Spoleto

With the end of May now upon us, with it - at least here in Charleston - comes the Spoleto festival - and it's city-organised counterpart - the Piccolo Spoleto - an annual 17-day extravaganza of art and culture with the potential for lots of things to see and do. The larger Spoleto festival offers some big events - two concerts that i wouldn't mind going to (i may yet book tickets) are performances of Mahler's 5th Symphony and Beethoven's 5th Symphony (along other works) with the prices ranging from $35-$70 - typical pricing for the larger spoleto events (although i managed to get some $20 vouchers that may help in that case). Fortunately, the Piccolo Spoleto events (organised directly by the city of Charleston) are also a bit more reasonably priced - and one in particular stands out for me - the One Man Star Wars Trilogy show - i'll keep you posted as to if i go and see it, and what i thought of it as well.

The history of Spoleto here in Charleston goes back to 1977 - when Spoleto Festival USA was founded by Gian Carlo Menotti, Christopher Keene and others involved in the Festival of Two Worlds. It was intended to be the American counterpart to that festival held annually in Spoleto, Italy (which started in 1958 as a forum for young American artists in Europe). Looking for a suitable location that would offer the charm of Spoleto, Italy, they selected Charleston - partly because of its wealth of theaters, churches, and other performance spaces. Also, the city is small enough to be dominated by nonstop arts events during the 17-day festival, but also large and sophisticated enough to provide a knowledgeable audience. Charleston has an extensive history of involvement with the arts from housing America’s first theater and ballet companies to housing the oldest musical organization in the country. And who said that Americans haven't got any sense of culture??