Spoleto Festival USA has just announced its 2009 festival schedule and tickets are now available for sale on the festival’s Web site. Due to the economic crunch, Spoleto has had to cut back on the number of performances it is offering in 2009. This season there are 120 performances, which is down by 22 from last year’s 142. The budget for this year’s festival is significantly less than 2008’s as well, going from $8.4 million to $6.2 million. Raking up $372,000 in debt, 2008's festival was the first in 13 years to be in the red.
The 2009 schedule features Gustave Charpentier’s Louise as the only opera performance of the season. Questions were raised about whether or not the Wachovia Jazz series would continue given that the bank had been purchased last year. It will in fact continue under the same name, bringing in five acts. The Westminster Choir also returns with Bach, Buxtehude, Josquin Desprez, Frank Martin, and Moses Hogan as just a few composers included in their program.
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With the current state of the economy, I've been noticing various articles being written about the impact financial crises are having on music festivals. Of significant importance is Spoleto Festival USA, one of FP's top tier classical festivals. Two different online news sources based in Charleston, South Carolina, where the festival is held, have produced articles describing Spoleto’s financial outlook. I, myself, am no economist so I will leave you with links, a short description, and excerpt from each article.
"Lowcountry braces for fallout from bank's sale" (The Post and Courier)
This article describes the impact of the sale of Wachovia Corp., an annual financial supporter of Spoleto for the past 14 years, to Citigroup Inc. Read more »
An extra performance of the Spoleto hit, Monkey: Journey to the West, has been added to the festival program. Catch it on Thursday, June 5 at 2pm in the Sottile Theatre at the College of Charleston. Featuring a melding of ancient Chinese literature and culture with classical and pop music sounds of Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn, plus action, acrobatics, magic, and stunning costumes, this showing is guaranteed to sell out. Check out the video below for a preview of the show.
An extra performance of the Spoleto hit, Monkey: Journey to the West, has been added to the festival program. Catch it on Thursday, June 5 at 2pm in the Sottile Theatre at the College of Charleston. Featuring a melding of ancient Chinese literature and culture with classical and pop music sounds of Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn, plus action, acrobatics, magic, and stunning costumes, this showing is guaranteed to sell out. Check out the video below for a preview of the show.
Chen Shi-Zheng, director of Monkey: Journey to the West, discusses with the New York Times how he came up with the concept of the stage adaptation for the 400 year old Chinese story featured this year at Spoleto Festival USA.
To learn about the show, visit the Monkey: Journey to the West Web site
Heralded by Time Out London as the drag act to see if you only see one in your lifetime, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac will be making an encore performance at Spoleto on June 2. Its first showing is tonight at 10PM in the College of Charleston's Emmett Robinson Theatre, so get ready for a night chock-full of political tirade, costumes, humor, and ukulele.
Here's a preview of what to expect from Taylor Mac:
To buy tickets for this event, click here
Here's a behind the scenes look at a Spoleto Festival USA cast party courtesy of New York Times reporter Dan Wakin:
Looking for the perfect gift for Mom this Mother's Day? Spoleto is offering a deal for the perfect gift: When you purchase one ticket to Rossini's La Cenerentola, you can bring your mom for half price. Pretty cool, right? Performances of this comic opera will be held at the Gaillard Auditorium on May 23, 25, 30, and June 6. Tickets start at $20 and the offer is good until May 10.
To purchase tickets, go to Spoleto's Web site, call 843-579-3100, or stop by the ticket kiosk at the Gaillard Auditorium, which is open from 10am-6pm.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend this year :-( so if you go, I want to hear all about it! Email me at jessica@festivalpreview.com or add me on MySpace or Facebook. (Seriously, add me on Facebook if nothing else--I only have FP friends on there! Then make my day and join the FP group :-) Tell your mom to add me too. I'll wish her a happy Mother's Day.)
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P.S. Here are some Amazon.com samples of some of the more notable arias from the opera in case you're unfamiliar with it:
"Si, ritrovarla io giuro" as sung by Raùl Giminéz
"Nacqui All Affano...Non Più Mesta"
In an article from the Charleston SC's Post and Courier, Spoleto Festival USA has had a $246,000 cut from its budget by the state as part of a new spending plan created by the Senate Finance Committee. Spoleto Director Nigel Redden said the cut could be devastating as the state funding means the difference between having a successful festival season and going out of business.
According to the article, the blow from the cuts affecting South Carolina organizations might have been lessened with better financial management:
Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau and a member of the Finance Committee, said the budget is pretty bare bones. The cuts, though, would not have had to be so drastic if the Legislature had managed its funds better last year when revenue flowed into state coffers, he said.
To read more about this report, visit the Charleston Post and Courier
Welcome to Spoleto TV: All Access: Spoleto TV launches with its first preview report by host Blake Whitney. This all-Spoleto channel will be updated with new videos regularly—before, during and after the festival.
