The first official day of spring is still more than a month away, but the city of Charleston is already beginning to blossom as Spoleto Festival USA reveals a colorful lineup of performances for its 49th season.
“Artists dedicate their lives to honing their craft,” said festival General Director and CEO Mena Mark Hanna in a press release.
“That dedication, that relentless pursuit of excellence, culminates in the creation of work at the very bleeding edge of human expression.”
Among the arts expressed; opera, theater, music and dance with more than 120 performances from May 23 to June 8th, including six world premieres as well as two U.S. premieres.
Opera
Spoleto Festival USA is producing two of those world premieres including the opera, “The Turn of the Screw”, a suspenseful tale of a governess battling supernatural forces. Also premiering, is Julie Massanet’s “Thaïs”. It combines the Festival Chorus and Orchestra with soprano Nicole Heaston and baritone Troy Cook, among others.
Theater
The theatrical performance of “White Box” uses film and projection to recount the 1897 expedition of three scientists who disappeared in a gas balloon over the North Pole. Their fate remained a mystery until the discovery of a camera decades later.
Manuel Cinema returns to Spoleto this year with “The 4th Witch”. The production uses puppetry and live-action silhouettes to reimagine Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Music
Alisa Weilerstein has been praised by The New York Times as “a cellist of explosive emotional energy” as she presents, “Fragments”, six solo recitals.
The “Kronos Quartet” will make their Spoleto debut this year at the Charleston Music Hall, addressing issues like climate change and social justice through music. They’ll be joined for the world premiere of a new piece by Charleston bandleader Charlton Singleton as well as drummer Quentin E. Baxter.
The Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra will present several concerts while the Bank of America Chamber Music series celebrates 17 days of music.
The Wells Fargo Jazz series is back, featuring artists like pianist Phillip Golub, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonist Branford Marsalis.
Fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi will bring cabaret to Charleston, performing “I Know Everybody”, after an annual residency at New York City's Café Carlyle.
And the College of Charleston’s Cistern Yard will host several intimate concerts including a performance by rocker and punk poet Patti Smith.
Dance
The Limón Dance Company will perform in Charleston as will the tap dance company, Music from the Sole.
Australian circus troupe, Gravity & Other Myths, also returns to Spoleto with its U.S. premiere of, “Ten Thousand Hours” featuring eight, elite acrobats.
