Renee Fleming belts Appalachia. Ken Burns goes sonic. Shakespeare breaks bad.
On Jan. 12 at the Dock Street Theatre, Spoleto Festival USA announced its 2026 season, which runs May 22 to June 7 and boasts 110 performances across opera, dance, theater, music, jazz and community programs — including world and U.S. premieres.
The splashy, well-attended free Monday event at the Dock Street Theater included performances by three festival artists — pianist Pedja Muzijevic, cellist Paul Wiancko and vocalist Karim Sulayman — and a conversation between General Director and CEO Mena Mark Hanna and WCBD-TV newscaster Carolyn Murray accompanied by videos of performances and artist interviews.
Staging freedom
If there is a programmatic throughline for the 2026 season, it is freedom of expression, which Hanna views as a “catalyst for connection” that also ties in with the nation’s 2026 commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
“Freedom of expression is at the heart of why this festival exists,” he said in a statement, noting that Spoleto “invites audiences to experience bold new work, revisit enduring masterpieces and encounter artists who compel us to listen, reflect and imagine together.”
With its international scope, Hanna underscored that the festival remains a distinct product of its Charleston locale, and “resolutely Lowcountry in spirit and attitude.”
Opera, theater, dance
Opera, the festival’s hallmark genre since its 1977 opening season, for the 2026 lineup launches with a new Spoleto production of a work by festival founder and composer Gian Carlo Menotti.
The Old Maid and the Thief reimagines his 1939 radio opera as a live radio-drama with hand-crafted sound effects, period microphones and on-stage musicians, making full use of the historic Dock Street Theatre space akin to the set for last year’s Turn of the Screw.
“We’re effectively doing a similar trick,” Hanna said, underscoring the comic work as “an enjoyable 60- to 70-minute evening.”
Dido and Aeneas, under conductor Patrick Dupré Quigley, fuses English composer Henry Purcell’s iconic 1689 opera with contemporary acrobatics.
“On top of that, we’re doing it with a spectacular acrobatic company Circa,” Hanna said.
In theater, George + George is a world premiere by returning artists Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson set at Valley Forge in 1778. The solo show All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain stars Broadway sensation Patrick Page. And Circa’s Humans 2.0 is a physical theater piece by the Australian company.
In dance, the acclaimed Scottish Ballet lands with the U.S. premiere of Mary, Queen of Scots from a company Hanna framed as urgent and exciting. The Martha Graham Dance Company mounts Graham 100, commemorating the enduring legacy of the visionary choreographer.
Tap phenom Ayodele Casel returns with The Remix.
“I have never before seen tap demonstrate melancholy, and she’s able to do that,” Hanna said of Casel.
From Mozart to Miles Davis
In music, Renée Fleming and Béla Fleck: The Fiddle and the Drum mines Appalachian folk traditions and An Evening with Ken Burns melds music and discussion drawn from his latest documentary, The American Revolution.
Marking the inaugural season of Amanda Quist as music director of the Festival Chorus are two shows — a landmark performance of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor as well as Storytelling Through American Composers.
Under the direction of Music Director Timothy Myers, the Festival Orchestra performs Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 alongside the world premiere of Michael Abels’ new work for cello and orchestra, featuring Grammy-winning cellist Zuill Bailey. Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 pairs with Wiancko’s new violin concerto. Appalachian Spring and American Classics folds in American masterworks by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Jessie Montgomery.
The perennially popular Bank of America Chamber Music series — led by Wiancko, its Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Director of Chamber Music — spotlights Allison Loggins-Hull as the Suzan D. Boyd Composer-in-Residence. The Wells Fargo Jazz series showcases Terence Blanchard honoring Miles Davis and John Coltrane; and Jason Moran reimagines Duke Ellington. Pedrito Martinez Group and Charleston native Quentin E. Baxter each offers rhythm-driven concerts.
In Cistern Yard, Live at the Cistern highlights top talent such as progressive string band Punch Brothers; bluegrass guitarist Molly Tuttle, country legend Emmylou Harris and Brandi Carlile.
Community-minded
The festival continues its free community programming with The Untold Story Behind Porgy and Bess, examining the complex history of one of America’s most iconic operas and tracing its roots in Charleston’s Gullah-Geechee culture, with excerpts from Lauren Waring Douglas’s forthcoming documentary and a discussion moderated by Carolyn Murray. The Duchy, a new play by Tony-Award winner Denis O’Hare, will be presented as a table reading.
Family audiences will find Dead as a Dodo and Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer, blending puppetry, music and storytelling in a way that, according to the general director, passes “the Bluey test,” referring to the children series that appeals to young viewers while probing more complex topics for adults.
Tickets for the 2026 season go on sale Jan. 30, 2026, with festival donors enjoying early access through a pre-sale. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit spoletousa.org.
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