“The daily lunchtime chamber music concerts that are introduced by pianist Charles Wadsworth – a beguiling, avuncular man who has spent most of his career at Lincoln Center in NY, but has never lost the Southern charm of his Georgia roots – are invariably standing-room only events that leave audiences in a state of high exaltation.”
- Chicago Sun-Times

“Spoleto is a multidimensional festival that both took over a city and took advantage of its architecture and history. . . Spoleto is a model of the way an enlightened community and an arts event can be mutually supportive.”
- Time

“No theatre in American can match the Dock Street Theatre for its intimacy and understated majesty. It has the hushed feeling of a building holding its breath, and its serenity grants comfort to both actor and audiences.”
- Beach Music, Pat Conroy

The Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina is widely recognized as the country’s most comprehensive arts festival. To celebrate the 34th Anniversary season of this remarkable event, the Festival has announced a highly original season running the gamut of the performing arts. Once again we have carefully planned our annual visit to encompass the musical highlights of the eclectic program, including an unprecedented total of seven performances.

This year will mark the eagerly anticipated re-opening of the intimate and historic Dock Street Theatre, which has been under restoration for the past several years. To celebrate this important occasion, the Festival is mounting a rare production of the English ballad opera entitled Flora, which earned its place in operatic annals in 1735 as the earliest staged production in the U.S. And most appropriately, that performance took place in Charleston’s Dock Street Theatre! Also at the Dock Street will be the acclaimed Gate Theatre from Dublin in their production of Noël Coward’s scintillating comedy, Present Laughter; and no less than three of the famed midday Chamber Music Concerts.

Our long weekend will be completed by a pair of events in the larger Gaillard Auditorium, where we will enjoy a concert by the Spoleto Festival Orchestra featuring works of Richard Strauss and Maurice Ravel; and an evening of virtuoso dancing by the unique all-male Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo. The Spoleto Festival can be justifiably proud of this expansive variety of world-class offerings.

Founded by composer/director Gian Carlo Menotti as a counterpart to the earlier eponymous Spoleto Festival in Italy, the U.S. performances are set against the backdrop of historic Charleston and its unparalleled antebellum charm. With plenty of time to enjoy the imposing residential areas of the city itself, you will readily appreciate why Charleston is considered the finest example of l8th-century architecture and culture in America.

Accommodations for four nights at the Mills House, Charleston’s center of activity during the Festival. The Mills House is ideally located on Meeting Street near the heart of the city. Because of the tasteful Southern comfort and the proximity to the Dock Street Theatre, this is everyone’s first choice for a traditional stay in Charleston. During the warm late spring weather, you will enjoy the hotel’s large and attractive outdoor pool area.