“For decades, Spoleto Festival USA has provided a platform for the new and innovative,” writes Adam Parker in Wednesday’s (6/22) Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.). “It has dug up and revitalized obscure works from the 18th century and … it’s hardly shy about presenting programs of classical music that you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else. The Music in Time series, for example, is devoted to performances of music written by living composers. The Westminster Choir presents new works. And the chamber music series, led by the ever-curious Geoff Nuttall, often features contemporary pieces [and] boasts a ‘composer-in-residence’ [Paul Wiancko].… Spoleto Festival also assembles its own orchestra, a months-long effort involving lots of auditions led by John Kennedy, resident conductor and director of orchestral activities…. Most [orchestra members] are … young players on the festival circuit…. You can witness star-making in progress…. Evan Rogister, a 39-year-old appointed principal conductor of Washington National Opera last year, will lead the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra in a big program of Russian music.… Spoleto Festival puts a lot of energy into all of its programming. It cares a lot about theater and jazz and dance. But it is undergirded by classical music.”
Posted May 24, 2019
