1683 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

The Cincinnati Ballet performs classical and contemporary works here from October to mid-May.

The Cincinnati Opera, the nation's second oldest, was started in 1920. The yearly summer festival occurs in June and July.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra performs from September through May at Music Hall. In June and July, the Pops heads outdoors to perform at the Riverbend Music Center adjacent to Coney Island.

Under the direction of maestro Paavo Järvi, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performs from September through May.

This charge-by-phone service sells tickets for many performances and lectures. You can also buy tickets online, or in person on weekdays from 9:30 to 5:30.

This small but comfortable single-screen theater dates to 1910 and shows first-run art-house films.

Under the guidance of music director Junichi Hirokami, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra also performs at the Ohio Theater.

This clearinghouse for information on upcoming shows, festivals, and jam sessions in the metropolitan area also publishes a regular newsletter and welcomes volunteers.

For more than a week each year, Easter Jeep Safari draws thousands of 4x4 vehicles to Moab to tackle some of the toughest backcountry roads in America. For all other visitors (and some locals), this is a good time of year to avoid town.

A long-running Disney tradition, this floating parade of illuminated sea creatures on the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake rolls past several Magic Kingdom–area resorts. Backed by an electronic score featuring Handel's Water Music, the low-key but always-pleasing show leads up to a stirring finale. Watch it from a resort bar like Narcoossee's, the campgrounds at Fort Wilderness, or the pier at the Grand Floridian.

Shows often sell out at this extremely popular five-screen theater, which screens the best in first-run independent, art-house, and foreign films.

About 30 of the Bay Area's ethnic dance companies and soloists perform at this event, which takes place over three weekends in June. Some performances may offer half-price tickets for children under 16 years of age.

One of the best times you can have watching a movie in San Francisco—and it's free—the Film Night in the Park is wildly popular. Put on by the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation, the event shows free films throughout the city from mid to late summer. Films like The Graduate, JAWS 3 in 3D, Sixteen Candles, and Citizen Kane are screened in outdoor spaces such as Union Square or Dolores Park. All shows begin at dusk. Bring a picnic, but chairs are not welcome.

Georgia State University hosts concerts that are free and open to the public. The hall's entrance is on Gilmer Street, and there's parking in the lot at the corner of Edgewood and Peachtree Center Avenues.

At more than 200 events a year, the all-volunteer society presents folk and traditional musicians and dancers from all over the country. Venues around the D.C. area host events ranging from contra dancing to storytelling to open group singing.

This dramatic faux-Moorish theater is the principal venue for touring Broadway shows, national productions, concerts, and the Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival.

Some of the most talented practitioners of folk, blues, Cajun, and bluegrass perform at the alcohol-free venue.

Well-known actors are often on the bill at the Geffen, and plays by established playwrights, such as Neil LaBute and Lynn Nottage, happen regularly. With two stages hosting world premieres and critically acclaimed works, there's always something compelling to watch. Free events are frequently put on for ticket holders, including Wine Down Sundays, which feature music and wine sampling before evening shows.

The highly regarded, 95-piece Grand Junction Symphony performs in venues throughout the city, including the Avalon Theatre, Sherwood Park, Stocker Stadium, and area vineyards.

The restored Moorish Castilian–style theater was built as a movie palace in 1929. The 1,000-seat venue now hosts live performances, including jazz, country, pop, and comedy.

The city's top free music event, as well as one of the greatest gatherings for bluegrass, country, and roots music in the country, takes place in late September or early October. Roughly 50,000 fans turn out to see the likes of Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Del McCoury at Hellman Hollow (formerly Speedway Meadows) in Golden Gate Park.

Boo the villain and cheer the hero at the Henry Strater Theatre's rip-roaring vaudeville and melodrama productions all summer long. Also catch concerts, comedy, and special events at what locals call "the Hank."

Home to 10-plus music stages, ranging from drum and bass to techno-pop, this music festival for up-and-coming DJs is part Mardis Gras, part Burning Man, and all San Francisco.

For IMAX and OMNIMAX theaters, go to Navy Pier or the Museum of Science and Industry.

This dazzling waterfront museum hosts experimental electronic, jazz, and world musicians, often in partnership with World Music/CRASHArts or Berklee College of Music. Expect the unexpected—concerts might contain a mix of disparate instruments, fusions of melody and spoken word, or DJs grooving electronica mashups. There are early evening concerts, and an open-air summertime series.

This community-based dance school and ballet company stages a few public performances each year, including festive balls and an annual winter concert.

A wonderful fount of culture, if a bit out-of-the-way, the society stages musicals, ballets, recitals, kids' theater, and operas at multiple out-of-town locations including Metairie, Slidell, and Meridian.