Around the Low Country
2010 Piccolo Spoleto Festival Announces 32nd Season Highlights
CHARLESTON, SC - May 28 to June 13, 2010 - The 32nd annual Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the official outreach arm of Spoleto Festival USA, will run May 28 to June 13, 2010. This year’s festival program offers a variety of arts and cultural programs including theatre, blues, jazz, chamber music, early music, dance, literary, visual arts and many free and family-friendly events.
New for the 2010 season, Piccolo Spoleto is launching a new box office
system, with the official box office location at the Charleston Visitor
Center, 375 Meeting St., and on May 22, a second location will open at
the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, 180 Meeting St. Tickets are available for purchase at these two locations, or by calling
(843) 724-7295, or online at www.piccolospoleto.com.
“The 2010 Piccolo Spoleto Festival presents a wonderful opportunity for
residents and visitors to transcend the frantic pace and experience the
wonder and the magic of the arts,” says Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. “Charleston is so fortunate to be the center of the international arts
world for 17 days between the exciting programs offered through the
internationally famous Spoleto Festival USA and its companion festival,
Piccolo Spoleto.”
The 2010 official Piccolo Spoleto poster image, selected from a
statewide competition based on its design qualities and representation
of the festival, is Connections, by Charleston resident, Tate Nation.
The Spotlight Concert Series poster is Front Door of City Hall by
Charlestonian, Sandy Logan.
“Nation’s Connections truly represents the excitement, enthusiasm and
celebration that Piccolo Spoleto brings to Charleston for 17 days. From
every street corner to narrow walkways, to balconies, to the
storefronts, to churches and to public spaces, the city truly comes
alive during the festival, bursting with energy exalted from the artists
and audiences. Connections also symbolizes how people connect during
the festival, recognizing each other not by their differences, but by
their common human qualities,” says Ellen Dressler Moryl, director of
the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs and founding director
of Piccolo Spoleto.
Spotlight Concert Series and Mepkin Abbey Concerts
A centerpiece of the 2010 Festival is the Spotlight Concert Series made
possible by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American
Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius. Presenting chamber
musicians from the Southeast, the 2010 Spotlight Concert Series features
innovative chamber music concerts, including musical masterpieces by
American composers. Concerts include:
Maestro Donald Portnoy conducts a patriotic pops concert featuring the
Piccolo Spoleto Festival Orchestra against the backdrop of the U.S.
Yorktown and Charleston Harbor. On Sunday, May 30 at 6
p.m. at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina. This unforgettable and
stirring program features favorites such as U.S. Armed Forces Medley,
Stars and Stripes Forever and more. The Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Orchestra, Donald Portnoy conducts, celebrates the 150th
anniversary of the birthday of Gustav Mahler with Music in the Time of
Mahler; June 1 at 6 p.m. Soloists include Jill Terhaar Lewis, soprano
and Jennifer Luiken, mezzo soprano.
Former longtime leading classical musicians in Charleston, cellist James
Holland and his wife Megan, violin, present A Musical Homecoming at the
City Gallery at Waterfront Park on June 2 with world-class violinist
Yuriy Bekker and violist Jill King as they present music for string
quartet by composers Richard Moryl and Edward Hart. World-renowned
pianist Andrew Armstrong joins the quartet for a performance of the
beautiful Piano Quintet by Amy Beach. Music from Around the Globe
features the Charleston Woodwind Quintet performing works by Mozart,
Françaix, Piazzolla, Jeff Scott and Soong Fu-Yuan. On June 5, Dez
Cordas, a classical guitar and bass duo play an interesting and highly
evocative mix of music styles ranging from classical to tango to jazz.
USC music professor Craig Butterfield, bass, and Mansfield and
Bloomsburg University guitar program director Matt Slotkin, guitar, are a
virtuosic duo performing works by Piazzolla, Villa Lobos, de Falla and
more. Flutist Regina Helcher Yost’s program entices the listener into a
world of tonal palettes and colors in Picturesque Melodies from the 20th
Century. Ghadi Shayban, piano and Timothy O’Malley, cello, join Ms.
Yost in performing works by Copland, Bartók, Rachmaninoff and more.
Clarinetist Nikolasa Tejero and pianist Tim Hinck explore musical vistas
of the Americas in The Clarinet in the New World featuring works by
Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Brazilian, Argentinean and American
composers. Chamber Music Charleston presents Dvorak’s American String
Quartet paired with their original adaptation of Margot Theis Raven’s
Circle Unbroken set to the music of William Grant Still. Double bassists
Ed Allman and Tom Bresnick open the program with a unique duo by Dave
Anderson. Celebrate two important birthdays with N.C.-based Degas
Quartet. Samuel Barber, born 100 years ago, is known for his hauntingly
beautiful Adagio for Strings, which Degas plays to perfection. Robert
Schumann, born 200 years ago, wrote three string quartets, the third of
which rounds out this program.
Special events of the series include: Chopin, Champagne and Candlelight
on June 10 at 8 p.m. at the picturesque City Gallery at Waterfront Park,
with the world-class pianist Volodymyr Vynnitsky performing three of
Chopin’s most beloved works. A champagne reception (French, of course!)
will follow the concert. Beethoven: His Women and His Music, a unique
collaboration between Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina and Chamber
Music Charleston captures the maestro in a new light, revealing secrets
from his journals. Charleston Chamber Opera presents Amore!, a program
featuring some of the world’s most romantic operatic melodies in a
semi-staged format, including La Bohème, L’elisir d’amore, La Traviata, I
Pagliacci, Samson & Delilah and Carmen, on May 29 at 6 p.m. and May
30 at 4 p.m.
The very special Mepkin Abbey concerts include a concert in the abbey
church with its perfect, clarifying acoustics, followed by a reception
under the shady oaks. The Ensemble of St. Clare at Mepkin Abbey performs
May 31 at 4 p.m., William Billings’ When Jesus Wept; George Frideric
Handel’s Concerto Grosso Op. 6, #1; Fantasia on Greensleeves by Ralph
Vaughn Williams; Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet; Bach Concerto for Oboe and
Violin and Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending, performed by Yuriy
Bekker. Featured soloists are Yuriy Bekker, violin; Mark Gainer, oboe
and Gretchen Schneider Roper, clarinet, Alex Agrest conducts. The
Ensemble of St. Clare is comprised of some of the Lowcountry's leading
Chamber musicians.
Cause and Effect: Music in Response to the Holocaust is June 10 at 4
p.m. The beautiful “Silent Devotion” from Ernest Bloch’s Sacred Service
(composed between 1930 and 1933 in Switzerland), arranged for violin,
cello, clarinet and piano, opens the program, followed by Olivier
Messiaen’s ravishing Quartet for the End of Time, written and premiered
in a German concentration camp in 1941. Performers are Nicole Benton,
violin; Bryon Hogan, cello; Gretchen Schneider Roper, clarinet and Ghadi
Shayban, piano. A free lecture about the program and rescued Torah
scroll will be before the concert in the Abbey library at 2 p.m.
Spotlight on the Art of Choral Music includes concerts by renowned
national choirs, including Antioch Chamber Ensemble performing Eric
Whitacre’s The City and the Sea; Renaissance from Charlotte, N.C.,
performing Reincarnations, Op. 16 by Barber, Howard Hanson’s Song of
Democracy; and the Taylor Festival Choir performing Maurice Duruflé’s
beloved Requiem, and the Celtic Mass by Michael McGlynn. The St.
Gregory Choir of Grace Episcopal Church will join forces with the
Piccolo Spoleto Festival Orchestra to perform Johannes Brahms’ famous
Ein Deutsches Requiem (German Requiem) on June 4 at 6 p.m. and June 5 at
2 p.m.
Free Events
Piccolo Spoleto’s mission, since its founding in 1979, is to provide
access to the Spoleto Festival USA experience for everyone, regardless
of their economic, social or physical circumstances. As a result, many
of Piccolo Spoleto’s offerings are free or have minimal ticket prices. These free events are offered as a public service to provide access to
the festival programs to everyone in the community.
A tradition of turning Charleston into a stage for 17 days, Piccolo
Spoleto’s Sunset Serenade, a free outdoor pops concert overlooking the
Charleston Harbor at the U.S. Custom House, opens Piccolo Spoleto,
Friday, May 28 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. This year, the concert features the
Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Orchestra conducted by Donald Portnoy with soloist Nancy Lefter, mezzo
soprano. The orchestra is comprised of graduating music majors from area
universities, their college music professors along with some of
Charleston’s finest professional, classical musicians. Program includes
favorite works by American Composers, including Aaron Copland, John
Williams, William Schumann and Duke Ellington.
Also offering many family-friendly activities, Piccolo Spoleto hosts a
Children’s Festival in Marion Square on Saturday, May 29 from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m. “Carnival of the Animals” is the theme, engaging children of all
ages with live entertainment: face painting, storytelling, arts and
crafts, Carnival of the Animals performed by Chamber Music Charleston, a
parade of Ashley Hall’s animal masks, The Giving Tree performed by
Robert Ivey Ballet, the zany Seed and Feed Marching Abominable, and
ending the day is the hilarious, high energy Electric Company!
Planned by the Piccolo Spoleto college interns, Piccolo Spoleto Beach
Music Bash, a block party Friday, June 4 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the U.S.
Custom House, featuring beach music bands that bring beach music
favorites, including This Magic Moment and others to life, evoking the
sounds and flavors of the 60’s and 70’s in the S.C. Lowcountry. Opening
the party is the Explorer’s Club, a local band that will play originals
as well as favorite beach music hits from the 50’s and 60’s. The night
ends with Palmetto Soul on stage providing the best of beach music for
shaggers.
Charleston residents and visitors will all find something of interest at
the Piccolo Spoleto Finale: “Unity Day,” an exciting celebration of
Charleston’s cultural diversity. The day starts at 9 a.m. at Harmon
Park with free recreation activities sponsored by the City of Charleston
Recreation Department, including tennis and swimming lessons until 1
p.m. At noon, Brittlebank Park comes alive with Irish Fiddling, the
Holy Trinity Hellenic Dance Troupe, Suzuki Violins from Ashley Hall, and
much more! The park is also host to more information about City of
Charleston services, including health and wellness resources,
sustainability and recycling, safety and crime prevention, homeownership
and debt prevention seminars. There will also be an exciting cook-off
between the Charleston Police Department and the Charleston Fire
Department using ingredients from the Charleston Farmers Market. At
3:30 p.m. Bluegrass will be presented on stage, and at 5 p.m. Reggae
sounds take over the park until 7 p.m. At 8 p.m. the entertainment
moves to the Joe Riley Stadium with African drumming and MotownMadness
with orchestral accompaniment! The evening is capped off with fireworks
around 10 p.m.
Theatre
The popular Always…Patsy Cline returns to Piccolo Spoleto at the
Charleston Music Hall from Midtown/Sheri Grace Productions as well as
Rock ‘N’ Roll Heaven. Also in the Charleston Music Hall is Forbidden
Broadway: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and Buckets and Tap Shoes who returns to
Piccolo Spoleto from a run on Broadway and a national tour.
The Footlight Players Theatre presents the musical revue Oh George! On
Stage with George Gershwin and Devil Boys from Beyond, a wickedly campy
send-up of 1950’s sci-fi movies. In addition, the Footlight Players
Theatre will host the musical, Mahalia: A Gospel Musical produced by Art
Forms & Theatre Concepts, as well as the uplifting comedy, My Name
is Ruth. The theatre also hosts the musical magic show Anderson
Illusions—“A World Beyond Reality.”
The story of Stede Bonnet, a gentleman pirate, and his encounters with
heartache, fame and ultimate infamy will be told through The Gentleman
Pirate, presented by PURE Theatre at the Powder Magazine. Also
presented by PURE Theatre are Speech and Debate and Year of Magical
Thinking at Lance Hall in Circular Congregational Church. Also hosted
in Lance Hall are Revolutionary! Isadora Duncan of Word Dance Theater of
Washington, D.C., Deuce Theatre’s Treeligion and Main Street Theatre of
Rock Hill, S.C.’s Discretion.
The College of Charleston Department of Theatre presents the Stelle Di
Domani series featuring David Lee Nelson: Status Update, the hilarious
stand-up comedy of David Lee Nelson. Also featured is Moments of Joy,
the funny, moving cabaret starring College of Charleston’s own Joy
Vandervort-Cobb. Bunker 13, Lone Star, A Shaker’s Path: A Theatrical
Exploration Based on the Life of Mother Ann Lee, Thom Pain (Based on
Nothing), Reasons to be Pretty and Under the Lights are also presented. In addition, there will be two admission-free staged readings: Advanced
Women and The Willow Grove.
The Village Playhouse Theatre presents Shipwrecked-An Entertainment,
(title of show) and Souvienir-A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster
Jenkins. The theatre is also hosting the cabaret A Little Bit in Love.
The Have Nots! celebrate their 10th year in Piccolo Spoleto and bring
back by popular demand:
The Have Nots! Comedy Improv Company; One Man Star Wars; Frankenmatt;
Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company; Man 1, Bank 0; The Cody Rivers
Show; The Reckoning; The Complete History of
Charleston for Morons; Mary Kay Has a Posse; and many others will be
presented. Shows will be held at Theatre 99 (280 Meeting Street) and The
American Theater (446 King Street).
Dance
The Charleston Ballet Theatre presents the perfect lunchtime diversion
with Brown Bag and Ballet as well as Motown Mania, Decadent Divas,
Little Mermaid and Cat in the Hat. Many local and regional dance
companies will also perform at Footlight Players in the Dance at Noon
series.
Visual Arts
The City Gallery at Waterfront Park offers viewers a rich union of two
separate and distinct artistic disciplines as 10 local visual artists
draw inspiration from 10 local poets’ words to create new works in
Contemporary Charleston 2010: Influence. Curated by Erin Glaze and Max
Miller, the exhibit is open May 20 to July 3, Monday through Sunday: 10
a.m. to 6 p.m.
Located at 180 Meeting Street, the New Perspectives Gallery will host
Petal to the Metal. This exhibit features mixed media paintings by
McLean Sheperd, celebrating flowers, using bouquets from the local
Charleston Farmers as inspiration. Charleston Wide features large
photographs by Robert Epps about interiors, volume, the wearing away of
surfaces and the broad nature of iconic Charleston architecture. The
exhibit is open May 22 to June 13, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 8
p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Tate Nation Invitational Exhibition features recent acrylic on
canvas paintings by Piccolo Spoleto’s official 2010 poster artist and is
open May 22 to June 13, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Art Institute of
Charleston, located at 24 North Market St. Also at the Art Institute of
Charleston during this time is The Sandy Logan Invitation Exhibition
features the most recent photographs of the official poster artist for
this year’s Spotlight concert series.
Another unique visual arts exhibition in the 2010 Piccolo Spoleto
Festival is The Grid Turns the Corner, a traveling mid-career
retrospective of drawings and prints by Dr. Terry K. Hunter. The
exhibition focuses on the three states in which he received
education/training and has been professionally active: Florida, Ohio and
South Carolina. The exhibit is open May 24 to June 11; Monday through
Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the U.S. Custom House, 200 East Bay St.
Literary
In its second year, the Southern Artists Celebratory Series (SACS)
highlights one Southern artist each year. All profits from SACS benefit
the Charleston Clemente Course, a free college-level course in the
humanities, offered to expand the intellectual horizons of homeless and
disadvantaged Charlestonians. For 2010, SACS presents A Celebration of
Jonathan Green, including a preview of a new documentary; a question and
answer session with the artist; the TTC Gospel Choir; jazz renderings
by the MKM trio; and the interactive Gullah storytelling of Sharon
Murray, all on May 30 at 4pm, Avery Research Center, 125 Bull St.
Tickets are $21 and refreshments provided by Gullah Cuisine.
Other literary series include the Sundown Poetry Series, The Piccolo
Spoleto Literary Festival and The Piccolo Spoleto Fiction Open.
Traditional Music of the Old South
A Red Clay Sunset: An Evening of Old Time (Fiddle) Music is presented by
The S.C. Old-Time Music Association and Ashley Hall, featuring old-time
Appalachian and Cajun string band concert featuring The Roan Mountain
Hilltoppers, La Bande Pain Perdu and The South Carolina Broadcasters on
Sunday, June 6 at 6 p.m. on the beautiful Ashley Hall Lawn. Just the
night before, Saturday, June 5 at 10 p.m., Pain Perdu from Eunice,
Louisiana throws an old-timey Cajun dance party at Southend Brewery,
complete with an authentic dance instruction.
Jazz
The Jazz Artists of Charleston present divers jazz sylings peformed by
Charleston’s finest jazz musicians, featuring regional and national
guests in the Upstairs at McCrady’s Series. Also
returning to Gallery Chuma is John Street Jazz on May
30 and June 6.
New in the Jazz Series this year is the Charleston Jazz Initiative
Legend’s Festival with events such as South Carolina’s Jazz Legend:
Houston Person Live; Nothin’ Could be Finer: CJI’s Legends Festival Gala
and Joseph “Fud” Livingston, a cabaret affair that celebrates the
Charleston songwriter/arranger, Fud Livingston.
Tickets may be purchased by calling the Piccolo Spoleto ticket hotline at (843) 724-7295 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; by fax at (843) 720-3967; or online at www.piccolospoleto.com. The official Piccolo Spoleto box office at the Charleston Visitor Center, 375 Meeting St., Charleston, SC 29403, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, 180 Meeting St., Charleston, SC 29401, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; beginning May 22, hours of operation are extended to 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. For a ticket brochure and information on Piccolo Spoleto, call the Office of Cultural Affairs at (843) 724-7305 or visit www.piccolospoleto.com.
Produced and directed by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs since 1979, Piccolo Spoleto is the official outreach program of Spoleto Festival USA. Piccolo’s mission is to provide access to the Spoleto Festival USA experience for everyone, regardless of their economic, social or physical circumstances and to provide the opportunity for excellent local and regional artists, writers and performers to be showcased in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival venues.
2010 Piccolo Spoleto Title Sponsors are Publix and Publix Super Market Charities.
Additional Major Grants Were Received From the City of Charleston, Charleston County, National Endowment for the Arts and the South Carolina Arts Commission.
Series Sponsors are All That’s Good, Comcast, Dewberry Capital Co., Henry & Sylvia Yaschik Foundation, SCANA, BMW Manufacturing Co., Charleston.com, Hendrick BMW, Knology and SouthCarolina.com.
Event Sponsors are Barbara M. Lindstedt Charitable Trust in memory of Nancy D. Hawk, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, Market and Meeting Street Associates: Nella G. Barkley, Charles S. Way, Jr. and Frank W. Brumley, Only.sc, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, Town of Kiawah Island Arts Council, Verizon Wireless and Weight Watchers.
Benefactors are The Art Institute of Charleston, Charleston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Charleston RiverDogs, Fork, Herzman-Fishman Foundation, On The Avenue Marketing (The New York Times), Seltzer, Norton & Mindelle, Social Wine Bar, Total Wine & More, Washington Park Art Show and Zucker Family Fund of CCF.
Media Sponsors are APEX Broadcasting, Carolina Media Services, Charleston City Paper, CharlestonArts.sc, Charleston.com, Citadel Broadcasting, Clear Channel Communications, Comcast, Knology, Lowcountry CW, Magazines.sc, MyTV Charleston, Only.sc, The Post and Courier, Radio.sc, SC Educational Radio, SouthCarolina.com, SpoletoToday.com, WCBD-TV2, WCIV-TV4, WCSC-TV5, and WTAT-FOX24.
Donors are Barbara & John Dinkelspiel Burgess, Loren & Lynn Carlson, John & Meredith Dunnan, Joanna Foundation, Ted & Tricia Legasey, Charles & Celeste Patrick and the Post and Courier Foundation.
Government Support comes from the City of Charleston, Charleston County, Charleston Police Department, Weed and Seed Program, South Carolina Arts Commission, and this project has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius.
Poster Sponsors are The Art Institute of Charleston and The Family of Nancy Dinwiddie Hawk.
