Renée Fleming & More Confirmed For 2025 Vancouver USA Arts And Music Festival

The Vancouver USA Arts & Music Festival has revealed that Renée Fleming, Mark and Maggie O'Connor, and Sharon Isbin will headline the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra 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.

"We are so honored that Renée Fleming, Mark and Maggie O'Connor, and Sharon Isbin will be performing with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra this year. Thousands of people of all ages and walks of life gather for our Vancouver Arts and Music Festival concerts in the park, where they enjoy transcendently beautiful performances against the picturesque backdrop of the Pacific Northwest. It's a joy that these world class artists will be part of this monumental four-day celebration of the arts," says Dr. Igor Shakhman, the orchestra's Chief Executive Officer.

On Friday, August 1, at 7 p.m., the GRAMMYⓇ Award-winning Americana and bluegrass artists Mark and Maggie O'Connor join the VSO-USA under the baton of Music Director Maestro Salvador Brotons. 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: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64. 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.

On Saturday, August 2 at 7 p.m., world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming joins the VSO-USA 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.

On Sunday, August 3 at 6 p.m., the orchestra welcomes GRAMMYⓇ Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, Musical America's 2020 Instrumentalist of the Year, who performs 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.

The Vancouver Arts & Music Festival has opened its call for art vendors and community stage performers. All artists and musicians are invited to apply at www.vancouverartsandmusicfestival.com through February 12. The festival encourages a wide cross section of artists to share their gifts through juried art shows, pop-up galleries, dance and music performances, street performances, family activities, and as food vendors.

"It is truly an exciting time to visit Vancouver, and it's such a joy to spend a long weekend at the festival celebrating the arts and our community," said Vancouver Mayor, Anne McEnerny-Ogle. "These free concerts with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra are memory makers. It's especially wonderful that everyone will have the chance to experience incredible artists like Renée Fleming, Mark and Maggie O'Connor, and Sharon Isbin performing outdoors, in beautiful Esther Short Park."

The first-ever Vancouver Arts & Music Festival took place in August 2023 and was met with great success and critical acclaim. The 2024 event was also a smash hit, drawing artists from all over the world. In summer 2025, the festival is expanding to add a Thursday, July 31 opening night event.

Presented in partnership with the City of Vancouver, the Festival is made possible by a $600,000 grant awarded to the VSO USA by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for program expansion, designed to engage performing and visual arts patrons.

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