Commissioning Partners

Virginia Arts Festival

Production date: May 8-10, 2009

with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Stefan Asbury, conductor

The mission of the The Virginia Arts Festival is to bring world-class performing arts to citizens and visitors, impact the lives of students through outstanding educational programs, commission new works of national and international significance, and make a tangible difference in Hampton Roads through regional partnerships and positive economic impact through the generation of cultural tourism. The world-class Virginia Arts Festival premiered in coastal Virginia in spring 1997. Twenty-plus venues in nine cities from the Historic Triangle (Jamestown/Yorktown/Williamsburg) to Norfolk to the oceanfront resort, Virginia Beach, host over 60 performances each spring by internationally renowned artists from around the world in classical music, dance, theatre, and opera. Signature events are the Chamber Music series, led by pianist André-Michel Schub, and the spectacle of music and might, the Virginia International Tattoo (named Internationally Known Event in the American Bus Association's Top 100 Events in North America for 2008). The Virginia Arts Festival welcomed MMDG for the first time in its inaugural season in 1997. MMDG then began a five-year residency in 2000 with the Festival.

"Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet' is one of the greatest ballet scores ever written and it's only fitting that Mark Morris, one of the world's great choreographers, was chosen for the project. The Virginia Arts Festival is proud to be a partner in what should prove to be a landmark new production of this beloved ballet."
—Robert W. Cross, Artistic Director, Virginia Arts Festival.

Website: http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/