**Free & Open to the Public**
Walk through centuries of commerce, culture, and revitalization on Norfolk’s iconic Granby Street.
Granby Street: A Downtown Norfolk Walking Tour
For over two centuries, Granby Street has been the heart of Downtown Norfolk. This tour follows its rise as a merchant hub, its decline in the mid-20th century, and its remarkable revitalization in recent decades. From historic architecture to modern-day hotspots, discover how Granby Street continues to evolve as the city’s main commercial corridor.
About the Downtown Norfolk Council: The Downtown Norfolk Council (DNC) is a private, not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting and enhancing the economic vitality and cultural vibrancy of Downtown Norfolk through advocacy, collaboration, and programming. Find events, directories, and resources at www.DowntownNorfolk.org and follow @Downtown757 Instagram and @DowntownNorfolk on Facebook.
About Norfolk Tour Company: Norfolk Tour Company offers engaging and informative walking tours that explore the rich history, vibrant culture, and unique neighborhoods of Norfolk, Virginia. Find tour schedules and details at https://www.toursofnorfolk.com/.com on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ToursofNorfolk/events
May 15 - 18, 2025 A Legacy of Faith, Philanthropy, and Community
For generations, the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral and the Norfolk Greek Festival have been pillars of faith, culture, and service in the Hampton Roads community. More than a celebration of Hellenic heritage, our festival embodies the Orthodox Christian values of philanthropy, hospitality, and love for our neighbor.
At the heart of this tradition is the Cathedral’s unwavering mission to serve not only our parishioners but the entire Norfolk community. Through the Norfolk Greek Festival, we extend this calling, using the blessings of our culture—delicious food, joyful fellowship, and cherished traditions—as a means to give back.
Each year, a significant portion of festival proceeds is dedicated to charitable organizations that uplift those in need, reflecting Christ’s commandment to “love one another.” Whether supporting food banks, shelters, medical initiatives, or educational programs, our contributions aim to bring hope and relief to the most vulnerable in our community.
By attending the Norfolk Greek Festival, you are not only immersing yourself in the richness of Greek culture—you are participating in a mission of faith and service, ensuring that the Annunciation Cathedral continues to be a beacon of light and compassion in Norfolk.
Join us in celebrating our faith, our heritage, and our shared responsibility to care for those in need. Every meal enjoyed, every dance shared, and every moment of fellowship brings us closer to building a stronger, more compassionate community.
Organizations We Support
Local and National Charities: Foodbank of SEVA, ForKids, EVMS, CHKD, CHKD Child Abuse Center, Union Mission, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity of South Hampton Roads, Lee’s Friends, Samaritan House, St. Mary’s Infant Home
Orthodox Christian Ministries: Orthodox Christian Missions (OCMC), Orthodox Christians for Life, Philoptochos Society
Youth & Community Programs: Girl Scouts, Edmarc Hospice for Children
Together, through faith and philanthropy, we continue the legacy of Christ’s love and service.
Zac Plastic | @zacplasticExperience what makes the Chrysler Museum an international powerhouse of glass with the expanded Perry Glass Studio. The increased square footage, state-of-the-art equipment, and expanded roster of educational opportunities are designed to grow opportunities to engage artists and the community in a love of glass. DNC members are invited to an exclusive event to see the new facilities, hear from museum leadership, and watch glass being made.
Free for DNC Members; $25 for non-members
8 am – Networking
8:30 am – Presentation
Explore the Norfolk Botanical Garden’s 7 miles of paved pathways, free with Garden Admission.
2003 saw the start of a love affair between one of the most extraordinary and best loved bands to come from the UK and fans all around the world. The Darkness exploded from their Lowestoft roots to global success when they released their debut album Permission To Land to almost overnight success. It topped the UK charts, going 5x Platinum and selling over 1.5 million copies in the UK alone, whilst also becoming a huge success everywhere from the USA to Australia, Germany to Japan.
The album spawned a series of hit singles including ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’, ‘Growing On Me’, ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’ and ‘Love Is Only A Feeling’. It also clocked up a series of awards including three BRIT Awards, two Kerrang Awards and an Ivor Novello for ‘Songwriters Of The Year’ amongst many others.
The Darkness played a number of landmark shows, including a headline set at the 2004 Reading & Leeds Festivals, as part of a whirlwind career of global touring and international success. The band then followed the success of their debut with the 2005 album One Way Ticket To Hell… And Back, which produced the Top 10 hit ‘One Way Ticket’.
However the pressures of fame took their toll and in 2006 lead singer Justin Hawkins left the band, checking into rehab and The Darkness were no more. Yet, like a veritable phoenix rising from the ashes of despair, the band reformed in 2011 touring Europe and South America the following year with Lady Gaga. They released their comeback album Hot Cakes that year and Last Of Our Kind in 2015.
In 2017 the band ushered in a new era with the release of Pinewood Smile and the critically acclaimed record became their third UK Top 10 album. With its successor Easter Is Cancelled (2019) achieving equally great heights there seemed no stopping the band. However, that album’s title proved semi-prophetic and following its release the world plunged into the Covid-19 pandemic.
Undaunted, they released their latest album Motorheart in 2021 which not only received rave reviews but once more catapulted them straight back onto the upper echelons of festival bills such as Download and saw them pack out the arenas around the country with fervent fans hungry for the band’s return to the stage.
2022 saw The Darkness perform incendiary shows around the world while, in tandem with their touring, fabulous frontman Justin was quickly becoming the internet’s favourite rock ‘n’ roll personality with his highly revered Justin Hawkins Rides Again podcast.
The Darkness have now come full circle as their game-changing debut album Permission To Land turns 20 this year. The band are as hot on rock fans lips around the world as they were all those years ago, having sold out arena shows including Wembley with Black Stone Cherry earlier this year. And they even kicked off 2023 in style, ringing in the new year with a performance of the timeless classic ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ on BBC One’s New Year’s Eve programming.
That uber hit, and all the other solid gold stonkers from The Darkness’s debut and beyond, will be hitting venues around the globe on the 2023 Permission To Land 20 world tour, bolstered by a special expanded Permission To Land deluxe album release coming via Warner Music too.
The band continue to be billed alongside the pantheon of rock gods this year and have already been announced to perform with Guns N’ Roses at BST London Hyde Park, as well as KISS in Norway this summer.
20 years after The Darkness landed in 2003 with a big bang that changed the face of British rock music forever, their cheeky, spandex-clad anthems continue to probe and capture hearts around the world today.
For more than two decades, Anberlin have remained a formidable force in the alt-rock world, boasting a wildly devoted fanbase who’ve come to rely on the raw cathartic power of their music. On the massively anticipated Vega—the first album in ten years from vocalist Stephen Christian, guitarists Joseph Milligan and Christian McAlhaney, bassist Deon Rexroat, and drummer Nathan Young—the Florida-bred band deliver a body of work forged with an explosive new energy, thanks in part to the addition of singer Matty Mullins (the Memphis May Fire frontman who’s stepped in as live vocalist for Anberlin, following Christian’s announcement that he’ll no longer tour full-time). The latest triumph in an extraordinary career that’s included selling over 1.5 million albums in the U.S. alone and turning out hits like the No. 1 Alternative Radio smash “Feel Good Drag,” Vega reveals a band whose creative passion and one-of-a-kind vision have only grown stronger over time. Arriving on the heels of two back-to-back EPs—2022’s Silverline and 2023’s Convinced—Vega emerged from a period of unbridled creativity for Anberlin, who parted ways soon after 2014’s Lowborn and reunited for a series of lockdown-era livestreams. In bringing their new album to life, the band embraced a deliberately free-flowing and DIY approach, building up songs in McAlhaney’s garage before self-producing the LP at Tampa’s Feral Sound Studios. “In the past we’d sometimes limit our sound to some preconceived idea of what Anberlin is supposed to be,” says McAlhaney. “This time the mantra was, ‘If it feels good, let’s try it.’ Because at the end of the day, Anberlin is whatever we say it is.” As a result, Vega encompasses everything from the shout-along-ready pop perfection of “Walk Alone” to the brutally heavy intensity of “Seven” (a shapeshifting and strangely enthralling epic featuring a savage vocal performance from Mullins). “I think after spending time apart we came back with a new perspective, where we were all just excited to work together and create the best songs we can,” says Young. “No one was precious about their ideas; it was all about making something that feels new and risky and like nothing we’ve ever done before.” As they get set to embark on the 20 Years of Tears amphitheater tour with Thursday, Hawthorne Heights, and Saosin—a 56-date run that marks their most extensive tour in a decade—Anberlin look forward to the pure thrill of performing their new material for their longtime legion of fans. “We’ve had so many people tell us things like, ‘Your songs got me through a really difficult time in my life,’ or ‘You guys are what made me pick up a guitar and start my own band,’” says Rexroat. “It’s an incredible feeling to know that we’ve impacted other people on that level—the amount of love we’ve felt is undeniable, and it’s one of the main reasons we’ve kept going for as long we have.”
JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Stewart Goodyear, piano
Norfolk State University Chorus
Adolphus Hailstork: Fanfare on Amazing Grace
Adolphus Hailstork: An American Port of Call
Adolphus Hailstork: Piano Concerto No. 1
Adolphus Hailstork: Celebration
Adolphus Hailstork: For Those Who Serve
Adolphus Hailstork: Still Holding On
Adolphus Hailstork: Done Made My Vow
It’s an 85th Birthday Celebration of one of Hampton Roads’ finest! Featuring an entire program of works by the brilliant American Composer Adolphus Hailstork, including An American Port of Call, First Piano Concerto, and Done Made My Vow, JoAnn Falletta returns for one night only to conduct this amazing concert featuring Stewart Goodyear and the Norfolk State University Chorus.
JoAnn Falletta was named the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s Connie and Marc Jacobson Music Director Laureate in 2021 after serving as VSO Music Director for 29 seasons. Winner of multiple GRAMMY® Awards, she also serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center, and Conductor Laureate of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.
Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished concert pianist, improviser and composer. He, famously, has performed all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas in a single day in Toronto, Princeton, Davis, CA, Dallas,and Cincinnati. Goodyear has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, just to name a few.
Adolphus Cunningham Hailstork III has written over 250 works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, orchestra, and opera. His works blend musical ideas from the African, Native American and European traditions. In 2012, a Naxos recording of his piece, An American Port of Call was released featuring the VSO. In October 2022, he was featured as “Composer of the Week” on BBC Radio 3. In 2021, Fanfare on Amazing Grace was performed by the United States Marine Band at the inauguration ceremony of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Since 1945, when Harry Savage organized the first choir, to present day, the Norfolk State University Chorus has offered a place for talented student vocalists of all majors to express themselves, nurture their talents and represent the entire University through the highest levels of performance artistry. NSU Choirs currently consists of the NSU Concert Choir, The NSU Vocal Jazz Ensemble and the Voices of Inspiration Gospel Choir.
Swearingen & Kelli, band
Fire & Rain is a beautiful collection of classics by James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, America, Jim Croce, Fleetwood Mac, and more. Duo Swearingen & Kelli join the VSO for a stellar performance of your favorite ’70s tunes.
With siren-like vocals and prolific songwriting, Swearingen & Kelli have carved out their own space in the Americana landscape, earning praise from Red Line Roots as artists “others would do well to emulate.”Their earlier albums, The Marrying Kind and Cold-Hearted Truth, drew critical acclaim from Gretsch Guitars, Cowboys & Indians Magazine, and NY Country Swag. With a sound steeped in the soul of ‘60s and ‘70s songwriters, they’ve shared the stage with legends like Crystal Gayle, Kenny Rogers, and folk heroes Tom Rush and David Bromberg.
