North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Performance Festival

Since its inception in 1997, the summer festival has become an important cultural resource to residents and visitors of North Carolina and an enriching educational and training experience for emerging and professional artists of UNCSA.

In 2006, UNCSA's School of Drama produced its first family musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and a new Saturday Night at the Movies series.

series invites families to relax on the charming Manteo waterfront while UNCSA's conservatory-trained musicians perform aboard the Elizabeth II.

In 2008, a newly created Classics for Kids series presents an hour of kid-focused music every Thursday afternoon and gives children an opportunity to interact with the musicians and their instruments.

In recent years the UNCSA School of Drama has expanded its presentations to include a Shakespeare comedy, a family musical and a cabaret performed in repertoire during three weeks of the festival.

Music for guitars, saxophones, vocalists, woodwinds, strings, brass, or percussion may be featured with repertoire ranging from jazz to classical by American and international composers.

On Wednesdays at 7 pm, musicians aboard the Elizabeth II perform a 30-minute concert to boaters, pedestrians and diners on the [Manteo] waterfront.

Now an Outer Banks tradition, Roanoke Island Festival Park, the Town of Manteo and UNCSA honors America's independence with an evening of patriotic music and dazzling fireworks.

In addition to playing in orchestras and on stages worldwide, recent alumni have won the Metropolitan Opera's National Finalist award, performed on Broadway, played in the Grammy orchestra, acted in films and TV series and joined professional dance companies like Limon, Pilobolus, and American Ballet Theatre.