VIRGINIA ARTS FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 30^TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON 

Year-long celebration includes dozens of performances by world-renowned artists including 

Yo-Yo Ma, cello, and Emanuel Ax, piano 

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis 

Martha Graham Dance Company 

Samara Joy, vocalist 

Virginia Symphony Orchestra 

Scott Silven, illusionist 

Thirty years ago, in a closet-sized office in downtown Norfolk, a classically trained percussionist imagined a season of world-class performances, miles off the beaten path of most major touring artists and companies. Until then, the Hampton Roads area had not been a regular stop for legendary classical music stars, iconic ballet and modern dance companies, touring professional theater companies, and top-flight jazz musicians; often, arts lovers had to travel to Washington, D.C. or New York City or beyond to feed their appetite for artistic excellence, adventure, and innovation.

Rob Cross set out to change that. Already a force in the region’s top orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, Rob was a Virginia Beach-born native son, a product of the fabled New England Conservatory of Music, and a dreamer who believed that Hampton Roads audiences—a community he had grown to love and respect during his tenure at the Virginia Symphony—were hungry for more, and deserved the best.

Thirty years later, the Virginia Arts Festival is a thriving artistic institution, an internationally acknowledged presenter, nurturer, commissioner and incubator of the arts, and a valued member of the Hampton Roads community. A place where arts lovers can experience the best while treasuring the classics and trying the new, and where artists feel appreciated, honored, and challenged to be the best that they could be. A trusted host who offers new delights each year, to be enjoyed by generations of family members and friends.

Now the Virginia Arts Festival is planning its 30^th Anniversary Season, and it’s a party not to be missed. Here is an overview of the Festival’s 30^th Anniversary Season programming; for a full calendar and information, and to order tickets, visit VAFest.org.

Classical Music/Instrumental

• Iconic virtuosos Yo-Yo Ma, cellist, and Emanuel Ax, piano, longtime Festival audience favorites, join forces for an unmissable evening showcasing their extraordinary musical kinship, March 31 for Virginia Arts Festival’s 30th Anniversary Season Opening Night Celebration
• The Festival’s Connie & Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music, Van Cliburn Competition Gold Medal-awarded pianist Olga Kern, is curating a collection of concerts by some of today’s most virtuosic artists, including the Dali Quartet, the Akropolis Reed Quintet and a host of gifted individual artists who will join in evening concerts as well as the Festival’s beloved Coffee Concerts. Kern herself will perform in a number of concerts including a reprise of the keyboard bonanza Pianopalooza.
• Each year, Virginia Arts Festival joins the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in creating innovative orchestral programs supported by the Susan Goode Performance Fund. This season’s musical adventure offers a gorgeous multi-media experience that melds great music with animations by visual artist Alex Sopp, in two performances April 16 and 17.
• Brilliant recitals round out the classical music season, including the always-inventive Norwegian brass ensemble tenThing, April 6; acclaimed classical guitarist Jason Vieaux, April 8; and pipe organ virtuoso Isabelle Demers, May 9.

Classical Music/Vocal

The Festival celebrates music’s most versatile instrument, the human voice, in inspired programs reflecting centuries of genius.

• Commissioned by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Toni Morrison, the opera Edmonia chronicles the audacious life of 19^th-century sculptor Edmonia Lewis, who transcended obstacles facing her as a Black, Native American woman to create works that today are on view in the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Edmonia - an opera in two acts by Bill Banfield - will be performed March 20 and 21.
• The extraordinary Vienna Girls Choir makes its first-ever U.S. tour this season, with Virginia Arts Festival performances April 13-14. Emerging from Vienna’s long choral tradition, the Vienna Girls Choir continues the Vienna Boys Choir’s legacy of excellence with a distinct voice and vision of its own.
• The “devastatingly beautiful” sound (Gramophone Magazine) of the award-winning choir Tenebrae will ring out in two of the region’s most beautiful churches on March 3 and 4.  And the brilliant Virginia Chorale joins the Festival for Paths of Miracles, a farewell performance with retiring artistic director Charles Woodward, June 20.
• Two-time GRAMMY-winning vocalist Hila Plittman and GRAMMY-winning string quartet ETHEL— all extraordinary artists acclaimed for their adventurous spirit, virtuosic range, and bold imagination —take listeners on a multi-genre excursion through classical, rock, pop, jazz, Native American, Iranian and other styles to create a kaleidoscopic evening of song in ReImagine on April 18.
• Called “a voice for this historic moment” (The Washington Post), the GRAMMY-winning operatic baritone Will Liverman performs in recital May 18. Liverman is joined by Virginia Opera’s longtime Artistic Director & Chief Conductor Adam Turner, a distinguished pianist and sought-after collaborator celebrated for his versatility, musical insight, and artistry in partnership.

Dance

Virginia Arts Festival takes pride in being the most ambitious dance presenter in a multi-state region. Through longstanding partnerships with celebrated companies - including Birmingham Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Urban Bush Women, Philadanco, and Pilobolus - the Festival has supported residencies and commissioned new work, advancing dance, thrilling audiences, and enriching arts education programs. This season the Festival welcomes these great companies:

• A featured Festival favorite since 2004, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns with inspired repertoire that includes classics by their founder, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Alvin Ailey, and some of the most exciting contemporary choreographers of the 20th and 21st centuries, April 27 and 28.
• Martha Graham Dance Company with Virginia Symphony Orchestra brings a riveting retrospective of this dance pioneer’s transformative works, May 8.
• Leah Glenn Dance Theatre, led by choreographer and William & Mary University faculty member Leah Glenn, brings dance both rooted in history and facing the future, April 11.
• The groundbreaking Italian company NoGravity Theatre blends eye-popping choreography and mesmerizing stage illusions into modern theatrical magic, May 1.

Theater

• With bold physicality, top-notch actors and inventive staging, Aquila Theatre brings a compelling new adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s timeless tale of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, April 9.
• The Festival joins with Virginia Stage Company in bringing the iconic John Kander/Fred Ebb Broadway smash musical Cabaret to Norfolk’s beautiful Wells Theatre, April 14-May 2.
• Illusionist Scott Silven beckons audiences to a dream world of his own delightfully devilish design in The Lost Things, May 7 and 8.
• The Edinburgh Fringe has launched the careers of some of the world’s most inventive and entertaining artists, and over the years, Virginia Arts Festival Perry Artistic Director Robert W. Cross has brought a collection of those artists to the region. Returning this season is Fringe favorite Victoria Melody in Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak, June 4-6.

Jazz / World

The joint is jumping at Virginia Arts Festival, the area’s leading year-round presenter of jazz.

• Hailed as “the best big band on the planet,” the legendary Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra returns to the Festival with its Pulitzer Prize-winning Founder and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis April 3. 
• A six-time GRAMMY Award®-winner at just 27, vocalist Samara Joy has the maturity and inimitable style of a true icon. Once called “a reincarnation of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald in the same body” (London Jazz News), now she’s honored for her own unique sound, “a voice that seems to have a gravitational pull keeping the planets in orbit” (WGBO). Hear Joy June 11.
• Fifth-generation sitarist Niladri Kumaar performs April 27.  His performances can sound like meditative classics or rock anthems, and his easy demeanor charms audiences.
• The Festival’s acclaimed Attucks Jazz Club showcases top jazz artists with the John Toomey Trio in an intimate club atop Norfolk’s historic Attucks Theater on selected Saturday nights. Still to come this season are vocalist Gabriela Allemana November 14, saxophonist Sherman Irby January 16, trumpeter Jason Palmer February 6, and vibraphonist Tom Beckham March 13.

American Songbook

• Veteran conductor and arranger Rob Fisher, Broadway’s go-to music director and founding conductor of the Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert series, is the Virginia Arts Festival’s Goode Family Artistic Advisor for Musical Theater and American Songbook. This season, Fisher celebrates iconic Broadway creators in Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: The Music of Rogers and Hart, May 21, featuring Fisher at the piano with a snappy quartet and Broadway singers.

Cabaret

• With a passionate fan base that spans the globe, Pink Martini is “the little orchestra” that serves up banquets and bouquets of music that gleefully hops from continent to continent, decade to decade, and style to style; they return to the Festival with vocalists Storm Large and Jimmie Herrod, March 22.

Festival Stages

Virginia Arts Festival has enlivened the Hampton Roads music scene for three decades, and the 30^th Anniversary Season will bring more sterling examples of the Festival’s passion for virtuosity in every kind of music.

The Festival’s Perry Pavilion, the pop-up outdoor stage that has become a second home for area music fans, will host a slate of artists this season, representing genres from indie to R&B to world music and beyond. Many more bookings are in the works for this fan-friendly space, located just steps from Norfolk’s bustling restaurant scene.

Launching this year for the first time, Virginia Arts Festival’s Yorktown Bluegrass & Beyond will feature a lively roster of artists who honor the genre’s revolutionary roots and evolutionary adventures. At historic Yorktown’s Riverfront Landing, great music meets great food and wines and fabulous finds in this fun, history-rich area, May 15-16.

With its historic setting, eclectic roster of legendary artists, and starlit summer vibe, the Virginia Arts Festival’s Williamsburg Live has become a destination for fans from around the world. With foodie finds, regional wines and beers, and hundreds of years of history just steps from your concert seat. Stay tuned for news of this season’s headliners for Williamsburg Live, June 25-27.

And one to grow on!  As part of the 30th season celebration, the Festival is finalizing plans to expand into the historic city of Hampton, with performances at The American Theatre, the Virginia Peninsula Community College’s Dr. Mary J. Christian Theatre, and the beautiful campus of Hampton University.

Virginia International Tattoo

For 30 years, the Virginia International Tattoo has captivated audiences of more than 1,000,000 with spectacular and inspirational displays of music, military precision, and pageantry. It is an experience that joins all who participate in moving performances and ceremonies that celebrate international friendship and honor the extraordinary service, sacrifice and courage of the men and women who serve in our military. April 22-25, the Tattoo proudly celebrates its 30th anniversary with a spectacular show that features military bands and artists from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Tickets for the Virginia Arts Festival 30^th Anniversary Season performances are on sale now, available online at vafest.org, by phone at 757-282-2822, or at the Festival Box Office, 440 Bank St, Norfolk (Monday-Friday, 10 am-5 pm).

2027 Virginia Arts Festival Season

Yo-Yo Ma, celloEmanuel Ax, piano
Connie And Marc Jacobson Opening Night Celebration
March 31, 7:30 pm
Harrison Opera House, Norfolk

Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra
with Wynton Marsalis
April 3, 7:30 pm
Harrison Opera House, Norfolk

tenThing
April 6, 7:30 pm
Samuel C. Johnson Theater at Norfolk Academy, Norfolk

Niladri Kumaar
April 7, 7:30 pm
University Theatre, Old Dominion University, Norfolk

Jason Vieaux, guitar
April 8, 7:30 pm
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center, Norfolk

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Aquila Theatre
April 9, 7:30 pm
Attucks Theatre, Norfolk

Leah Glenn Dance Theatre
April 11, 3:00 pm
Attucks Theatre, Norfolk

Coffee Concert I:
Akropolis Reed Quintet
April 13, 10:30 am
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Portsmouth

Vienna Girls Choir
A New Voice
April 13, 7:30 pm
Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach
April 14, 7:30 pm
St. Bede Catholic Church, Williamsburg

Cabaret
Virginia Stage Company
April 14 - May 2
The Wells Theatre, Norfolk

Ravel, Janáček, and Shaw
Illustrating Sound
Virginia Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Eric Jacobsen, Conductor
Alex Sopp, Visual Artist 
April 16, 7:30 pm
Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach
April 17, 7:30 pm
Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center For The Arts, Newport News

ReImagine
Hila Plitmann, vocal
ETHEL, String Quartet
April 18, 3:00 pm
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center, Norfolk

Virginia International Tattoo
April 22, 7:30 pm
April 23, 7:30 pm
April 24, 7:30 pm
April 25, 2:30 pm
Scope Arena, Norfolk

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
April 27, 7:30 pm
April 28, 7:30 pm
Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center For The Arts, Newport News

NoGravity Theatre
May 1, 7:30 pm
Harrison Opera House, Norfolk

Scott Silven
"The Lost Things"
May 7, 7:30 pm
May 8, 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm 
The Wells Theatre, Norfolk

Martha Graham Dance Company
with Virginia Symphony Orchestra
May 8, 7:30 pm
Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach

Isabelle Demers, organ
May 9, 4:00 pm
Christ & St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Norfolk

Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players
Brendon Elliott, violin; Emily Ondracek-Peterson, violin; Beverly Kane Baker, viola; Debra Wendells Cross, flute; Michael Byerly, clarinet; Olga Kern, piano
May 10, 7:30 pm
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay and Jay Barr Education Center, Norfolk

Coffee Concerts II & III:
Brendon Elliott, violin; Emily Ondracek-Peterson, violin; Beverly Kane Baker, viola; Debra Wendells Cross, flute; Michael Byerly, clarinet; Olga Kern, piano
May 11, 10:30 am
Peebles Theatre, CNU’s Ferguson Center for the Arts, Newport News
May 12, 10:30 am
Miller Studio Theatre, Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach

Yorktown Bluegrass & Beyond
May 15-16
Riverwalk Landing, Yorktown

Will Liverman, baritone
Adam Turner, piano 
May 18, 7:30 pm
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center, Norfolk

Bewitched, Bothered, And Bewildered: The Music of Rodgers and Hart
Rob Fisher, Piano and Music Director
May 21, 7:30 pm
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center, Norfolk

Dalí Quartet
Olga Kern, Piano 
May 26, 7:30 pm
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay and Jay Barr Education Center, Norfolk

Dalí Quartet
May 27, 7:30 pm
Trinity Episcopal Church, Portsmouth

Coffee Concert IV:
Dalí Quartet
Olga Kern, piano
May 28, 10:30 am
The American Theatre, Hampton

Victoria Melody
Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
June 4, 7:30 pm
June 5, 7:30 pm
June 6, 3:00 pm
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center, Norfolk

Samara Joy
June 11, 7:30 pm
Harrison Opera House, Norfolk

Pianopalooza
Olga Kern, János Balázs, and Daria Podorozhnova
June 15, 7:30 pm
Robin Hixon Theater, Clay and Jay Barr Education Center, Norfolk
June 16, 7:30 pm
William & Mary Concert Hall, Williamsburg

Coffee Concert V:
Pianopalooza
János Balázs, Olga Kern, and Daria Podorozhnova
June 18, 10:30 am
Towne University, Suffolk

Virginia Chorale
"Path of Miracles"
Charles Woodward, Artistic Director
June 20, 4:00 pm
The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Norfolk

Williamsburg Live
June 25-27
Lawn of The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg

Pre-season Virginia Arts Festival events:
Attucks Jazz Club
Gabriela Allemana, vocalist with John Toomey Trio
November 14, 2026, 7:30 pm

Seán Heely’s Celtic Christmas
December 13, 2026, 3:00 pm
Harrison Opera House, Norfolk

Vienna Boys Choir
"Christmas in Vienna"
December 15, 2026, 7:30 pm
Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach
December 16, 2026, 7:30 pm
St. Bede Catholic Church, Williamsburg
December 17, 2026, 7:30 pm
River Road Church, Baptist, Richmond

Attucks Jazz Club
Sherman Irby, saxophone with John Toomey Trio
January 16, 7:30 pm

Attucks Jazz Club
Jason Palmer, trumpet with John Toomey Trio
February 6, 7:30 pm

Tenebrae
"The Journey: 25 Years"
March 3, 7:30 pm
St. Bede Catholic Church, Williamsburg

March 4, 7:30 pm
Christ & St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Norfolk

Attucks Jazz Club
Tom Beckham, vibraphone with John Toomey Trio
March 13, 7:30 pm

Edmonia
An Opera In Two Acts By Bill Banfield
March 20, 7:00 pm, pre-performance talk in gallery, 7:30 pm performance
March 21, 3:00 pm pre-performance talk in gallery, 3:30 pm performance
Attucks Theatre, Norfolk

Pink Martini
Featuring Vocalists Storm Large and Jimmie Herrod
March 22, 7:30 pm
Hilton Norfolk The Main, Norfolk

About Virginia Arts FestivalVirginia Arts Festival celebrates its 30th Anniversary in 2027. The largest performing arts organization in southeastern Virginia, Virginia Arts Festival has transformed the region's cultural scene, presenting great performers from around the world and making this historic region a cultural destination for visitors from across the United States and around the world. In 2026 the Festival welcomed visitors from 47 states, the District of Columbia, and 15 foreign countries. Each season, the Festival presents over 250 performances, including free community events, student matinees, and workshops, with an annual attendance of over 110,000. Millions more are reached through international broadcasts of Festival performances on American Public Radio's Performance Today, nationally on PBS TV, and regionally on WHRO TV. Over 33% of ticket sales come from outside the region, bringing tens of thousands of visitors to local museums and attractions and filling regional hotels and restaurants. Estimated annual economic impact of the Festival exceeds $25 million.

Since 1997, under the direction of Perry Artistic Director Robert W. Cross, Virginia Arts Festival has presented great performers from across the globe. Renowned artists who have performed at the festival include Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Olga Kern, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Miami String Quartet, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Stewart Copeland, Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, Patti LuPone, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre and Mark Morris Dance Group. The festival has presented numerous world premieres and new productions of classical music, dance, and theatre from some of today’s most influential composers, choreographers and playwrights. Van Cliburn gold medalist Olga Kern serves as the Festival’s Connie and Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music and award-winning Broadway music director Rob Fisher serves as the Festival’s Goode Family Artistic Advisor for Musical Theater and American Songbook.

The festival’s arts education programs reach tens of thousands of schoolchildren each year through student matinees, in-school performances, artist residencies, master classes and demonstrations. Visit vafest.org to find out more.

Media Contact:
Alli Pereira
apereira@vafest.org
757-282-2804