POSTED ON BEHALF OF MARC OVERTON, CO-HOST OF SPOLETO TODAY
Making eleven radio programs in 17 days with a group of strangers is like getting married without ever having met your spouse-to-be — except that there are four or five of them, and you have to figure things out pretty fast!
For 14 years, I created, produced and performed Spoleto Today by myself (for the most part). The show started in my kitchen in May 1995. I used the inexpensive (cheap) wireless telephone I had purchased from the big box discount store. I sounded like I was at the bottom of a deep and very damp well, but folks didn’t seem to care. They were just happy to have help making sense of the huge number of things to see and do in Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto. I was in Charleston, and the folks I knew were in Columbia; but, it was fun, and it answered a need.
marc overton
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 2009: A Theme Emerges?
POSTED ON BEHALF OF MARC OVERTON, FORMER SPOLETO FESTIVAL DIRECTOR AND CO-HOST OF SPOLETO TODAY:
At the beginning of every Spoleto Festival I have attended (that’s 18, counting this one), Festival management has claimed there is no “theme” or unifying concept for that year’s Festival. Spoleto Festival USA has always taken considerable pride in its cheerfully uncentered eclecticism, and the fact is that it’s true: the festivals don’t have a pre-determined theme.
But as sure as the sun is shining and the humidity is climbing in Charleston, a theme begins to emerge after a few days — no matter how wildly different in subject matter, in genre, and in location the performances may be.
So….what’s emerging in 2009? Here’s how it seems to me: there is a certain darkness in human nature, but it is brightened a little by an occult optimism. The brightness lurks behind the dark and keeps us from complete despair. You can see this in LOUISE, the “big” opera this year, in which even Louise’s seduction by the city of Paris (which seems at first to be an exhilarating act of liberation) leaves the viewer uneasy and unsatisfied. In KneeHigh Theatre’s DON JOHN, the hero seems to get his (ultimate) comeuppance in the end, but somehow the ending is inadequate. Even Don John’s death is not enough to make up for what he has done.
Maybe the picture will change as the Festival heads into its second full week. More performances could give greater shade and texture to first impressions. A glimpse at ADDICTED TO BAD IDEAS at its dress rehearsal this afternoon doesn’t lead me to think that sweetness and light are on the way. But deafness most assuredly IS on the way, if the ADDICTED audiences don’t use the earplugs SFUSA has promised to provide!
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.
Opening Ceremonies Spoleto 2009
Check out this quick video of Friday’s opening ceremonies at Spoleto Festival USA, courtesy of Katie Rather Moore, College of Charleston.
Spoleto Today! from WDAVfm on Vimeo.
Tradition vs. Newness at Spoleto
POSTED ON BEHALF OF MARC OVERTON, FROM SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA IN CHARLESTON
Hearing the bells of St. Michael’s this morning just after 10:00 made me think again about the striking juxtaposition of tradition and newness that each year’s Spoleto Festival brings. I’ve spent a lot of Sunday mornings in a lot of small American towns over the years as I toured the country on one or another of my motorcycles, but there are few places left where the sound of Sunday morning church bells are so much a part of the weekly rhythm of living. As they rang, I thought that later that day, Spoleto performances by Japanese dancer Hiroaki Umeda, and the raunchy, graphic, ritualized violence of DON JOHN would shake up Charleston’s genteel sensibilities and jazz up its rhythm. And that’s good. Spoleto always brings some jolts that make the old ways stand out in relief, and we all need to be reminded that old things have value for good reasons.