Opening Night with Rebecca Evans

During the weekend of February 21, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra performed a program of music by Mahler and Mozart conducted by David Danzmayr. Rebecca Evans shares her review.

On January 31, Virginia Opera opened its production of “Cinderella,” a whimsical, heartfelt take on the classic tale with an exuberant score by Rossini. Rebecca Evans shares her review.

Virginia Stage Company opened its production of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, an adaptation by Kate Hamill, on January 25. Rebecca Evans shares her review.

On November 18, the Feldman Chamber Music Society presented the Harlem Quartet at the Chrysler Museum of Art. Rebecca Evans shares her review.

On November 8, Virginia Opera opened its first production in its new “From Screen to Stage” initiative with the Spanish opera Il Postino. Rebecca Evans shares her review of the dress rehearsal on November 6.

The Virginia Symphony Orchestra performed music by Brahms, Beethoven, and Caroline Shaw (who also appeared as a soloist) on October 24, 26, and 27 at various venues in Hampton Roads.

On October 4, Virginia Opera opened its new season with a production of Puccini's Tosca.

On September 21, Virginia Stage Company opened its new season with a production of the classic musical Guys and Dolls.

On Friday night, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra launched its 99th season with a program called “Rachmaninoff and Ravel." The occasion also marked conductor and music director JoAnn Falletta’s final opening night with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra after 28 years of consistently raising the bar of arts excellence in our region.

Rebecca Evans traveled to Staunton, Virginia for the final weekend of the annual Staunton Music Festival, one of our region’s most accomplished and innovative chamber music festivals.

Last weekend, Generic Theater opened a striking production of the musical Chess in their space in the black box theater under Chrysler Hall. The show plays until July 21; don’t miss your chance to see this unique, large-scale production of a show the Hampton Roads region has never seen before.

Last weekend, Virginia Arts Festival presented an interpretation of Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra at the Ferguson Center and Chrysler Hall, in addition to a show featuring Michael Feinstein at the Sandler Center. From classical music and Shakespeare to Broadway and cabaret, the 2019 season had a bit of something for every taste.

Last weekend, Virginia Arts Festival brought us a world premiere and a weekend of spectacular dance at Norfolk’s Chrysler Hall. Dance Theatre of Harlem was born 50 years ago as the first African American classical ballet company. In this engagement at Virginia Arts Festival, Dance Theatre of Harlem performed the pieces “Valse Fantaisie,” “Adagietto,” and “Dougla,” in addition to the world premiere of “Passage,” choreographed by Claudia Schreier with music by Jessie Montgomery.

During the weekend of April 12, the 2019 Virginia Arts Festival kicked off with a series of wonderful programs spanning art forms, genres, and time periods, including a Bach Celebration and a recital from pianist Olga Kern.

On April 6, Virginia Opera presented the final offering of its new Variations season of short, casual, and contemporary opera in English. The chamber opera, called “An American Dream,” by composer Jack Perla and librettist Jessica Murphy Moo, centered on two women in America during World War II: a Japanese American young woman sent to an internment camp and a German-Jewish immigrant tormented by thoughts of her parents still in Germany.

During the weekend of March 23, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra performed a Mozart Celebration at venues in Hampton Roads with Guest Conductor Scott Yoo.

Last weekend, our very own Virginia Ballet Theatre brought a taste of extraordinary dance to Norfolk, presenting its annual sweetheart concert at ODU’s University Theatre. The concert included dances from Swan Lake and Le Corsaire, a piece called Twilight, and then two modern pieces, Fragile Strength and The Larks, choreographed by Artistic Director Ricardo Melendez.

On Wednesday night, a very unique opera happened at the Williamsburg Regional Library. Opera in Williamsburg teamed up with Opera Piccola of Israel to present a one-woman operatic version of The Diary of Anne Frank, performed in Hebrew with English supertitles.

Last weekend, Virginia Stage Company opened their production of the musical Fun Home at the Wells Theatre in Downtown Norfolk. Fun Home is based on the best-selling graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, with music by Jeanine Tesori, and a book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. It’s the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist, winning five Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 2015, including Best Musical.

On January 14, the Feldman Chamber Music Society shared a fun, beautiful evening of classical chamber music in the theater at the Chrysler Museum of Art. The group Trio Karénine performed three piano trios by Debussy, Schumann, and Ravel.

Many musical groups around Hampton Roads are in the midst of performing their holiday concerts. The Virginia Choral Society presents an ambitious, unique, and spirited program this December called Carols and Lullabies of the Southwest.

Last Thursday, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra performed a program of Latin music with their new assistant conductor, Gonzalo Farias, at the Regent University Theater in Virginia Beach.

Last weekend, Washington National Opera opened Silent Night at the Kennedy Center to memorialize the centennial of the World War I armistice. The Great War catapulted the City of Norfolk through a tremendous population boom and led to the Navy's acquisition of the site that would eventually become Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world. With our strong military presence and arts community, Silent Night would be an instant hit in Hampton Roads, although it’s well worth the trip to D.C. in the meantime.

Last weekend, Virginia Stage Company opened its new, immersive production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town at the Wells Theatre.

Last weekend, Virginia Opera kicked off its 2018-2019 season with Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. Street Scene narrates 24 hours of family life in front of a tenement in 1940s New York City, encompassing themes like domestic violence, immigration, and wealth inequality that could have been torn from 2018 headlines.

Last weekend, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra commenced their 2018-2019 season with performances at the Ferguson Center for the Arts, Chrysler Hall, and the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts. The show, titled Pictures at an Exhibition, featured the orchestra at its finest under conductor JoAnn Falletta, who’s now in her last full season with the VSO, having served as the Music Director since 1991.

The TRDance Ensemble gives local dancers and choreographers opportunities to mount new works in the community, showing artists of all experience levels can come together and make an impact with their movements.

Rebecca reviews Tidewater Opera Initiative's adaptation of Engelbert Humperdinck’s famous opera Hansel and Gretel.

Audiences of all ages enjoyed orchestral works from favorite movies as the Virginia Symphony introduced their new conductor to the community.

Generic Theater’s latest production, Hand to God, premiered Off-Broadway in 2011 and hit Broadway stages in 2015, where it garnered five Tony Award nominations. The play has been described by The New Yorker as “Sesame Street meets the Exorcist.”

The 15th annual "An Evening with Chrystal E." was a carefully curated program performed by one of our region's top talents.

Rebecca reviews the Naughton sisters' appearance at the Robin Hixon Theater, the last classical performance in Virginia Arts Festival’s 22nd season.

Recently, Virginia Arts Festival produced a Mozart Celebration at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts. This concert paid homage to his piano concertos, and featured masterful pianist, André-Michel Schub.

Virginia Arts Festival brought magic to the Chrysler Hall stage with Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production of Romeo and Juliet. Arts reporter Rebecca Evans shares her thoughts on the performance.

Rebecca Evans reviews the opening weekend of the Virginia Arts Festival's 22nd season. The season kicked off with Bernstein at 100, a tribute to famed composer, conductor, and teacher Leonard Bernstein.

For the first time, Virginia Arts Festival presented a series of Fringe shows on the ODU campus. Rebecca shares her thoughts on an evening with the experimental theatre troupe the Neo-Futurists.

Rebecca reviews the Williamsburg Symphony’s “Couperin Craze” program, with music by Couperin, Ades, Ravel, and Haydn.

Rebecca reviews Virginia Opera’s latest production, Benjamin Britten’s operatic adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” complete with shimmering music and colorful fairies.

Last weekend the Virginia Symphony Orchestra performed Songs of Freedom under conductor Benjamin Rous at the TCC Roper Performing Arts Center. Arts reporter Rebecca Evans offers her review.

Although nowhere as outlandish as Generic’s usual productions, the play Jack Goes Boating offers a refreshing and honest take on relatable characters. Rebecca reviews this regional premiere that runs through February 18.

This year, Virginia Stage Company’s annual production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is a revamped musical adaption with a refreshed script and set, along with a new lead starring as Ebenezer Scrooge. Rebecca gives us her take on this new version of a holiday classic.

The Virginia Chorale performed their annual holiday concert to packed crowds. Arts reporter Rebecca Evans offers a review.