When Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra Music Director Timothy Myers plans the group’s programming, he said he balances the needs of the public, the festival and the orchestra— always aiming to help the players learn and grow.
“We want this to be the most vital opportunity for early-career classical musicians in the world, and that really guides a lot of the decision making from there,” he said. “You’re not just programming in a vacuum or without any guardrails — you’re in heavy pursuit of something.”
Myers said his mission goes beyond music selection. He’s added a conducting fellow and a digital storytelling fellow —a content creator embedded within the orchestra. Still, leading the orchestra is a massive undertaking.
“It’s undeniable that putting together a full orchestra from scratch every year is a beast of a task,” Myers said.
To form the 2025 orchestra, Myers heard 513 live auditions across seven cities, along with virtual auditions. The result — nearly 100 promising young musicians — makes it all worth it for him.
“There’s a freshness and excitement that comes from working with them I find incredibly rewarding,” he said.
An ensemble with intention
Myers is not alone in feeling the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra is special. Returning musician Srivishnu “Vishnu” Ramankutty, a viola player from Miami, Florida, said he felt the community within the orchestra when he first played with it in 2024.
Ramankutty said it feels as if Myers and orchestra manager Shawn Galvin personally selected each musician, creating a close-knit group.
“We all kind of know each other on a first-name basis,” he said.
This year at Spoleto, the orchestra will offer four distinct performances, including Bach’s “Mass in B Minor” led by departing choral director Joe Miller. One concert — Mozart’s “Symphony No. 29″ at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church — is already sold out.
“This is Mozart really at a cusp of his compositional trajectory, where we really start to see what mature Mozart is going to be like, right? Because he wrote this when he was very young,” Myers said. “And so we get his unique genius, but at the same time, we get a glimpse into his future.”
From Mozart to modern voices
In a way, the Mozart piece reflects the trajectory of the orchestra’s musicians, offering the audience a glimpse into the future of classical music. That idea is furthered by the inclusion of contemporary composers, such as Anna Clyne, whose cello concerto “Dance” will be performed by cellist Inbal Segev, for whom it was written. Both Myers and Ramankutty said they’re excited to bring the piece to a Charleston audience.
Ramankutty said the orchestra gives a platform to composers who may not always have the stage. “
I’ve worked on some of her pieces over the years,” he said, referring to Clyne. “And she’s a great composer.”
- The Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra will perform four programs:
- Mozart’s “Symphony No. 29″ at 2:30 p.m. May 26 at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church;
- Rosenkavalier Suite + Sibelius Violin Concerto at 8 p.m. May 31 at the Charleston Gaillard Center;
- Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 3” at 7:30 p.m. June 5 at the Gaillard; and
- Bach’s “Mass in B Minor” at 7:30 p.m. June 7 at the Gaillard.
Ally Watkinson is a journalism graduate student at Syracuse University.
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