After all my travels in early 2026, I’ve stuck closer to home this summer. Fortunately, there’s plenty to see and do right here in the DMV (and Baltimore, for those of you who don’t consider all of Maryland and Virginia part of the DMV). My July was especially busy on the music front, though there’s one non-musical one that I want to share here. I’m checking my calendar to recall this busy month of music and more.
Unless you live in the area, you probably think the festivities surrounding the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence were part of the events I attended. I didn’t, though, because the whole thing was such a mess, I didn’t want to attend anything. Instead, in what is becoming an annual event, I settled by the window at home and watched the fireworks from several different sites around the Beltway. Small but still interesting to watch, especially with the 1812 Overture playing in my background.
July 9: Star Wars at Wolf Trap
The National Symphony Orchestra is spending the summer of 2026 at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center. As to whether this represents a temporary or permanent departure from the madness that currently exists at The Kennedy Center, I’m unsure.
The Filene Center is a large facility with balcony seating above the orchestra area and an extended lawn area where attendees are welcome to spread out blankets and refreshments.
Speaking of the lawn, there was a driving rainstorm shortly before the program started. Apparently, though, the policy at the center is that the show goes on, rain or not. We were fortunate enough that the storm ended before the program started, only causing cancellation of the pre-performance talk. I was surprised how many folks still spread out on what had to be soaked lawns.
When the program started at approximately 8:00 p.m., I was initially concerned about how easily we would be able to see the 1983 motion picture Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, on the screen positioned above the orchestra given the level of daylight remaining at that time. As it worked out, I had no difficulty seeing the movie on the screen even as the day settled into night.
The orchestra replaced the music track from the film. While the majority of my attention was on the action on the screen, the musician in me couldn’t help but note how affecting the sound of live musical performance was to the aesthetic of the presentation. From the opening 20th Century Fox theme music to the closing credits, the orchestra’s musicality and stamina (only one intermission) were amazing. I was also impressed with the acoustics and amplification system in the center. I don’t know about the folks on the lawn, but I had absolutely no difficulty from my seat in the rear orchestra area hearing both film and orchestra clearly. Speaking of end credits, typically folks who attend a movie theater leave as soon as the credits begin (unless you are attending an MCU movie). That evening, however, at least half of the audience remained seated and listened to the music, giving the orchestra an enthusiastic standing ovation when the last note sounded.
I’m looking forward to returning to Wolf Trap in August to hear the National Symphony Orchestra for their evening of Beethoven, including his Ninth Symphony.
July 19: Bugs Bunny at the Symphony
I’ve previously expressed my intense dislike for Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. So when I decide I am willing to attend a concert there, I am highly motivated to go. That evening, the motivation was a program of Looney Tunes cartoons with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) providing the music. I grew up on cartoons and believe that some of the earliest and strongest influences on my life as a musician came from those cartoons.
As the hall quickly filled with generations of fans — many older than me and quite a few children decades younger — they settled with their popcorn and other movie snack fare (though the variety of wines offered might not be so much), laughing and cheering the antics of Bugs Bunny and other cartoon characters. While most folks clearly pulled for the Road Runner, I admit I still empathized with the Coyote.
The conductor provided numerous comments about the animated films, Mel Blanc and others who gave the characters voice, and the music connected to cartoons. Some of the evening’s programming was decades old, and it included five newly created cartoons developed specifically for concert performance. And, just like the cartoons themselves, the program ended with Merrie Melodies “That’s All Folks!”
What a fun evening!
And Bugs Bunny, now 86 years old, is holding his age well!!
July 24: Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
I’m afraid I don’t have much to share about this BSO all-Rachmaninoff concert. I love the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and have programmed his Vocalise back in the day when I could comfortably sing a high C. I don’t know the Rhapsody and haven’t heard the second and third movements of the Symphonic Dances in many years. Still, with my BSO Passport, the cost of the ticket allowed me the opportunity to listen to music I didn’t know and enjoy a pleasant evening at Strathmore Music Center.
One thing after the concert. I had a surprising conversation with the gentleman seated beside me, discovering that he had also sung with the University of Maryland Community Chorus the year we performed Haydn’s The Creation under Paul Traber at The Kennedy Center. (I still have the tape of the rebroadcast in my collection.)
One never knows who one might meet at a concert.
July 27: Mubadala DC Open
The night before I was set to attend the opening round of the 2026 Mubadala DC Open tennis tournament, I looked out of my living room window and noticed what seemed to be a reddish tone to the moon (on clear nights, I can often get great views of the moon). I took a picture and did a quickie online search to see why it appeared as it did. The effect was caused by smoke from the wildfires currently devastating Canada. The air quality has been affecting the United States, but the impact on Canadian residents is terrible. Here’s hoping they and those who have come to help fight the fires can safely get things under control very soon.
As for the DC Open, I had a ticket for the Round of 32 matches scheduled on Monday. I left for Rock Creek Tennis Center with enough time to drive by The Kennedy Center, which is in the Rock Creek Park area. While I had heard no news that the tarp the Trump regime was using to cover the court-ordered removal of his name from the building, I wanted to see for myself. As I expected, the tarp was still in place, so I took a couple of pictures and continued on my way.
I reached the tennis center around 10 a.m. and was able to get accessible parking right outside the main entrance. Someone was kind enough to take a few pictures of me near the tournament sign after I entered the facilities. Since the first match in the stadium was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., I found a shady place near the VIP stadium entry to sit on my Have-Seat-Will-Two-4 and wait. What I didn’t know (and wanted to kick myself later) was that the entrance was not only for guests but for players, too. I missed the opportunity to get a close-up photo of Venus Williams as she walked about ten feet from me.
The DC Open is both a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) 500-level tournament. It tends to serve as preparation for the hard courts of the US Open, but the top-ranked players tend to bypass it. Still, I have found it to be an opportunity to see players I might not otherwise get to see compete. I spent most of the day at the Stadium court and saw the matches between American Madison Keys, who lost to Russian Liudmila Samsonova in three sets, Canadian Leylah Fernandez defeat Magda Linette of Poland, and American Emma Navarro take fellow American Sofia Kenin in straight sets. While American Taylor Fritz seemed to have the match against Belgian Zizou Bergs well in hand, I kept hearing loud cheers coming from the nearby John Harris court and decided to see what was going on. I arrived just in time to see Venus Williams serve the last game of the women’s doubles match, teamed with Russian Diana Shnaider, defeating Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and American Quinn Gleason.
The final match of the evening was between Hyattsville, Maryland, native Frances Tiafoe and Frenchman Terence Atmane. DMV favorite son Tiafoe had strong support from the fans filling the seats of the Stadium Court, and he played the first set like he felt that support. Below is a panoramic shot of the fans early into the match (BTW, that little red dot in the sky below the middle lights is the moon–still affected by the haze of Canadian fires).
As the evening progressed into night, however, the energy levels of both waned. The crowd started drifting out as the lateness of the workweek day demanded that folks leave to make preparations for work the next day. Those of us who remained watched the second set advance to a third. At various moments I hoped that Tiafoe would hold up, but the match ended 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, Atmane.
Remembering how worn out I was going to the tournament two days in a row last year, I had decided not to return the next day, nor did I follow subsequent matches on the Tennis Channel until the women’s and men’s semi-final matches that are on the air as I’m creating this blog. American Jessica Pegula defeated Shnaider 7-5, 6-4, and Alexandra Eala of the Philippines beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2. The men’s semis just started, with American Brandon Nakashima playing Fritz and Spaniard Rafael Jodar against Canadian Alejandro Tabilo.
July 28: Herbie Hancock Summer Tour 2026
Yeah, I headed back to Meyerhoff for a concert by Jazz musician extraordinaire pianist Herbie Hancock. I’ve missed two previous opportunities over the years and decided I would make the trek. Plus, the BSO Passport ticket price made it irresistible.
I knew that there was a call for rain that afternoon, but I must have missed the word torrential because that’s what we got as I approached Baltimore. There was one point on I-95 where I thought I was about to flood SB and was probably damned lucky that I didn’t. I thought I had left early enough to order pizza online from the Domino’s closest to the concert hall and arrive with time to spare. Instead, the pizza place I selected couldn’t have been further away — I believe — and still be in Baltimore. A positive, though, was seeing a beautiful rainbow appear as I made my way to the concert hall.
By the time I got to the parking deck across the street from Meyerhoff, I was already more than half an hour past the concert’s scheduled start time, and the only parking available was on the top level in the farthest corner away from the only working elevator. Add to that, the clouds were beginning to gather for a possible reprise of the earlier storm.
I sat for a while assessing the situation before deciding that I would call it a day and head home. However, sometimes good things can come along. Right after I pulled out of the parking lot, I saw a man gassing up his van from a small gas container. Taking a chance, I asked him if he was about to leave. He nodded yes, and I turned on SB’s blinkers to wait for him to do just that. Suddenly, I was literally parked right across the street and a far easier walk from Meyerhoff! Even if I only heard one song, I was going inside!!
I was led to my seat and realized that while I was clearly late, the concert was far from over. Hancock, on piano and keys, joined by Terence Blanchard, trumpet, James Genus, bass, Lionel Loueke, guitar and vocals, and Jaylen Petinaud, drums, still had 30-40 minutes of music in them before calling it an evening.
So glad I was finally able to scratch that one off my musical bucket list!
July 31: John Williams & Steven Spielberg Movie Magic
I am a fan of composer/conductor John Williams’ film music and am thankful that the BSO was giving this concert both at Strathmore and Meyerhoff so I didn’t have to decide whether I wanted to go badly enough to travel to the concert hall in Baltimore.
The concert came at the end of a long day with two doctor’s appointments scheduled beforehand. Still, I was really looking forward to the program.
While the program opened with the famed shark theme from Jaws, the more well-known movie themes were heavily spiced with music from less famous movies. One of these was the main theme from The Sugarland Express, which the conductor stated that he had to contact Williams to get a copy of the score for the performance.
Members of the BSO and two guests did the solo instrumental work for the program. I wish, though, that the solo accordion work done for “Viktor’s Tale” from The Terminal had gotten better amplification because it was completely drowned out by the other instruments.
After the standing ovation the BSO received at the end of the concert, they played the main theme from Indiana Jones. I think we greedy audience members were hoping that another standing o would yield a Star Wars theme, but no such luck.
Since I had started the month with two hours of Star Wars, I was okay with that.
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Some of the pictures from this busy month are below. The rest are available at https://singin1.click/piwigo/index.php?/category/26
