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.
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:
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.)
----------
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"
It's so, alright. Eliot Van Buskirk from the Listening Post at Wired.com recently reported that a new classical music based video game is touring the classical music event circuit. Virtual Maestro allows the player to conduct a virtual orchestra, performing pieces like the William Tell Overture and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. The game is similar to the popular Play Station game, Guitar Hero, in that the participant engages in a simulated music experience: "The game is simpler than Guitar Hero; faster gestures increases the tempo, while slower ones have the opposite effect."
The best news of all is that Virtual Maestro will be making its way to FP100 festival, Ravinia, from June 23-August 18. Find out more about Virtual Maestro's stops by visiting Van Buskirk's article here. If you end up trying it out, let us know how it goes!
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.
Music director of Spoleto Festival USA, Emmanuel Villaume, received rave reviews for his performance last month with the Juilliard Orchestra. Steve Smith of the New York Times described the event as one that far surpassed his expectations, calling Villaume's interpretation of "Don Juan" (Strauss) "brawny and voluptuous, without skimping on precision and clarity."
Villaume also received praise for two pieces by Debussy and Berlioz:
The electricity Mr. Villaume mustered in Berlioz’s “Royal Hunt and Storm,” from “Les Troyens,” was all the more impressive for the control with which he wielded it. Countless details surfaced with the impact of fresh revelations during a concluding performance of “La Mer” by Debussy, which ebbed and flowed with suitable capriciousness but never lost coherence.The good news is that if you missed his performance in New York, you can see him conduct La Mer at Spoleto on June 5 in Gaillard Auditorium. To read more about Villaume's night with the Juilliard Orchestra, read the article here.
