If you like chamber music, theater, opera, and jazz, then this is the ARTour for you. Participants will attend the chamber music series, consisting of three concerts, at the Dock Street Theatre. The series is presided over by the much-beloved Charles Wadsworth and features the St. Lawrence String Quartet.
The Dock Street will also be the site for the return to the Spoleto Festival of world-renowned artist, Mikhail Baryshnikov, in a new work by director Rezo Gabriadze. In the “The Doctor and the Patient,” Gabriadze transforms a tale of a late-night sojourn by a doctor and his mentally ill patient into a magical event of snowstorms, talking cars, and flying objects. “The Doctor” promises to be one of the most talked about performances of the 2004 festival season.
At the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, classical music lovers will be treated to Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A” under the baton of Spoleto music director, Emmanuel Villaume. The orchestra will be joined by the St. Lawrence String Quartet for a lively performance of Canadian composer R. Murray Schaefer’s witty piece for quartet and chamber orchestra, “4:40.”
“The Peony Pavilion,” a Chinese opera conceived and directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, will be performed at the Memminger Auditorium. “The Pavilion” was written over 400 years ago and is a tale of a love more powerful than death. The production features over 160 characters, more than 600 hand-embroidered costumes, and a 1,800-gallon pond filled with ducks, goldfish, and water plants.
The optional jazz program showcases Dee Dee Bridgewater at the Gaillard Auditorium. Few singers successfully carry the torch passed on by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae, but Bridgewater has mastered the same qualities of her predecessors by thinking more like an instrumentalist than a vocalist; scatting well-constructed, improvised melodies; and interpreting songs in an original and personal way.
The cost of the Spoleto ARTour for arts council members is $1,050, double occupancy, and $1,350, single occupancy, and for nonmembers, $1,350 and $1,650 respectively. The cost includes transportation by bus from the Campbell House, four nights’ accommodations at The Mills House, one dinner at a noted, Charleston restaurant, admission to the performance events, portage, and gratuities.
To register for the Spoleto ARTour or for more information, call the arts council at 692-4356; visit the Web site at www.artscouncil-moore.org; or e-mail kmacrae@pinehurst.net.
