Annual Boston Globe WGBH Summer Arts Weekend 2015

The Boston Globe, WGBH and Citizens Bank are teaming up again to host the 4th annual Boston Summer Arts Weekend. The free outdoor festival will take place on Copley Square in the Back Bay on July 25-26 and will feature special offers from arts organizations around the city and a series of Arts Walks and Talks throughout the week leading up to the festival.

From New Orleans jazz to blues, family acts and Americana, there is something for everyone at this year’s event. Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, winners of the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album of the Year in 2014 for Old Yellow Moon, will headline the festival on Saturday. They’ll be joined on the lineup by New Orleans’ own Dirty Dozen Brass Band, as well as Grammy-nominated and Blues Music Award winner Bettye LaVette and Boston’s own Federator N°1.

The weekend will kick off on Saturday at 11 a.m. with performances designed for the entire family. One of the most buzzed-about bands for families and kids on the East Coast, Karen K & the Jitterbugs, will open the festival, followed by the Ringmaster Clown Remarkable Renaldo and Grammy nominee Zak Morgan.

Blue Man Group will hold the final round for their 2nd annual Boston Drum-Off on the main stage on Saturday, seeking to identify the most creative, most innovative and most insanely talented drummers in Greater Boston.

The winning choral group from WGBH's original local TV series, Sing That Thing!, also will perform during the Saturday primetime lineup. Voted the best of the best among a diverse array of choral ensembles across southern New England, Sing That Thing!'s winner will present their rendition of the original composition, “Qui Canitis Res,” by renowned composer Jim Papoulis, along with several other vocal numbers.