About Us

About Us

“the beating cultural heart of New Hampshire’s seacoast” – Boston Globe

The Music Hall is a performing arts center featuring curated entertainment from around the world in two theaters in its downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire campus - one, a landmark 1878 Victorian theater, designated an American Treasure for the Arts by the US Senate, the other the intimate Music Hall Loft around the corner, recently named “best performing arts venue” by Yankee Magazine and the recipient of the NH AIA award for design excellence. Acclaimed signature series bring top authors and artists to both stages, while HD broadcasts and independent film fill both screens. A radio show broadcast on NH Public Radio originates here. This dynamic arts center urges patrons to Explore + Learn via master classes, post film panel discussions, and matinees for children. An anchor cultural organization in this historic working seaport, The Music Hall is one of downtown Portsmouth’s biggest employers and largest contributors to the regional economy: The Music Hall and its patrons contribute $7 million annually to the local economy through show and visitor related spending. Innovative in its outlook, the organization is community oriented and committed to making the Seacoast flourish. The Music Hall is 501c3 nonprofit managed by a professional staff with the assistance of a volunteer board.  Though global in the scope of its artists and programs, The Music Hall operates independently with the support of 3,000 members, 300 business supporters and 58 community partners. Welcoming more than 100,000 patrons (including 20,000 children) each year from the tri-state area and beyond, The Music Hall is the region’s center for the performing arts, literature and education…easy to get to, impossible to forget.

An American Treasure celebrating 135 years.

“The crown jewel of Portsmouth’s cultural scene” - Yankee Magazine

“The Music Hall, a Victorian-era theater with a fabulous Wizard of Oz-like Beaux-Arts lobby, and its smaller site, the Music Hall Loft, a block away, both offer a range of national acts as well as comedy, literary events and theater.” - New York Times

“The newly renovated Music Hall, right out of the vaudeville era, is the cultural mecca for the area.” – The Montrealer