Sonatas and Soundscapes

Festival General Director Mena Mark Hanna shares about the staggering breadth and uniqueness of the 17-day performing arts festival, touching on a few of the experiences and themes audiences can expect from its 47th season.

"She was performing for kings and queens internationally," Dr. Sarah Masterson says of 20th century American pianist and composer. "But in the U.S., she had trouble booking gigs outside of churches and auditoriums—African American sororities would host events—that sort of thing."

Marking 10 years of its artistic residency at the USC School of Music, the chamber group is partnering with Historic Columbia to perform all 16 of Ludwig van Beethoven’s string quartets—and the composer’s visionary Grosse Fuge—across six venues in the capital city.

“It really is staggering," new Hilton Head International Piano Competition Director Steve Shaiman says of the competitors' talent, "and it makes me grateful that I’m not a judge.”

Mak Grgic brings impeccable technique and a deeply personal touch to his playing. Both are on full display in his Grammy-nominated albums Mak|Bach and A Night in Upper Town: The Music of Zoran Krajacic.

Founder and Artistic Director Lee Pringle reflects on the growth of the performing arts organization that has platformed Black classical musicians since 2013 and previews the festival’s February concerts being given in Charleston.

Championing women brass players and works by new and underrepresented composers, the ensemble comes to the Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center for an orchestral concert on Monday and a chamber recital on Tuesday.

Wonder, environmentalism, and a deep appreciation of the expressive and technical possibilities of the piano shape the South Carolina composer's three-part series, receiving its full premiere tonight in Columbia.

Claire Bryant’s technical prowess and deeply affecting expressivity as a soloist are on full display in Whole Heart. But the performer and UofSC professor is quick to point out that her first album is as much a collaborative effort as it is a personal labor of love.

Conductor Jonathon Heyward shares how his rise in the world of classical music started with arts education in the South Carolina county where he grew up.