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In this final episode of Spoleto Backstage for 2020, cohosts Geoff Nuttall and Bradley Fuller mark the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth by taking a tour through the German composer’s three stylistic periods — early, middle, and late — with commentary and a listen to representative performances from the past twelve years of the Spoleto Festival chamber music series. After discussing Beethoven’s musical beginnings, Geoff and Bradley hear his Piano Trio Op. 1, No. 3, followed by the second and third movements of his Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20.  The conversation then moves to Beethoven’s middle or “heroic” period, with performances of the haunting second movement of the composer’s “Ghost” Trio and the passionate opening movement of his “Kreutzer” sonata to illustrate this stylistic phase at the start of the Romantic era. A discussion of late-period Beethoven serves to introduce two pieces for string quartet by the composer, both from the final years of his life: the achingly beautiful fifth-movement Cavatina from his String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, op. 130, and the monumental Grosse Fuge, Op. 133.

Listen to the latest afternoon headlines
from South Carolina Public Radio
for Thursday, July 30, 2020.

Listen to the latest afternoon headlines
from South Carolina Public Radio
for Monday, July 27, 2020. 

Ears can be trained. Which is why every music school in the world offers ear-training courses. I suppose it should go without saying, but for musicians the ability to recognize fine distinctions among sounds is crucial. And what musicians are trained to do is to recognize very specific kinds of information in sounds, to recognize relationships and patterns and to be able to reproduce them. They do this through practice and memorization. The distance in pitch between any two notes, for example, is called an interval.

In the months following the unimaginable church massacre at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, a poet, a journalist and an historian came together to write a book.  They wanted to explain to a nation not only what happened, but why.

Why were nine Black parishioners gunned down by a white stranger?

Five years later, the authors of "We Are Charleston" find themselves trying to explain again why more African Americans continue to be killed across the country, repeatedly and publicly, this time by white police officers.

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for June 27, 2020, host Gavin Jackson brings you a look at the cities that are and aren’t issuing face mask requirements along with the Gov. Henry McMaster's thoughts on a statewide ordinance. Plus, we catch you up on the latest broadband expansion efforts including what internet maps in your area look like, hear from an MUSC doctor about when you should go to the hospital for COVID-19 symptoms, and more.

It’s been nearly impossible to see the face of John C. Calhoun perched atop a more than 100- foot pedestal over the Charleston city skyline for 124 years, but now the likeness of the South Carolina statesman is gone.

It took time to take down.

Calhoun was a former State Senator and Vice President of the United States. But he was also a well-known advocate of racist policies, especially slavery.

The Debate

His stature in one of the city’s most prominent parks, Marion Square, has been debated for years.

Five years ago, Chris Singleton was a carefree college student dreaming of playing professional baseball when he got the call that changed his life.

"I'll never forget it," says Singleton.  "I was 18 years-old and I got a call from my mom's phone actually and the lady on the other end was saying 'Chris you got to get down here right now something bad happened.' "

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for June 13, 2020, host Gavin Jackson you a recap of the June 9 primaries from our first Zoom Happy Hour event with The Post and Courier's Caitlin Byrd and Jamie Lovegrove, The Associated Press' Meg Kinnard, and The State's Maayan Schechter. Plus, the latest COVID-19 numbers, what you should do if you're showing symptoms, and more.

Marlboro County is not among South Carolina’s healthiest. Data from 2019 by the Department of Health and Environmental Control shows Marlboro to be well above state averages for every chronic health condition and risk factor it measures, well below state averages for vaccinations and physical activity, and a contender for the county with the highest percentage of families living below the poverty level in South Carolina.

Marlboro is also one of the state’s most rural counties, and it has one of the highest black populations in the state. 

Maddie Wallace was on spring break in the Bahamas when she got the news; she would not be going back to school.  The coronavirus was declared a pandemic and the College of Charleston planned to shut down campus.  She finished her classes online in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"I was at home in my childhood bedroom," she laughs.

"My mom would peek in my room and be like, 'are you done yet?'  I'm like, 'Mom I'm in class.' "

There's nothing like moving home to cramp a college student's life.

Ken Schneider looks out from his wine bar on King Street in downtown Charleston in disbelief. 

The city that displayed a wealth of grace in the aftermath of the massacre at Mother Emanuel and the shooting death of Walter Scott somehow succumbed Saturday night to the violence erupting nationwide following yet another senseless death, this time thousands of miles away in Minnesota.

“The mob just started breaking all the windows,” he says.  “Over the next 90 minutes we had roaming gangs of anywhere from eight to 12 people come in.”

The Violence

In this episode of Spoleto Backstage, Geoff Nuttall shares with co-host Bradley Fuller about one of his favorite Spoleto Festival USA Chamber Music Series concerts from the past ten years: a 2011 program featuring Osvaldo Golijov’s “Lullaby and Doina” from The Man Who Cried, Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s “The Union: Concert Paraphrase on National Airs,” and Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, D. 956, also known as his “Cello Quintet.” After performances of the solo and chamber selections, Spoleto Festival General Manager Nigel Redden joins Bradley to discuss the difficult decision to cancel the two-week arts event for 2020 and to highlight some of its next steps.

Even before the much-anticipated Memorial Day weekend, Lowcountry beaches once vacant because of a potentially deadly pandemic, were crammed with people. 

"We were over run," says Isle of Palms Mayor Jimmy Carroll.

"People came out in droves that we haven't seen before in my 60 plus years of living on the Isle of Palms.

The Beach Debate

Pictures of the island showing tents and bathing suit clad bodies dotting the coast blew up on social media.  Some saw families responsibly enjoying the sun and sand.  Others saw a simmering petri dish.