Spoleto Festival Comes to Charleston

A host of artists, musicians, dancers, and thespians will soon converge on Charleston for the 34th annual Spoleto Festival USA to display their extraordinary talents and treat the city to more than two weeks of inventive performances and visual arts. Described as “A beauty of an event,” by the New York Times and hailed by Pat Conroy as an inspiration for future poets and writers, Spoleto showcases internationally and nationally acclaimed artists in more than 120 performances of jazz, classical music, dance, and opera.

Spoleto runs from May 28 through June 13, 2010, and features numerous U.S. festival debuts and the return of several audience favorites. After a meticulous three-year restoration, the Dock Street Theatre reopens with a series of high-profile events including a new production of Flora, an Opera, an 18th-century English ballad opera with a deep connection to Charleston.

Included in this year’s eclectic lineup of progressive classical, opera, and theater offerings is a new event, the Wachovia Jazz Series, featuring Norma Winestone, 2009 Grammy nominee. The visual arts component of the 2010 festival included partnerships with both the Gibbes Museum of Art and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. With performances by the National Ballet of Georgia and New York-based Gallim Dance, the dance program will range from contemporary to classic.

Spoleto Festival USA was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti; Christopher Keene, an American conductor, and like-minded supporters of the arts who sought to create an American counterpart to their annual Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. Looking for a city that would provide the charm of Spoleto as well as its wealth of theaters, churches, and other performances spaces, they selected Charleston as the ideal location. The historic city made for a perfect fit—intimate enough that the festival would captivate the entire city, yet cosmopolitan enough to provide an enthusiastic audience and robust infrastructure. In the decades since its inception, Spoleto Festival USA has firmly established itself as one of the world’s leading festivals.

For a complete list of events, visit http://www.SpoletoUsa.org. Tickets can also be purchased online, by phone at 843.579.3100, or in person at the Spoleto Festival USA box office at the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, 77 Calhoun Street, Charleston, South Carolina.