunet and pianist Avery Gagliano, who took first prize at the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition at 18 years of age.

The Staunton Music Festival this summer will include Handel’s Messiah on August 15, conducted by IN Series Artistic Director Timothy Nelson; two free Virginia Soundscape conversation/concerts, moderated by Zachary Wadsworth, featuring Virginia composers Eric Guinivan, Jason Haney and Judith Shatin on August 18 and Matthew Burtner, Casey Cangelosi and Nicole Mitchell (who will also be featured in an August 24 morning concert) on August 20; the season finale will be an afternoon concert performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute with English supertitles on August 24. Also in Staunton, Virginia, the Heifetz International Music Institute offers a summer of music that includes a free holiday concert on July 5.

Violinist Daniel Hope — who was recently named Artistic Advisor of Chamber Music at the Barns at Wolf Trap, beginning this season — will appear with at the Garth Newel Music Center with the GNPQ on August 22 and 23. Other highlights include pianist Jeannette Fang on July 6 and the Parker Quartet on July 25 and 26.