Salome
Date: May 24, 30, June 2, 5
Venue: Charleston Gaillard Center
Best known for the “Dance of the Seven Veils,” Salome depicts the biblical story of Herod’s lovesick stepdaughter and John the Baptist’s ill fate in this contemporary production featuring Oscar Wilde’s rich text.
The Fever
Date: June 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Venue: Woolfe Street Playhouse
Performed in complete collaboration with the audience, The Fever begins as a simple story about an ordinary party and evolves into a spellbinding examination of how we assemble, organize, and care for the bodies around us.
Pay No Attention to the Girl
Date: May 29, 30, 31, June 1
Venue: Woolfe Street Playhouse
Interweaving stories about the sexes―their conflicts, their love, their tricks―this theater piece unearths timely truths from ancient Islamic tales we thought we knew.
Letter to a Friend in Gaza
Date: May 30, 31, June 1, 2
Venue: Emmett Robinson Theatre at College of Charleston
In the world premiere of filmmaker Amos Gitai’s multimedia performance, four actors—two Palestinian and two Israeli—address the foundations of the conflict at the Israel-Gaza border.
Roots
Date: May 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
Venue: Emmett Robinson Theatre at College of Charleston
With its signature fusion of handcrafted animation, storytelling, and original score, English theater company 1927 offers a series of rarely told folktales that glimpse imaginations from a pre-industrialized age.
Shakespeare’s Globe | Audience Choice
Date: May 23, 25, 27, 30, June 1, 4, 6, 8
Venue: Dock Street Theatre
“Audience choice” shows invite ticket-holders to collectively choose between Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, or Pericles; the versatile cast of eight will immediately launch into the winning play!
Shakespeare’s Globe | Twelfth Night
Date: May 24, 31, June 5, 8
Venue: Dock Street Theatre
A combination of cruelty, high comedy, and the pangs of unrequited love.
Shakespeare’s Globe | The Comedy of Errors
Date: May 26, 29, June 1, 7
Venue: Dock Street Theatre
A hectic tale of violent cross-purposes and frenzied slapstick.
Shakespeare’s Globe | Pericles
Date: May 27, June 2, 9
Venue: Dock Street Theatre
This little-seen romance submits its hero to a series of tragedies that culminate in something quite the opposite.
What Girls Are Made Of
Date: June 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Venue: Memminger Auditorium
Based on her meticulously detailed teenage diaries, Cora Bissett performs her own rollercoaster journey from the rock-star girl she was, singing in a hot indie band in Scotland, to the woman she wanted to be.
Circa
Date: June 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Venue: Emmett Robinson Theatre at College of Charleston
Three intrepid acrobats perform mesmerizing feats against a soundscape of Bach—played live by a violinist—fused with spine-tingling electronica.
Path of Miracles
Date: May 27, 31
Venue: Charleston Gaillard Center
This ethereal work, sung a cappella by the Westminster Choir, traces the inspiration, the travails, and finally the rewards of the Camino de Santiago—a spiritual pathway across northern Spain.
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company
Date: May 27, 28, 29, June 1
Venue: Memminger Auditorium
This trilogy weaves together movement, text, song, and storytelling to create an intriguing rumination on the nature of service, duty, and the idea of a life well-lived.
Compagnie Hervé Koubi
Date: May 25, 26
Venue: Charleston Gaillard Center
Thirteen male dancers from Africa and Europe blend street forms, like capoeira, breakdancing, and martial arts, with that of modern contemporary dance to create powerful sequences punctuated with explosive feats.
One Thousand and One Nights
Date: June 7, 8, 9
Venue: Charleston Gaillard Center
Lebanon’s Caracalla Dance Theatre brings age-old stories to life with lavish silk costumes, rich scores with traditional Arabic instruments and melodies, and a multitalented cast of more than 40 performers.
Bank of America Chamber Music
Date: May 24 – June 9
Venue: Dock Street Theatre
Host Geoff Nuttall, who celebrates his 10th season at the helm of this beloved series, leads some of the most skilled chamber musicians in the country in 11 diverse, intimate, and thrilling programs.
City Symphonies
Date: May 26
Venue: Memminger Auditorium
Three films capture the aura of American cities—New York, Los Angeles, and Miami—are shown with live soundtrack by the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra to celebrate the energy, chaos, and beauty of urban life.
Classical Showcase
Date: May 28
Venue: Dock Street Theatre
Members of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra take to the Dock Street stage to perform repertoire from the classical and neo-classical periods.
Music in Time | in vain
Date: May 30
Venue: Simons Center Recital Hall at College of Charleston
Georg Friedrich Haas’s 70-minute work brings the concert hall to darkness while the orchestra remains playing.
Music in Time | The Living Earth Show
Date: May 25
Venue: Woolfe Street Playhouse
This electric guitar-percussion duo from San Francisco returns to the Festival to perform works exploring what it means to be considered American.
Music in Time | Rebellion in Greenery
Date: May 26
Venue: Woolfe Street Playhouse
Disparate sonic landscapes from quiet gardens to noisy cities are brought together in this concert of new and recent music from a compelling array of composers.
Music in Time | Stay On It
Date: May 31
Venue: Simons Center Recital Hall at College of Charleston
The energy and endurance of minimalism is showcased in this program featuring work by Julius Eastman and Steve Reich.
Prokofiev and Shostakovich
Date: June 1
Venue: Charleston Gaillard Center
The Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra explores the breathtaking orchestration and dramatic contours of Russia’s 20th-century musical profile.
St. John Passion
Date: June 4
Venue: Charleston Gaillard Center
Bach’s monumental work explores the grave solemnity and glorious redemption of Christ’s crucifixion—performed by Westminster Choir, Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra.
Westminster Choir Concerts
Date: June 1, 7
Venue: St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
Conducted by Joe Miller, these concerts display the virtuosity and versatility of the Festival’s resident chorus in the exquisite sanctuary of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church.
Wells Fargo Festival Finale featuring Curtis Harding
Date: June 9
Venue: Riverfront Park
Curtis Harding brings a “blistering slice of dancefloor soul” to the Festival Finale’s mainstage for a celebratory close to the 2019 season at Riverfront Park.
Carla Bley – Trios
Date: May 31
Venue: College of Charleston Cistern Yard
Prolific pianist and composer Carla Bley performs beloved works and new compositions with bassist Steve Swallow and saxophonist Andy Sheppard.
Dafnis Prieto Big Band
Date: May 29
Venue: Charleston Gaillard Center
With this 17-piece band—complete with saxophones, trumpets, congas, and more—Grammy nominee and MacArthur Fellow Dafnis Prieto brings some of the world’s best Afro-Cuban musicians to Charleston.
David Virelles
Date: May 25, 26, 27, 28
Venue: Simons Center Recital Hall at College of Charleston
Blending Afro-Cuban folkloric traditions with modern American jazz, pianist David Virelles creates a sound that’s at once ancient and contemporary; for the latter three performances, Virelles is joined by master percussionist Román Díaz.
Esperanza Spalding
Date: May 24, 25
Venue: College of Charleston Cistern Yard
This bassist and vocalist makes her Festival debut, bringing her restless innovation in jazz, pop, and beyond to the beautiful Cistern Yard.
Geri Allen Tribute Quintet
Date: May 30
Venue: College of Charleston Cistern Yard
A star-studded collective of four musicians and a tap dancer pay tribute to pianist Geri Allen’s indelible legacy.
Mark Turner and Ethan Iverson
Date: June 5, 6, 7, 8
Venue: Simons Center Recital Hall at College of Charleston
Mark Turner’s “delicate, almost ethereal” tenor saxophone and Ethan Iverson’s impressionistic pianism come together in the intimate Simons Center Recital Hall.
I’m With Her
Date: June 1
Venue: College of Charleston Cistern Yard
A folk trio with family-like chemistry, Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan blend indelible harmonies and instrumental interplay for an unforgettable sound.
Punch Brothers
Date: May 26
Venue: College of Charleston Cistern Yard
At home in nearly any musical genre, this enthusiastic and experimental quintet takes bluegrass to its next evolutionary stage.
Opening-Night Fête
Date: May 25
Venue: To be announced
Toast Compagnie Hervé Koubi and the beginning of the 2019 season at the party of the season with refreshing cocktails, sumptuous buffet supper, dancing, and live music.
Behind the Garden Gate
Date: May 25, June 1
Venue: Various
Sixteen of the Holy City’s most charming private gardens–eight each weekend–are available for exploration for ticket holders.
Master Classes
Date: May 27, 28, June 8
Venue: College of Charleston Cato Center for the Arts Room 333
Attend special classes held by company members from Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Caracalla Dance Theatre, and Compagnie Hervé Koubi.
Conversations With
Date: May 25, 27, 31, June 5
Venue: Various
CBS journalist Martha Teichner interviews artists from the Festival’s 2019 program. Free Event
Jazz Talks
Date: May 28, 30
Venue: Simons Center Recital Hall at College of Charleston
Music critic Larry Blumenfeld discusses context and inspiration with Grammy-winning drummer Terri Lyne Carrington (Geri Allen Tribute Quintet) and pianist David Virelles. Free Event
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem
Date: May 24 – August 18
Venue: Gibbes Museum of Art
Showcasing works from The Studio Museum in Harlem, this traveling exhibition brings the full breadth of the museum’s unparalleled permanent collection to Charleston.