Spoleto Festival USA will have its feet in two different eras when it returns May 27 for its 17-day run.
After a completely canceled 2020 season and a small but safe 2021 festival, 2022’s slate of art, music, theater and performances is bigger, bolder and as jam-packed with productions as in pre-pandemic days. Many of the shows on offer, such as the festival’s centerpiece opera, are making triumphant debuts that were originally scheduled for 2020. And the festival will once again welcome international performers, something that was sorely missing from last year’s offering.
But while much of Spoleto 2022 feels like a return to normalcy, a new general director and a collection of exciting world premieres speak to a festival that is reaching back while keeping an eye on the future.
2022 marks the first season under the leadership of new Festival General Director Mena Mark Hanna, who took over for Nigel Redden after a tenure of 35 years.
Hanna said he sees Spoleto and Charleston as moving in a new direction together.
“Charleston has seen tremendous growth and rapid change, with nearly 60,000 people relocating to the area in the last decade,” Hanna said in a recent festival preview. “I see Spoleto at a unique point to not only grow with the city, but to continue to be a steward of its cultural life, just as the festival did in its early years.”
This season will be the first led by Hanna, but it is not the first completely curated by the new director. As City Paper has previously reported, this year’s festival will feature the world premiere of Omar, a brand new opera based on the 1831 autobiography of Omar Ibn Said. The story of this Muslim African scholar who was forced into slavery in the Carolinas comes to life through the musical talents of world-class composers Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels. Omar was originally the centerpiece of the lost 2020 season, and will finally receive its highly anticipated premiere.
“Within and beyond Omar, Spoleto’s program explores migration—be it forced, exiled or voluntary, Hanna said. “Enslavement is a forced migration, for example. And in looking at our country’s origin points, it’s crucial to include Africa as a key genesis of the United States. That can no longer be ignored.”
Many of the offerings this year, from jazz and Americana concerts to dance and theater performances, will echo and elaborate on these themes. Giddens will join Francesco Turrisi for a show tracing African and Arabic influences on Western music. Senegalese musician and icon Youssou N’Dour will headline the Wells Fargo Jazz series, bringing West African insights on race and social justice.
Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith will bring back her 2020 offering Until the Flood, a piece that examines the aftermath of the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Post-modern cabaret diva Meow Meow will make her delayed Spoleto debut, too.
Lots of new programming, too
But that’s not to say that everything old is new again. There is a lot of new, original and bold programming filling up the 124 events and performances planned for 2022. Two operas will play alongside Omar this year. Unholy Wars is a new work conceived and performed by Karim Sulayman, and Yuval Sharon is directing a new production of the classic La Bohème. At a press conference Friday morning to accompany the season announcement, Hanna pointed to Unholy Wars as a part of the festival that is “truly personal to me.”
Stars of the New York City Ballet and Malpaso Dance Company have shows scheduled during the festival. Choreographer Reggie Wilson’s POWER will be an exciting and informative dance show that focuses on the lives of Black Shaker communities. French-Norwegian company Plexus Polaire will astound audiences with its version of Moby Dick, starring seven actors and 50 puppets.
And, of course, there will be the keystone presentations in the Bank of America Chamber Music series. Last year, not even the threat of COVID-19 could keep audiences away from the Spoleto staple, which sold out each of its performances months in advance of the festival. The music will once again be presented on the radio as well. The First Citizens Bank Front Row series will feature shows from Allison Russell, The War and Treaty, and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway.
And modeled after the success of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, this year will see the inclusion of the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus, whose members will appear in Omar, La Bohème and The Street. The chorus will also have a show dedicated to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Spoleto says it plans for the chorus to take on a new identity each season, and this year will feature 56 choristers.
There is so much to look forward to at Spoleto Festival USA 2022: Full houses, a full slate and a renewed focus on the future. Spoleto Festival USA is back and, in some ways, it looks like it will be better than ever.
Spoleto Festival USA 2022 runs from May 27 to June 12, 2022. Tickets are available to the public beginning February 22 at 10 a.m. Tickets, a full schedule, and other information can be found at spoletousa.org or by calling (843) 579-3100.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No newspaper subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations from downtown to North Charleston to Johns Island to Summerville to Mount Pleasant.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.