Noted operatic soprano Kathleen Battle, a five-time Grammy Award winner, will be featured in “Kathleen Battle: Underground Railroad” as part of the Virginia Arts Festival.

Ms. Battle’s performance will be 5 p.m. Sunday, March 26, at the L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center on the Norfolk State University campus, 700 Park Ave. in Norfolk.

The concert will combine traditional spirituals with the writings of abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass and civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Norfolk State University Choir, under the direction of Dr. Carl Haywood, will accompany Ms. Battle.

The program was presented at the Metropolitan Opera House in November to a sold out crowd.

Tickets range from $35 to $75 and may be purchased online at www.vafest.org or by phone at (757) 282-2822.

Ms. Battle’s appearance kicks off more than 40 performances for the 2017 Virginia Arts Festival, a regional festival of music and dance that will run through May and include two world premieres, more than a dozen regional debuts and performers and ensembles from around the United States and the world. The performances will be held at venues around Norfolk, Newport News, Williamsburg, Virginia Beach and Portsmouth.

Highlights include performances by Wynton Marsalis with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on May 5 at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk; the Yosvany Terry Quintet with Afro-Cuban music, April 20; jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant and pianist Aaron Diehl, April 9; Urban Bush Women in a world premiere of “Hair and Other Stories,” April 22; Lula Washington Dance Theatre, May 19; R&B trio King, April 14; a cappella group Chanticleer, May 3 and 4; Mariachi Los Camperos, May 2; the Australian company Pants Down Circus, April 8; and 13-year-old jazz phenom Joey Alexander, May 27.

Discounts are available for three- or four-performance packages.

A full schedule of performances and ticket details: www.vafest.org or call (757) 282-2819.