Philadelphia International Music Festival Students to Perform at Valley Forge for America250

Students attending the Philadelphia International Music Festival (PIMF) featuring members of The Philadelphia Orchestra will perform in dedication ceremonies for a new firepit at Valley Forge National Historic Park's Muhlenberg's Brigade on Friday, July 3, 2026.

“Our students come from all over the country and the world to study at our intensive classical music training program in Wayne, PA,” said PIMF President Sandy Marcucci. “This is a tremendous honor for the musicians selected to be part of America's Semiquincentennial at such an extraordinarily symbolic site in our nation's history, and at such a milestone moment for our nation. We're so grateful to Valley Forge National Historic Park for this unforgettable opportunity.”

The park celebrates its own 50th Anniversary this weekend. President Gerald Ford signed legislation at Valley Forge during the Bicentennial on July 4, 1976, making it the 283rd National Park and the only one to share its birthday with the country.

Two ensembles, comprised of 9 string and wind instrumentalists ages 13 to 19, will open the festivities at 9:30 a.m. with selections of chamber music. The works will include arrangements of stirring patriotic works as well as some melodies that the American Colonists and even the court of King George would have heard.

The music will echo around wooden huts that replicate what Continental Army soldiers would have lived in during the winter encampment of 1777-1778, when General George Washington and Prussian military officer Friedrich Baron von Steuben transformed a weary militia into a disciplined fighting force to change the direction of the Revolutionary War.