The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA will present its inaugural Vancouver USA Music and Arts Festival celebrating music and art inspired by America, spanning three days from Friday, August 4 through Sunday, August 6.

The multidisciplinary art festival features performances from the VSO conducted by VSO Music Director, internationally renowned composer and conductor Maestro Salvador Brotons and Maestro Gerard Schwarz. Known as a champion of American composers, Gerard Schwarz has received hundreds of honors and accolades in his five decades as a respected classical musician and conductor including 9 Emmy Awards, 14 GRAMMY nominations, 8 ASCAP Awards, and numerous Stereo Review and Ovation Awards, in addition to being the first American named Conductor of the Year by Musical America. Renowned guest soloists include violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, pianist Orli Shaham, and the genre-defying trio Time for Three. Presented in close collaboration with the city of Vancouver and Vancouver Downtown Association, the Festival is made possible by the $600,000 grant awarded to the VSO by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for program expansion to engage performing and visual arts patrons.