Hampton Roads art affiacinados will have a dream weekend of delights when The Virginia Arts Festival presents two stellar performances by jazz great Wynton Marsalis and British dance great Richard Alston.
Marsalis will perform with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at Chrysler Hall Friday, May 5 at 8 PM. The Richard Alston Dance Company performs at Sandler Center on Saturday, May 6 at 8 PM.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Wynton Marsalis, is made up of 15 of the finest contemporary soloists, ensemble players, and arrangers in jazz music. The Orchestra is led by Marsalis, whose trumpet performances have distinguished some of the ensemble’s greatest performances and recordings.
Marsalis made his recording debut as a leader in 1982, and has since recorded more than 70 jazz and classical albums, winning nine Grammy Awards. In 1983, he became the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammys in the same year, a feat he repeated in 1984. His compositions have created a new generation of masterworks in jazz repertoire as well as the symphonic repertoire.
Richard Alston Dance Company returns to the Virginia Arts Festival with a performance of An Italian in Madrid, a dazzling piece set to keyboard sonatas by Baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti and Gypsy Mixture, Alston’s exhilarating dance set to witty traditional Balkan folk music music by Electric Gypsyland. Tangent, the third piece on the program choreographed by Martin Lawrance, explores the vivid accents of the tango set to music by the great Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzolla.
Richard Alston created dozens of works for companies including London’s Ballet Rambert before forming his own company in 1994. Now internationally recognized as one of the most influential and inspiring choreographers in all of dance, he is a recipient of Britain’s CBE (Commander of the British Empire) and France’s Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
WANT TO GO?
Wynton Marsalis with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Friday, May 5
The Chrysler Center, Norfolk
Tickets available online or at the door.
Richard Alston Dance Company
Saturday, May 6
The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach
Tickets available online or at the door
LGBTQ community discount of 15% when using promo code NIGHTOUT
