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Virginia Arts Festival
  • 440 Bank Street, Clay & Jay Barr Education Center, , Norfolk, VA 23510
  • P: (757) 282-2800
  • District: Regional
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“Mellow and breathlessly inventive…Mummenschanz has been delighting children and their taller companions since 1972.” -The New York Times Presented by Virginia Arts Festival. Mummenschanz celebrates 50 years – presented by Virginia Arts Festival. If, as a child, you were lucky enough to be taken to see the genial madness that is Mummenschanz, you can doubtless call up images of wriggling creatures made of tubes and tentacles, getting themselves into situations that had you shouting with delight. Fifty years on, the Swiss performing troupe is still creating gentle mayhem for audiences around the world, charming audiences of all ages. For its 50th anniversary, the internationally acclaimed company has gathered some of its most iconic and beloved characters—the Clay Masks who grab hunks of their plasticized faces, creating hilarious expressions; the Toilet Paper Faces who weep streams of undulating paper; the delicate Giants filled with air, the Pipe Creature, and so many more, along with new creatures created for the new show. Plan now to gather multiple generations of family and friends; as The New York Times put it, Mummenschanz is “witty madness, dazzling and delightful…particularly vital to young audiences who’ve been raised on beeping gadgets and headphones, and rarely experienced the extraordinary powers of silence.”
Norfolk NATO Festival Flag Raising
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April 20, 2023

Come celebrate the NATO alliance with military music and ceremony. The NATO Flag Raising Ceremony is presented by NATO –...

Norfolk NATO Festival Flag Raising
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April 20, 2023

Come celebrate the NATO alliance with military music and ceremony. The NATO Flag Raising Ceremony is presented by NATO –...

Norfolk NATO Festival Parade of Nations
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April 22, 2023

The Norfolk NATO Festival is proud to present its annual Parade of Nations, the longest continuously running parade in Hampton...

Calmus
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April 24, 2023

This internationally renowned German ensemble conveys pure joy on stage, infusing their singing with “wonderful lyricism and...

David Russell, guitar
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April 26, 2023

A David Russell performance is a guided tour of guitar music from around the world, with the incomparable playing enhanced by his...

All Things Equal - The Life & Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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May 2, 2023

Tony® Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes brings the strength, tenacity, sly wit and compassion of the late Supreme Court...

An Evening with Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer with Rakesh Chaurasia
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May 3, 2023

There’s a bit of the sorcerer in Béla Fleck (15-time Grammy Award-winning banjo virtuoso), Zakir Hussain (Grammy-winning master of...

Ballet Hispanico
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May 5, 2023

“Illuminating and thrilling…stunning. Ballet Hispánico enlightens, excites, and awes the audience.” 
-The Berkshire...

Josh Ritter
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May 7, 2023

Named one of the 100 Best Living Songwriters by Paste Magazine, Josh Ritter is a chameleon, drawing from the deep...

Olga Kern
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May 7, 2023

Time and again, critics have swooned over her showmanship, the deep emotion she brings to the music, and her flawless technique —...

Coffee Concert I: Dali Quartet with Olga Kern
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May 10, 2023

Following their acclaimed 2022 release of quintets by Shostakovich and Brahms, the Dalí Quartet and Olga Kern, Connie & Marc...

Leyla McCalla
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May 10, 2023

This gifted banjo player, cellist, and singer-songwriter weaves intricate stories in music that sighs and shouts. She won fame as a...

Dali String Quartet with Olga Kern
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May 11, 2023

When this internationally renowned quartet performed with pianist Olga Kern at the 2019 Virginia Arts Festival, the Virginia...

Coffee Concert II: Dali Quartet
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May 12, 2023

The internationally renowned Dalí Quartet returns to the Virginia Arts Festival for an intimate performance at Portsmouth’s...

Virginia International PANfest
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May 12, 2023

All ensembles have the opportunity to perform in our Virginia International PANFest competition that is free and open to the...

Mark Morris Dance Group: The Look of Love
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May 13, 2023

Praised as “the most successful and influential choreographer alive, and indisputably the most musical” (The New York...

Colin Macknight, organ
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May 14, 2023

Discover one of the most extraordinary of the new generation of organists! Named one of the top “20 under 30” eminent young...

Emerson String Quartet
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May 15, 2023

“With musicians like this there must be some hope for humanity.” 
-The Times, London 

For more than...

Emerson String Quartet
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May 15, 2023

“With musicians like this there must be some hope for humanity.” 
-The Times, London 

For more than...

Chris Thile: World Premiere
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May 19, 2023

MacArthur Fellow and Grammy® Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter Chris Thile, who The Guardian calls “that rare...

Evening Chamber: Tianwa Yang
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May 23, 2023

Two superb artists at the top of their form…in one extraordinary evening! Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Olga Kern’s “electricity at the...

Coffee Concert III: Kern, Yang, Elliott, Wendells Cross
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May 25, 2023

Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Olga Kern, Connie & Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music, performs with international super-star...

Coffee Concert IV: Kern, Yang, Elliott, Wendells Cross
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May 26, 2023

Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Olga Kern, Connie & Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music, performs with international super-star...

Coffee Concert V: Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players
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June 7, 2023

VAF Chamber Players 
Debra Wendell Cross, flute 
Sherie Aguirre & David Garcia, oboes 
Michael...

Over the Rhine
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June 8, 2023

Karin Bergquist’s supple, soulful singing entices you into the songs of Over the Rhine, but then the lyrics she and husband Linford...

Bria Skonberg
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June 9, 2023

“I play jazz because it's the closest I can get to flying.” So says this gifted young trumpeter and singer-songwriter who has taken...

Alisa Amador
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June 10, 2023

NPR 2022 Tiny Desk Concert contest winner Alisa Amador brings heartfelt, hypnotic songs that have traveled far, from her heart and...

Five Freedom Songs
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June 14, 2023

Composer and instrumentalist Jessie Montgomery is drawing much-deserved attention from top orchestras and presenters for her...