Words and Images Courtesy of the Virginia Arts Festival
Direct from South Africa, the Soweto Gospel Choir returns to Virginia Arts Festival on Sunday, December 4 at
the Attucks Theatre with an all-new tour. The three-time Grammy Award-winning choir will perform a series of South African freedom songs along with the music of the Civil Rights era including selections by legendary artists Billie Holiday, James Brown, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield, and Aretha Franklin. The Choir will also perform some Holiday favorites.
Tickets for all performances are available at vafest.org, by phone at 757-282-2822, and in person at the Virginia Arts Festival Box Office at 440 Bank Street in Norfolk.
Hailing from Soweto (South West Township), a town outside of Johannesburg and home of Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s democratic movement, Soweto Gospel Choir continues to inspire audiences around the world with their powerful blend of African gospel, freedom songs, and international classics.
About Soweto Gospel Choir
Comprising a line-up of some of South Africa’s best vocalists, these uplifting performers have shared the stage and collaborated with the biggest names in contemporary music including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, U2, Diana Ross, Peter Gabriel, Chris Martin, John Legend, Pharrell Williams, Jimmy Cliff, Ben Harper, Angelique Kidjo, Robert Plant, Celine Dion, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hugh Masekela and Josh Groban. SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIR was formed in 2003 at the end of the apartheid era and during South Africa’s inspiring return to Democracy. Taking part in some of the major historical events in the new democratic South Africa, SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIR are proud to have performed on many occasions for the Father of their Nation, former President Nelson Mandela’s and sadly at his State Funeral in South Africa and at the subsequent commemorative service at Westminster Abbey in London. In January 2022, Soweto Gospel Choir sang at the funeral service in Cape Town of the Choir’s patron, Nobel Prize winning Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
About Virginia Arts Festival 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.