Dr. Amanda Quist’s debut season as Music Director of the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus marked an immediate artistic high point for the ensemble, earning praise for its clarity, cohesion, and expressive range. Becoming the first woman to lead the Chorus in the Festival’s history, she shaped a bold choral arc that brought the season’s theme of freedom of expression—and its America 250 programming—into vivid focus, moving from a 17th-century lament to an 18th-century Mass to a contemporary tapestry of American voices.
The Chorus opened its season within the genre-bending Dido and Aeneas at the Sottile Theatre. As acrobats folded and flew above the stage, the Chorus provided the production’s emotional foundation, grounding its stylized physicality in rich, expressive sound. Charleston City Paper singled out the ensemble as “sublime,” noting Quist’s meticulous preparation in tandem with Patrick Dupré Quigley’s propulsive pacing.
Quist made her formal conducting debut as Music Director with Mozart’s Mass in C Minor on May 29 at the Sottile Theatre, leading the Festival Chorus and Orchestra—more than 125 performers in total—in a monumental work first premiered in 1783, the same year Britain formally recognized American independence. The Post and Courier called the program “a magnificent premiere for Quist as Spoleto’s new choral director,” praising her crisp, unadorned command and clear artistic focus. Grammy-nominated soprano Chelsea Helm anchored the solo performances, while Chorus members stepped forward into featured duet, trio, and quartet passages, underscoring the ensemble’s collaborative spirit.
The Chorus concluded its season with Storytelling Through American Composers (June 5 and 6 at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church), a program of works by American composers exploring themes of identity, memory, struggle, and survival in reflection of America’s 250th. The program embodied Quist’s artistic vision for the Spoleto Festival Chorus, weaving together historic and contemporary voices to illuminate the evolving American choral tradition.