When Charleston’s Spoleto Festival USA opens this year on Friday, May 28, WDAV 89.9 Classical Public Radio takes its listeners to the stages and backstages of this world-renowned cultural festival. WDAV partners with South Carolina ETV Radio to co-produce and broadcast Spoleto Today each weekday at 11 a.m. and Carolina Classics each weekday at 1 p.m. Both shows feature performances, interviews and previews from Spoleto Festival USA and the regionally-focused Piccolo Spoleto.
Charleston
South Carolina ETV Radio and WDAV 89.9 To Broadcast Full Line-up of Spoleto Festival USA 2009 Chamber Music Concerts
Listeners throughout the Carolinas and around the world can hear the full line-up of Spoleto Festival USA 2009 Chamber Music Concerts just days (and in some cases hours) after they are performed for live audiences in Charleston, SC. Thanks to the groundbreaking media partnership between South Carolina ETV and WDAV 89.9 Classical Public Radio, classical music fans can hear these concerts while the Festival is still in full swing – and for the week immediately following its close. The 2009 Spoleto Chamber Music series – as well as two bonus concerts — will be broadcast in the Charlotte NC region on WDAV-FM 89.9 Classical Public Radio and on South Carolina ETV Radio’s Classical NPR stations: WSCI-FM Charleston 89.3, WEPR-FM Greenville 90.1 and WLTR-FM Columbia 91.3. Online listeners can hear it at www.spoletochambermusic.org. WDAV’s Jennifer Foster hosts the broadcasts (unless otherwise noted). The broadcast schedule and featured works for the rest of the week are:
Spoleto Works Its Magic
POSTED ON BEHALF OF MARC OVERTON, HOST OF SPOLETO TODAY & FORMER DIRECTOR OF SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA
Our work at Spoleto has fallen into a rhythm of long days that usually end only a little before midnight, but today was different in a wonderful way. I decided just to take a break in the outside world, run some errands and get back to the studio by 9:30 or so to rejoin my colleagues.
Spoleto magic took over: the sounds of Chris Thiele and the Punch Brothers were making the trees in the College of Charleston’s Cistern literally sway. The audience was spellbound, there was a crescent moon peeping through the trees, and dozens of non-ticketholders were lined up along the wrought iron fence, getting some musical kicks for free. That queue included several members of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, on their way home (fiddle cases slung over their shoulders) who were enjoying a slightly different “Song of the Earth” than the one by Mahler they had just played at Gaillard.
It was all quintessential Spoleto: Mahler a few blocks away — transcendent, majestic — and Chris Thiele’s unique blend of bluegrass and traditional American folk in the Cistern, with PIccolo Spoleto theatre performances across the street. The whole panoply of theatre, music, and the balmy Charleston night: everything that makes Spoleto the unique experience of place and performance it is.
Spoleto Ready For Any Weather
POSTED ON BEHALF OF MARC OVERTON, FROM SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA IN CHARLESTON
Spoleto Festival has outdoor events — mainly jazz but sometimes dance performances presented in the outdoor Cistern at the College of Charleston. So the threat — or the fact — of rain is always a worry. Fortunately, there are backup locations in Charleston to which a performance can be moved in a hurry, if need be. And that’s what happened last night when Florin Niculescu, the Romanian jazz violinist, had to be moved to the Charleston Music Hall. 
But sometimes an unforeseen emergency turns out to be fortuitously beneficial, and that was what happened last night. Charleston Music Hall is a beautifully-equipped little music box- very modern in atmosphere. The acoustics are great; the lighting is up-to-the-minute (motorized follow spots, prismatic effects, etc.), and it’s a great place to hear jazz.
So Niculescu got in out of the rain and gave a great show for the select few who braved the weather. What a treat!
Spoleto rolls on into its first full week, with lots of great music yet to come, including Mahler’s DAS LIED VON DER ERDE this coming Thursday. Don’t miss it.