Resident Companies

Ballet Virginia is Coastal Virginia’s professional ballet company.  In addition, Ballet Virginia has an academy with locations in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Ballet Virginia is committed to their mission of fostering a lifelong passion for dance through nurturing education, invigorating performances, and artistic excellence. Ballet Virginia provides opportunities for professional dancers, lighting, set and costume designers, and choreographers while continuing education and outreach programs for the Hampton Roads community at large.

Symphonicity is a group of more than 200 orchestra musicians and chorus members who love music and voluntarily come together every year to present masterworks performances, as well as other beloved and traditional concerts. It all started in the summer of 1981 when a group of 35 musicians, under the baton of David S. Kunkel, met together to provide challenging performance experiences for musicians and high-quality, low-cost concerts for the Virginia Beach community. Since then, the orchestra has stayed true to its purpose, but is now known as Symphonicity (combining “city” with “Symphony”) to reflect the growth, reach and quality of the organization. In 2017, upon the retirement of our founding director and after an international search, Maestro Daniel W. Boothe took the podium as our Music Director and Conductor.

Since 1997, the Virginia Arts Festival has transformed the cultural scene in southeastern Virginia, presenting great performers from around the world to local audiences and making this historic, recreation-rich region a cultural destination for visitors from across the United States and around the world. The Festival has presented numerous U.S. and regional premieres, and regularly commissions new works of music, dance, and theater from some of today’s most influential composers, choreographers, and playwrights. The Festival’s arts education programs reach tens of thousands of area schoolchildren each year through student matinees, in-school performances, artists’ residencies, master classes, and demonstrations.

Commonwealth Musical Stage was incorporated in 1991 as the state’s only professional theatre committed exclusively to the production of musical theatre. To more clearly reflect the company’s identity, the name was changed to Virginia Musical Theatre in 1997. VMT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization. A volunteer board of trustees oversees the fiduciary responsibilities of the company. Each year, VMT produces four musicals, generally two contemporary and two from the classical Broadway annals, that bring together the finest professional performers from Broadway, touring circuits, and the Virginia region with leading musicians, designers, and young theatre aspirants. Boasting significant Broadway, national, and international credits, the artistic leads inspire regional talent to create supreme productions like Camelot, Phantom of the Opera, Little Women, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and a variety of classical Broadway musicals.

The Virginia Symphony is at the center of the Hampton Roads arts community, and in many ways serves as the cultural cornerstone for the region. Each year, the orchestra presents a series of Classics, Pops, and Family concerts in Norfolk, Newport News, Williamsburg, and Virginia Beach. In addition, their educational and outreach programs touch the lives of more than 100,000 students and adults per season through concerts, lectures, and presentations, in-school-residences, masterclasses, open rehearsals, student performances, collaborations with other organizations, and an array of community engagement programs.

Tidewater Winds is one of a few professional, non-profit concert bands performing repertoire ranging from Sousa Marches, contemporary repertoire to Big Band programming. When you experience these concerts you are entertained with the highest quality of musical celebration available. Their professional musicians, staff, and volunteers are prepared to ensure you are fully engaged and comfortable. 

The Virginia Beach Chorale is one of southeastern Virginia’s longest-tenured performing arts ensembles and has been a foundational member of the Hampton Roads arts community since 1958. They are dedicated to quality performances, music education, and community service. Virginia Beach Chorale performs a varied repertoire from classics to Broadway and rock to jazz in two main concerts, one during the Christmas season and one in the Spring, with additional benefit and collaborative performances throughout the year. Their mission is to enhance the cultural and musical life of the community and to provide an opportunity for those interested in choral music to participate in these musical endeavors.

The Governor's School for the Arts is a center for innovation that develops excellence, nurtures creativity, inspires artistic vision, and builds communities with a passion for the arts. The Governor's School for the Arts (GSA) offers premiere arts training in Hampton Roads in six departments: Dance, Instrumental Music, Musical Theatre, Theater & Film, Visual Arts, and Vocal Music. Each department trains students to develop in their art form with a focus on conservatory style study. Transportation is provided to GSA by the local school divisions. The school serves the school divisions of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, Southampton, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach