Vancouver USA Arts and Music Festival
Thursday, July 31, 2025 - Sunday, August 3, 2025
Renée Fleming, Mark and Maggie O’Connor, and Sharon Isbin will headline the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA (VSO-USA) performances at the 2025 Festival. Presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA and the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Arts & Music Festival is a multi-disciplinary four-day celebration of culture, community, and the joy of experiencing the arts together.
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performances will take place in the evenings of Friday, August 1; Saturday, August 2, and Sunday, August 3 at the historic Esther Short Park in Downtown Vancouver. The 2025 Vancouver Arts & Music Festival spans July 31 through August 3 and features award-winning musicians, visual artists, and other performers from the region and around the world. All festival events are free and open to the public. Learn more about the VSO guest artists below!
Friday, August 1 | 7 pm
Mark and Maggie O'Connor
A legendary multi-instrumentalist and groundbreaking American classical composer, Mark O’Connor is a three-time GRAMMYⓇ winner and seven-time CMA Musician of the Year. Maggie O’Connor, also a GRAMMYⓇ winner and Mark’s musical partner for over a decade, earned a master’s degree in classical violin performance from the Peabody Conservatory before returning to her own Americana music roots. The duo will play a movement from Mark O’Connor’s Double Violin Concerto for two violins and symphony orchestra, and Mark will perform movements from his The Improvised Violin Concerto. The VSO-USA will also perform Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64.
Saturday, August 2 | 7 pm
Renée Fleming
World-renowned soprano Renée Fleming joins the VSO under Maestro Gerard Schwarz for a program of beloved songs and arias from Puccini to Rodgers & Hammerstein. Fleming, “possibly the most beautiful soprano voice in the world” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), and one of the most beloved and celebrated singers of our time, has captivated audiences around the world with her sumptuous voice, consummate artistry, and compelling stage presence. She’s a five-time GRAMMYⓇ Award winner, a 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree, and the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, America’s highest honor for an individual artist.
Sunday, August 3 | 6 pm
Sharon Isbin
The orchestra welcomes GRAMMYⓇ Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, Musical America’s 2020 Instrumentalist of the Year, who will perform the Northwest premiere of Karen LeFrak’s Miami Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra. In this musical tribute to Miami, each movement of the concerto features a characteristic dance rhythm – the Guaguancó, the Tango, and the Bembé – from the city’s rich culture of dance. Rounding out the program will be selections from Stravinsky’s modernist ballet Firebird, and Ravel’s popular Bolero.
Friday, August 1
Maestro Salvador Brotons
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's very own Music Director and Maestro Salvador Brotons will lead the orchestra and guest artists Mark and Maggie O'Connor during the Friday, August 1 performances at this year's festival.
Saturday, August 2 & Sunday, August 3
Maestro Gerard Schwarz
Internationally renowned conductor Gerard Schwarz returns to the Vancouver Arts and Music Festival podium on Saturday, August 2 and Sunday, August 3 to lead the VSO and soprano Renée Fleming and guitarist Sharon Isbin in what are sure to be unforgettable performances.