PLEASE NOTE: Tonight’s concert is OUTDOORS at Shelburne Museum. There will be limited advance price tickets available at the Shelburne Museum gift shop from 1pm – 3pm (IN PERSON ONLY), and at the gate at the door price beginning at 5:30pm until we sell out. 

To celebrate the United States’ 250^th birthday, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra hits the road with Summer Festival Tour: America 250, bringing music to communities across the Green Mountain State. There’s nothing quite like a balmy July evening in the Vermont outdoors, especially when the state’s orchestra performs beloved favorites like Morton Gould’s American Salute (based on “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”), Aaron Copland’s Hoe-Down from Rodeo, a lively selection of music by John Williams and John Philip Sousa, and more.

Music Director Andrew Crust invites you to bring a picnic blanket and relax under sunny skies to enjoy this cherished annual tradition. Each location features the VSO’s Musical Petting Zoo before the performance, where audiences young and old can explore a variety of orchestral instruments. Two works will be elevated by live narration by actor/director Jarvis Green and special guests:  John Williams’ piece Liberty Fanfare is performed alongside a reading of Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus”, and Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait includes writings by Abraham Lincoln paired with a reading of Calvin Coolidge’s speech “Vermont Is a State I Love.”

This performance includes fireworks after the concert.

All 2026 VSO Summer Festival Tour – Shelburne ticket holders get half-price admission to Shelburne Museum. Just show your ticket at the Admissions Desk! Valid one time for one ticket per person through October 25, 2026.

PROGRAM

The Star Spangled Banner – Traditional
American Salute – Morton Gould
Liberty Fanfare – John Williams
Variations on America – Charles Ives, arr. Schuman
America 250! – Gwyneth Walker 
Symphony No. 9 (1. Adagio) – Antonín Dvořák

Intermission

Cowboys Overture – John Williams
Hoe-Down from “Rodeo” – Aaron Copland
Rey’s Theme from “The Force Awakens” Suite – John Williams
Chanson de matin – Edward Elgar
Lincoln Portrait – Aaron Copland
Duke Ellington Fantasy – Duke Ellington, arr. Hermann
Stars and Stripes Forever – John Philip Sousa