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28-613: The "Two Worlds" in the name of the festival comes from Gian Carlo Menotti's intention to have the worlds of American and European culture facing each other in his event; this concept would then be strengthened by the fact that it was held in conjunction with its "twin", the Spoleto Festival USA held annually in May/June in Charleston, South Carolina . That twinning lasted some 15 years and, after growing disputes between

56-511: Is an academy located in Berlin , Germany, offering bachelor's degrees and Artist Diploma certificates in music; it opened on 8 December 2016. It was co-founded by the conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and the literary theorist Edward Said . The academy was financed to a capacity of 90 young musicians, with an admissions focus on the Middle East and North Africa , in the spirit of

84-529: Is not a solution for any of the problems that divide peoples. And certainly ignorance of the other provides no help whatever. Cooperation and coexistence of the kind that music lived as we have lived, performed, shared and loved it together, might be." The Barenboim–Said Akademie is located in the Mitte district of Berlin, housed in the former depot for stage sets of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden . It

112-581: Is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize -winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti , who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi ( The Festival of Two Worlds ) in Spoleto , Italy . When Italian organizers planned an American festival, they searched for a city that would offer the charm of Spoleto , Italy, and also its wealth of theaters, churches, and other performance spaces. Charleston

140-451: Is operated by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs. After two years of mini-festivals, Piccolo Spoleto was created as an official part of the overall Spoleto program in 1979. Whereas Spoleto Festival USA features artists and performers of national and international renown, Piccolo Spoleto highlights outstanding local and regional artists with several hundred performances throughout

168-837: The West–Eastern Divan Orchestra . The creation of the Barenboim–Said Akademie in 2015 was rooted in a pre-existing peace project, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra . Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim co-founded the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra in Weimar , Germany in 1999, named after the West–östlicher Divan ( West–Eastern Divan ), an anthology of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who took his inspiration from

196-502: The "old" and "new" managements of the Festival, as exemplified by the maintenance of a website critical of the former management, which can be seen below. Notes Sources 42°44′09″N 12°44′07″E  /  42.73578°N 12.73527°E  / 42.73578; 12.73527  ( Teatro Nuovo, base of the Festival dei Due Mondi ) Spoleto Festival USA Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina ,

224-407: The 46 board members the next month. The tumult affected the scope of the festival the following year; the budget for 1992's festival was $ 4.6 million, down about $ 1 million from 1991, and covering about 20 percent fewer presentations (103 in 1992 compared with over 120 in 1991). In 1990 and 1991, the festival had raised about 44% of its budget (about $ 2.4 million) from private donations, but in 1992,

252-691: The College of Charleston at that time, was named as the new chairman of the Charleston Coordinating Committee after the departure of Hugh Lane. Personality disputes also arose involving Menotti. Menotti, who had served as the artistic director for the festival since its founding, claimed in 1991 that he was not interested in renewing his three-year contract when it ended in 1992 over artistic differences. The board did not officially accept his resignation immediately, but Menotti stood by his intentions, blaming artistic differences with

280-836: The Festival has presented over 200 international and U.S. premieres, notably Creve Coeur by Tennessee Williams and The American Clock by Arthur Miller . Other premieres have included Monkey: Journey to the West by Chen Shi-Zheng, Damon Albarn, and Jamie Hewlett; Peter and Wendy by Lee Breuer; The American Clock by Arthur Miller ; The Mechanical Organ by the Nikolais Dance Theatre; Miracolo d’Amore by Martha Clarke; Empty Places by Laurie Anderson; Hydrogen Jukebox by Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg ; Praise House by Urban Bush Women; Three Tales by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot; and Tenebrae by Osvaldo Golijov The official companion festival to Spoleto Festival USA,

308-581: The Festival's tenets is to provide young artists the opportunity to work with veteran directors, designers and performers. Artists who performed at Spoleto Festival USA early in their careers include Renée Fleming , Emanuel Ax , Joshua Bell , Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Yo-Yo Ma . Each year, the Festival produces its own operas, which are often rarely performed masterpieces by well-known composers or traditional works presented in new ways. It also presents theater, dance and music programs ranging from classical to jazz, bluegrass, soul and blues. Since its inception,

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336-729: The Menotti family and the board of Spoleto Festival USA, in the early 1990s a separation occurred. Under Menotti's direction in 1986, a third installment in the Spoleto Festival series was held in Melbourne , Australia . Melbourne's Spoleto Festival changed its name to the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in 1990. Following Menotti's death in 2007, changes occurred in the administration with

364-703: The Persian poet Hafez . The first ensemble workshop took place in 1999, part of Weimar's program as the European Capital of Culture . The academy, which emerged from the Orchestra, offers a program jointly in the music and in humanities, with the intent "to train excellent musicians who are also curious and well-educated." Edward Said said of the founding of the Western-Eastern Divan Orchestra , "Separation between peoples

392-413: The board and lack of personal control: "I no longer feel it is my festival, and this has been my life for 15 years. I feel a bit lonely among them. I'm treated like a clerk." Most significantly, Menotti had a poor relationship with the festival's general manager, Nigel Redden, who challenged programming decisions, expense accounts for Menotti, and administrative decisions by Menotti. Two camps developed on

420-483: The board, splitting support between those backing Redden and those who supported Menotti (including Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.). Mayor Riley supported Menotti so strongly that he threatened to withdraw city support for the festival if Menotti were pushed out. Eventually, in May 1991, Menotti issued an ultimatum that either Redden and his supporters resign or Menotti would. In August 1991, Redden resigned, as did 19 of

448-515: The city. Piccolo Spoleto is "the perfect complement to the international scope of its parent festival and its 700 events in 17 days transform Charleston into an exhilarating celebration of performing, literary and visual arts." Piccolo Spoleto concludes the day before the main festival with a free concert in Hampton Park . Except for 2001 (when they were held on Daniel Island), the closing ceremonies have been held at Hampton Park since 1984 when

476-537: The eastern wing of the building, based on a design by Frank Gehry and planned by Yasuhisa Toyota as chief acoustician. The design of the concert hall reflects the ideas of French composer, director and theoretician Pierre Boulez , who was also consulted on the project. Construction costs are estimated at €36 million, financed by private donors and a €20 million grant from the German Federal Government . The Barenboim–Said Academy moved into

504-543: The event coincided with the reopening of the refurbished park. Each year members of the Festival Orchestra are selected by nationwide auditions to form the Festival's resident ensemble. The orchestra works with the Resident Conductor and Director of Orchestral Activities, John Kennedy , as well as with guest conductors in opera, symphonic, choral, chamber, and contemporary music performances. Over

532-483: The festival raised only $ 1.2 million from such donations, about 33% of its $ 3.6 million budget that year. By 1993, personal conflicts reached a breaking point, with Menotti and the board of the Charleston festival arguing over those in charge of the festival, its artistic direction, and financing. Menotti, who had threatened the end the festival in Charleston left the festival in 1993; the local board, however, owned

560-558: The festival's history. Hanna previously served as the founding dean of the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin. The Festival's mission is to present programs of the highest artistic caliber while maintaining a dedication to young artists, a commitment to all forms of the performing arts, a passion for contemporary innovation, and an enthusiasm for providing unusual performance opportunities for established artists. One of

588-586: The result that the Italian Minister of Cultural Affairs appointed a new Artistic Administrator who continues to run the Festival. Following Menotti's death in February 2007, the city administrations of Spoleto and Charleston started talks to re-unite the two festivals, which resulted in the Mayor of Spoleto, Massimo Brunini, attending the opening ceremony of Spoleto Festival USA in May 2008. However, at

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616-518: The rights to the name of the festival and pledged to continue it without Menotti. Milton Rhodes was appointed the general manager in November 1993, and he immediately set about righting the finances, including negotiating the cancellation of about $ 400,000 in debt and securing a loan from South Carolina to cover another $ 600,000 of debt. Still, the financial difficulties continued, and the 1995 festival lost an additional $ 900,000. In July 1995, Redden

644-474: The time of the 2007 Festival, the President and Artistic Director was Menotti's adopted son, Francis "Chip" Menotti and, in the fall of 2007, the Italian Minister of Cultural Affairs, Francesco Rutelli —after unsuccessful negotiations with Menotti—removed him from his position and named Giorgio Ferrara new artistic director of the festival. This has resulted in continuing controversy between representatives of

672-561: The years, the Festival Orchestra has proved to be an opportunity for young musicians to gain extensive performance experience. Alumni of the Spoleto orchestra can be found in almost every professional orchestra in the United States and many abroad. Notes Barenboim%E2%80%93Said Akademie The Barenboim–Said Akademie (German: Barenboim-Said Akademie , Arabic : أكاديمية بارنبويم-سعيد , Hebrew : אקדמיית ברנבוים-סעיד )

700-422: Was again successful in turning the finances of the festival around, quickly raising $ 1.6 million and cutting debt in half. In September 2020, Nigel Redden announced his retirement from the festival, after 35 years of involvement with Spoleto. In July 2021, the festival announced Mena Mark Hanna as its new General Director. Hanna is the first person of color to lead the festival, and the fourth general director in

728-480: Was rebuilt after its destruction in World War II between 1951 and 1955 by the architect Richard Paulick . The building is landmark protected; its exterior and the main parts of its interior have been restored. A total of 6,500 m of floor space houses 21 rehearsal rooms, an auditorium, offices and ancillary spaces. The main addition to the building is a 682-seat Pierre Boulez Saal  [ de ] in

756-434: Was recruited to return to the festival on an interim basis to help it overcome a debt of more than $ 1,000,000. The 1995 festival went over budget by 20%, and its full-time staff was cut in half. During his first tenure with the festival, Redden had been successful in repairing the festival's flagging finances and left the festival having gone from a $ 500,000 deficit to a surplus of $ 1.4 million. Upon his return in 1996, Redden

784-410: Was selected as an ideal location, with Menotti saying of Charleston: The annual 17-day late-spring event showcases both established and emerging artists in more than 150 performances of opera, dance, theater, classical music, and jazz. The festival experienced financial problems from its outset which produced a quick turnover in leadership. On September 27, 1976, Theodore "Ted" Stern, the president of

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