- Wolf Trap Opera’s expanded season includes five fully staged productions and UNTRAPPED, a new initiative built on artistic partnerships
- Company premieres of Rossini’s The Touchstone (La pietra del paragone) and a double-bill of Philip Glass and Robert Moran’s The Juniper Tree and John Musto’s Bastianello at The Barns at Wolf Trap
- UNTRAPPED initiative includes Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher directed by Septime Webre in partnership with Halcyon Stage; short pop-up performances; and concerts with the National Orchestral Institute at The Clarice
- With company premieres of two Philip Glass works, Wolf Trap Opera joins in international Glass@80 celebrations of composer’s 80th birthday year
- Company premiere of Puccini’s Tosca takes center stage at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts with the National Symphony Orchestra
- Listen, Wilhelmina!, a WTO-commissioned children’s opera by composer David Hanlon and librettist Kathleen Kelly, to have its world premiere for an audience of 1,500 young people in May
- Acclaimed New Zealand tenor and WTO alumnus Simon O’Neill to serve as WTO’s Filene Artist in Residence
- The Washington-area music community – including Wolf Trap Opera alumni, Choral Arts, The Washington Chorus, and the Children’s Chorus of Washington – to come together at Wolf Trap for a massive Carmina Burana, welcoming the National Symphony Orchestra’s new Music Director, Gianandrea Noseda, as part of his inaugural weekend celebrations
- Internationally acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela to have their Wolf Trap debut
- Renowned violinist Sarah Chang returns to Wolf Trap on tour with the Asian Youth Orchestra
- Innovative contemporary dance collective Pilobolus brings its inventive creative energy back to Wolf Trap
Tickets go on sale to the public March 18; Wolf Trap members are buying now
Special promotion on March 18 only:
$10 lawn tickets and $20 rear orchestra tickets for all National Symphony Orchestra performances, plus Gustavo Dudamel and the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Pilobolus
Vienna, Virginia (March 2, 2017) – Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts today announced the first shows of its Summer 2017 season, including the Wolf Trap Opera (WTO) season, and symphony and dance programming. Tickets go on sale to the public Saturday, March 18 at 10:00 a.m. An opera, symphony and dance calendar, production information and casting, and a full WTO artist roster can be found here. To view the full season, including pop, rock, musicals and more, visit wolftrap.org/press-and-media
“This year’s opera and orchestral programs add sparkle to a starry season that spans the musical spectrum,” said Arvind Manocha, President and CEO of Wolf Trap Foundation. “Wolf Trap Opera is pushing boundaries with an ambitious expanded schedule that includes all new productions, new partnerships, and a new commission. We are especially honored to welcome two titans of the orchestral world making their first appearances at Wolf Trap: Gianandrea Noseda in his inaugural weekend as new music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, and Gustavo Dudamel on a U.S. tour with the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.”
Wolf Trap Opera’s expanded season features new works, company premieres, cross-disciplinary partnerships across the region, and a roster of some of opera’s most promising young talents. The schedule includes five fully staged productions, including two operas by contemporary composer Philip Glass in his 80th birthday year.
The WTO season opens at The Barns at Wolf Trap with the company premiere of Rossini’s rarely performed The Touchstone (La pietra del paragone), a classic Rossinian opera buffa. Also at The Barns, WTO will present a double-bill featuring contemporary American composers’ interpretations of fables: Philip Glass and Robert Moran’s eerie The Juniper Tree, based on the Brothers Grimm story, is paired with John Musto’s comic and poignant Bastianello, based on an Italian folktale. At the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park, WTO takes center stage in a one-night-only performance of Puccini’s Tosca with the National Symphony Orchestra.
Wolf Trap Opera’s 2017 season features UNTRAPPED, a new initiative which leverages artistic partnerships to bring live performances to new places and unusual spaces. In collaboration with Halcyon Stage, Wolf Trap Opera will present a fully staged production of Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher, based on the Edgar Allan Poe story and directed by Septime Webre and featuring dancers from CityDance at Dock 5 at Union Market.
Additional programming as part of WTO’s UNTRAPPED includes two concerts with the prestigious National Orchestral Institute at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, and free pop-up performances at Union Market in partnership with Halcyon Stage and The Experiential Orchestra. The pop-ups invite audiences, armed with a map and curiosity, to explore Union Market “scavenger-style,” discovering operatic performances of masterworks along the way.
Marking a “first” for WTO and as part of UNTRAPPED programming, WTO has commissioned a children’s opera, Listen, Wilhelmina!, in partnership with Wolf Trap Foundation’s nationally recognized early childhood arts education program. The fully staged production, which will be mounted at Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods at Wolf Trap National Park, is an educational mini-musical by Washington, D.C.-based composer David Hanlon (Houston Grand Opera’s After the Storm) and librettist Kathleen Kelly. The opera tells a story about three young wombats – Wilhelmina, Wallis and Winston – who go to their very first concert, and learn how much fun music-making can be. Listen, Wilhelmina! will receive its world premiere in private performances for an audience of approximately 1,500 pre-K, kindergarten, and first-grade students in May as part of the Foundation’s annual Field Trip program, and has its public debut in July as part of the regular season of Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods.
All roles in Listen, Wilhelmina! will be performed by Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artists and alumni of the Studio Artist program, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2017. A complement to the Filene Young Artist program for opera professionals, the Studio Artist program prepares pre-professional singers for the next step in their careers, and provides an early entry-point in the opera field.
Wolf Trap Opera alumnus and internationally renowned Wagnerian tenor Simon O’Neill will serve as Wolf Trap Opera’s 2017 Filene Artist in Residence, mentoring the 15 Filene Artists and 17 Studio Artists that compose Wolf Trap Opera’s 2017 singer roster. Past Artists in Residence include Eric Owens (2014), Michelle DeYoung (2015) and Alan Held (2016).
A highlight of the summer season at the Filene Center will be the July 28 inaugural concert of Gianandrea Noseda, the new Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO). In his first performance in his new role, Noseda will lead a massive chorus and WTO alumni Heidi Stober (soprano), Nicholas Phan (tenor), and Brian Mulligan (baritone) in Orff’s epic Carmina Burana. The chorus will be composed of singers from Choral Arts, The Washington Chorus, Children’s Chorus of Washington, and community choirs from across the region. Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 2015 Chopin Competition, opens the program with Beethoven’s magnificent “Emperor” concerto. The following day, on July 29, welcome celebrations continue when Noseda leads the NSO in a free concert on the National Mall.
The NSO at Wolf Trap programming also features a wide-ranging film series that includes recent Academy Award winner La La Land in Concert and Jurassic Park™ - In Concert, both led by NSO at Wolf Trap Festival Conductor Emil de Cou. The NSO at Wolf Trap also performs video game music in The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, and rocks alongside singer-songwriter Grace Potter.
One of the most celebrated and magnetic artists of our time, Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the acclaimed National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela will make their Wolf Trap debut in a program featuring Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, as well as a showcase of Latin American composers. The Orchestra is the apex of Venezuela’s nationalized music program, known as El Sistema, which uses rigorous music instruction as a means to motivate social change in some of the nation’s poorest communities. A prodigy who has risen to the highest ranks of the orchestral world, Dudamel himself is a product of El Sistema.
Acclaimed American violinist Sarah Chang, who performed to a capacity house at Wolf Trap in Summer 2015, returns to the Filene Center stage performing Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with the Asian Youth Orchestra on international tour. The orchestra is Asia’s premier pre-professional training program, and draws the finest young musicians from across East Asia.
Dance programming includes Pilobolus, the boundary-pushing contemporary dance troupe. The company, who returns to Wolf Trap with a program of mixed repertoire, is committed to creating collaboratively and exploring new ways of using the human body as a graphic and expressive medium.
Tickets for all announced performances go on sale to the public on Saturday, March 18 at 10:00 a.m. Opening day specials include $10 lawn and $20 rear orchestra seats for all performances by the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as Gustavo Dudamel and the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Pilobolus.
Young At Arts, Wolf Trap’s accessibility initiative which offers free youth tickets to select performing arts events, will continue in 2017. An roster of eligible performances will be announced on March 28.
Additional performances for the 2017 season, including all Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods shows, will be announced April 6.
Ticketing and On-Sale Information
- Tickets for these performances go on sale to the public on Saturday, March 18 at 10:00 a.m.
- Pricing varies by performance and seat location. See individual performance listings online or the calendar below for prices.
- Wolf Trap members have access to exclusive presales and may purchase tickets in advance of the general public. Memberships, which are tax-deductible, start at $75. For more information, visit wolftrap.org/membership.
Beginning Saturday, March 18 at 10:00 a.m., tickets may be purchased:
- Online at wolftrap.org
- By phone at 877.WOLFTRAP
- In-person at the Filene Center Box Office, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna, VA
Wolf Trap’s 2017 season is made possible by generous support from the following
Wolf Trap Foundation Official Sponsors and Partners:
Dan and Gayle D’Aniello, Wolf Trap 2017 Season Underwriters
The PNC Foundation, Premier Sponsor, 2017 Summer Season
The Boeing Company, Major Sponsor, Rock Legends Series
American Airlines, Official Airline
Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, Official Hotel
Steinway, Official Pianos
Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, produces and presents a full range of performance and education programs in the Greater Washington area, as well as nationally. Wolf Trap features three performance venues: the outdoor Filene Center and Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, both located at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, and The Barns at Wolf Trap, located down the road from the national park and adjacent to the Center for Education at Wolf Trap. The 7,028-seat Filene Center is operated in partnership with the National Park Service and annually showcases an extensive array of diverse artists, ranging from pop, country, folk, and blues to classical music, dance, and theatre, as well as multimedia presentations, from May through September. The Barns at Wolf Trap is operated by the Wolf Trap Foundation year round, and during the summer months is home to the Grammy-nominated Wolf Trap Opera, one of America’s outstanding resident ensemble programs for young opera singers. Wolf Trap Foundations’s education programs include the nationally acclaimed Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, a diverse array of arts education classes, grants, and a nationally recognized internship program.
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Media Information
(Please do not publish contact information)
Emily Smalling, Manager, Media Relations
703.255.4096 or emilys@wolftrap.org
Michelle Pendoley, Director, Public Relations
703.255.1917 or michellep@wolftrap.org
- High-resolution images are available in Wolf Trap’s online newsroom or may be provided upon request.
- Complete performance information is online at wolftrap.org, and included in the attached press calendar.
- Interviews with artists may be available upon request and by arrangement with the Wolf Trap PR team.
- Requests for complimentary Press Tickets will be accepted beginning April 17, 2017.