Spoleto Festival USA to Celebrate Charleston's Newly Renovated Dock Street Theatre at Gala on Thursday April 1
Featured artists include soprano Natalie Dessay, violinist Geoff Nuttall, pianist Pedja Muzijevic, cellist Christopher Costanza, violist Caroline Blackwell, actress Heather Gillespie, and artists from Flora, an Opera
February 1, 2010 (CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA)’ÄîNigel Redden, General Director, announced today that Spoleto Festival USA will hold a special gala concert on Thursday, April 1st to celebrate the reopening of Charleston’Äôs historic Dock Street Theatre following a three-year renovation.
French soprano Natalie Dessay, one of today’Äôs leading opera talents, will perform various arias including ’ÄúSempre Libera’Äù from La Traviata. Geoff Nuttall, Spoleto Festival USA Director of Chamber Music, will be joined by pianist Pedja Muzijevic, cellist Christopher Costanza and violist Caroline Blackwell who is making her Spoleto Festival USA debut this year. Repertoire to be performed by the ensemble will include a new work specially commissioned for the occasion from composer Jonathan Berger who is the 2010 Spoleto Festival chamber music Composer-in-Residence.
The audience will also be given a sneak preview of the upcoming Spoleto Festival production of Flora, an Opera, the ballad opera that was first seen at the Dock Street Theatre in 1736.
Actress Heather Gillespie, who played the role of Hagar in Target Margin Theater’Äôs production of Dubose Heyward’Äôs Mamba’Äôs Daughters at the Dock Street during the 1999 Spoleto Festival, will perform Heyward’Äôs prologue to George Faquhar’Äôs The Recruiting Officer, penned and performed by Heyward for the reopening of the Dock Street Theatre following a renovation in 1937.
The festivities will commence at 6:00pm with a champagne reception, during which guests can explore the restored public spaces. The concert begins at 7:00pm followed by a seated dinner. A photographic exhibition of past Spoleto Festival USA performances at the Dock Street will be mounted in the Wadsworth Room, providing a retrospective of Festival highlights.
Ticket prices begin at $250 for pre-concert champagne and the concert. $500 tickets include the above plus a seated post-performance dinner in the third floor salon of the Dock Street. $1,000 tickets include champagne, premium concert seating, and dinner on stage with the evening’Äôs featured artists. Tickets can be purchased by calling 843.579.3100 or online at
spoletousa.org.
When the Dock Street was completed in 1736, it was America’Äôs first building created solely for theatrical purposes. Today the theatre is a beloved Charleston landmark and one of Spoleto Festival USA’Äôs most favored stages, with hundreds of opera, theater and dance performances and over 1,000 chamber music concerts presented there since the Festival’Äôs inception in 1977.
About Spoleto Festival USA
For 17 days and nights each spring, Spoleto Festival USA fills Charleston’Äôs historic theaters, churches and outdoor spaces with over 140 performances by world-renowned artists and emerging performers in opera, theater, music theater, dance, and chamber, symphonic, choral and jazz music. Spoleto Festival USA 2010 will take place May 28 through June 13 and information and tickets can be found online at spoletousa.org or by phone at 843.579.3100. Beginning April 19, tickets may be purchased in person at the Spoleto Festival USA box office at Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, 77 Calhoun Street.
February 1, 2010 (CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA)’ÄîNigel Redden, General Director, announced today that Spoleto Festival USA will hold a special gala concert on Thursday, April 1st to celebrate the reopening of Charleston’Äôs historic Dock Street Theatre following a three-year renovation.
French soprano Natalie Dessay, one of today’Äôs leading opera talents, will perform various arias including ’ÄúSempre Libera’Äù from La Traviata. Geoff Nuttall, Spoleto Festival USA Director of Chamber Music, will be joined by pianist Pedja Muzijevic, cellist Christopher Costanza and violist Caroline Blackwell who is making her Spoleto Festival USA debut this year. Repertoire to be performed by the ensemble will include a new work specially commissioned for the occasion from composer Jonathan Berger who is the 2010 Spoleto Festival chamber music Composer-in-Residence.
The audience will also be given a sneak preview of the upcoming Spoleto Festival production of Flora, an Opera, the ballad opera that was first seen at the Dock Street Theatre in 1736.
Actress Heather Gillespie, who played the role of Hagar in Target Margin Theater’Äôs production of Dubose Heyward’Äôs Mamba’Äôs Daughters at the Dock Street during the 1999 Spoleto Festival, will perform Heyward’Äôs prologue to George Faquhar’Äôs The Recruiting Officer, penned and performed by Heyward for the reopening of the Dock Street Theatre following a renovation in 1937.
The festivities will commence at 6:00pm with a champagne reception, during which guests can explore the restored public spaces. The concert begins at 7:00pm followed by a seated dinner. A photographic exhibition of past Spoleto Festival USA performances at the Dock Street will be mounted in the Wadsworth Room, providing a retrospective of Festival highlights.
Ticket prices begin at $250 for pre-concert champagne and the concert. $500 tickets include the above plus a seated post-performance dinner in the third floor salon of the Dock Street. $1,000 tickets include champagne, premium concert seating, and dinner on stage with the evening’Äôs featured artists. Tickets can be purchased by calling 843.579.3100 or online at
spoletousa.org.
When the Dock Street was completed in 1736, it was America’Äôs first building created solely for theatrical purposes. Today the theatre is a beloved Charleston landmark and one of Spoleto Festival USA’Äôs most favored stages, with hundreds of opera, theater and dance performances and over 1,000 chamber music concerts presented there since the Festival’Äôs inception in 1977.
About Spoleto Festival USA
For 17 days and nights each spring, Spoleto Festival USA fills Charleston’Äôs historic theaters, churches and outdoor spaces with over 140 performances by world-renowned artists and emerging performers in opera, theater, music theater, dance, and chamber, symphonic, choral and jazz music. Spoleto Festival USA 2010 will take place May 28 through June 13 and information and tickets can be found online at spoletousa.org or by phone at 843.579.3100. Beginning April 19, tickets may be purchased in person at the Spoleto Festival USA box office at Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, 77 Calhoun Street.
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