That warmth you feel stirring in the air this week is a sign that summer is almost here. Optimism about live music returning is brimming as well.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced plans Tuesday to welcome audiences back to its outdoor theaters for the first live performances since December 2019. (As of now, there is no programming planned for June or July in The Barns, the indoor venue that normally hosts full opera productions.)

The reopening comes just in time for the national park for the performing arts to celebrate its 50th anniversary season. On July 1, Wolf Trap will host a gala concert honoring the semicentennial of the 1971 opening of its outdoor venue, the Filene Center. JoAnn Falletta conducts the National Symphony Orchestra, with solo contributions from soprano Christine Goerke, pianist Joyce Yang, and Broadway star Cynthia Erivo.

Composer Joseph Bologne’s music will be featured both by the NSO, pairing one of his violin concertos with Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (July 8 and 9), and by Wolf Trap Opera. The foundation’s resident opera company opens its summer season with Bologne’s 1780 chamber opera L’Amant Anonyme in a concert performance (June 18). Geoffrey McDonald conducts the NSO in this Filene Center production directed by Kimille Howard.

The rest of the summer opera season consists of other concert performances in the Filene Center, including a double-bill of Viardot’s Cendrillon and Holst’s Sāvitri (July 16), with the Wolf Trap Orchestra under conductor Kelly Kuo. Wolf Trap Opera alumni Tamara Wilson, Michelle DeYoung, Paul Groves, Ryan Speedo Green, and others return to the Filene Center for a  concert of favorite opera arias on July 23.

Tickets may be ordered starting May 7. wolftrap.org

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