9 essential Atlanta arts events this weekend

Each week, ArtsATL curates a selection of the most exciting arts and culture events happening in Atlanta this weekend, highlighting nine must-see experiences.

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Thursday

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Music Director Laureate Robert Spano returns to Symphony Hall for the second of his two-week run of concerts with the ASO. This weekend, on May 7 and May 9, Spano and the ASO will welcome pianist Conrad Tao for Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 (“The Age of Anxiety”), inspired by W.H. Auden’s Pulitzer Prize-winning poem. 

Friday

HELD: Black Women and The Womb

Curated by Melissa Alexander, this exhibition centers the lived experiences and courage of Black women artists navigating womb health challenges and reproductive care. It opens with a reception at 7 p.m. on May 8 at Nina Baldwin Gallery.

Atlanta Ballet: Frida

Atlanta Ballet will present choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Frida this weekend, May 8 through May 10, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. She has gained acclaim for her full-length ballets depicting some of history’s most notorious female icons, both fictional and factual. Atlanta dance patrons perhaps know her best for Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon, which was co-produced by Hong Kong Ballet and Queensland Ballet and had its North American premiere in 2024 with the Atlanta Ballet. Read more about the upcoming performance.

Saturday

No Words ATL

This all-instrumental music festival started in 2022 to feature Atlanta’s diverse musical talent. This year’s lineup, curated by Ben Garden, features dancers, musicians, bands, DJs and a NOLA 2nd line flag parade created in collaboration with Art Span NOLA artists Monica Rose Kelly and Antonia Zennaro and the Freak Flag Freedom Party. It all happens in Little 5 Points’ Findley and Davis plazas, Criminal Records and Little 5 Pub (rain backup location in L5P Community Center) from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. on May 9. Find out more about the event on this week’s ATL Arts Collective podcast.

Echo Contemporary Art

The gallery presents two exhibitions: Small Thing to a Giant, featuring Flex Aloysius and Daniel James Gilstrap; and CLAYLIST, featuring the GSU Ceramic Department. Opening with a reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on May 9 and continuing through May 16.

Pride & Purpose: Celebrating Women, Minority, & LGBTQIA Communities

Voices of Note presents a day of performances, discussions and more on May 9 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. The afternoon features a fair highlighting women-focused nonprofits from across the greater Atlanta area, and the Atlanta premiere of The Inquisitor, a film honoring the life and legacy of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. They’ll also have live music performances, slam poetry and a curated art gallery showcasing local artists through guided mini tours by curator Courtney Brooks.

M2R TrailFest

In Marietta, this annual fest will spotlight art installations along parts of the Mountain to River Trail and in parks, along with music and dance performances, a pet parade and costume contest and more on Saturday, May 9. It serves as a celebration of the trail, which stretches from Kennesaw Mountain, continues along the Marietta Square and ends at the city limits on Atlanta Street.

Sunday

Atlanta Chamber Players

The ensemble will conclude its 50th season with its Spring Public Concert, which will feature works by Telemann, Mendelssohn and Detroit-born composer Paul Schoenfield, who died two years ago in Jerusalem. The free concert takes place on May 10 at Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

Third Day

This metro Atlanta-based band, one of the most successful contemporary Christian rock bands ever, will bring its 30th Anniversary Tour to Gas South Arena in Duluth at 7 p.m. on May 10. For the first time in more than a decade, original members Mac Powell, Mark Lee, David Carr and Tai Anderson have reunited for a limited number of live shows across the U.S. this spring. Zach Williams will open on this final date of the tour.

More things to do this weekend and beyond

It’s the 40th year for the Sweet Auburn Springfest. This annual celebration of community, history and heritage expects to host 100,000 attendees to enjoy more than 150 performances on three stages in the heart of the Sweet Auburn district on May 9 and May 10 … The Chastain Park Spring Arts Festival brings fine art and crafts and live music to one of Atlanta’s largest parks for its 17th annual event on May 9 and May 10. You’ll also find a children’s area, along with local food concessions and food trucks … As the sun goes down in Sandy Springs on May 9, the Sandy Springs Lantern Parade will light up the night for an evening of glowing lanterns, larger-than-life puppets and live music. Bring your own handcrafted lantern and join this family-friendly parade as it winds down Morgan Falls Road to the banks of the Chattahoochee River … The Dunwoody Art Festival happens Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and May 10, at Dunwoody Village Parkway, with artists from across the country, a food court, children’s activities and more … The Avondale Estates Downtown Development Authority presents the Avondale Estates Wine & Art Walk on May 9 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., where the city’s retail shops and restaurants transform into wine-tasting destinations with art experiences throughout downtown. Enjoy art, music and performances curated by the Avondale Arts Alliance throughout the event … A 1938 book promised women the perfect life if they followed its rules. Inspired by the bestseller of the same name, Lee Nowell’s The Woman You Want to Be is a hilarious, outrageous look at the book’s rules and the writer’s real life. See it at Shakespeare Tavern May 10 and May 11 … The dynamic piano duo of Julie Coucheron and William Ransom will take a musical trip around the world with music from Norway, the U.S., Poland, Hungary, Spain, Russia, Germany and Italy in the final Cooke Noontime Concert of the season on May 8 in Ackerman Hall at the Michael C. Carlos Museum … The Emory Chamber Music Society concludes its 33rd season with the annual Cherry Emerson Memorial Alumni Concert, featuring some of the finest musical graduates of the Emory Music Department and a graduating senior. This year, pianist Lois Lee returns to campus, along with soprano Beth Arnold, with her pianist husband Ben Arnold, former chair of the Music Department. Harpist Brigid May represents the graduating class. Catch it at 1:30 p.m. May 10 at Emerson Concert Hall at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts … Uptown Atlanta, the 47-acre mixed-use destination located between Midtown and Buckhead, kicks off its Movies on The Lawn series with the ’90s classic “Clueless” at 7 p.m. on May 7. Movies will screen on the first Thursday of each month through the summer … Out On Film presents the acclaimed British film Departures at 7 p.m. on May 12 at 7 p.m. at the Tara. After being dumped, Benji can’t move on. Stuck in a toxic spiral of addiction and fleeting hookups, he’s haunted by the person he can’t forget. Described as Shirley Valentine meets an LGBTQ version of Trainspotting, this dark comedy dissects a toxic relationship with humor and raw emotion.