Conducted by Amanda Quist, Music Director of Spoleto Festival USA Chorus

In her inaugural season as Music Director of the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus, Dr. Amanda Quist leads Storytelling—a program that honors legacy while looking toward the future. Through works by American composers and others who explore identity, memory, and belonging, the concerts celebrate the power of the human voice to connect, reflect, and inspire. Set within the soaring Gothic interior of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, one of Charleston’s most acoustically and architecturally stunning spaces, the Festival Chorus invites audiences to experience music as a shared act of community and renewal.

About Amanda Quist
Amanda Quist joins Spoleto Festival USA as Music Director for the Chorus. She is Director of Choral Activities at Western Michigan University’s Irving S. Gilmore School of Music, and previously served as Director of Choral Activities at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, as well as Chair and Associate Professor of Conducting at Westminster Choir College. Her honors include Westminster Choir College’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the Mazzotti Award for Women’s Leadership. Dr. Quist also serves as Director of Interlochen’s Adult Choir Camp and Choral Conducting Institute.

Dr. Quist’s work has been praised by The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and New York Classical Review as “transformative, beautifully prepared, gripping,” “bridging the vocal and instrumental textures with perfect intonation,” and “leaving the audience breathless.” She has collaborated in choral preparation with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Palm Beach Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Seraphic Fire, and Spoleto Festival USA.

Her early music ensemble, Westminster Kantorei, won first place in the 2019 American Prize for Choral Performance. Under her leadership, Kantorei performed at the ACDA Eastern Division Conference, Boston Early Music Festival, American Handel Festival, and Interkultur, and released its debut commercial recording, Lumina (Naxos), in 2017. Additional honors include the James Mulholland National Choral Award and the Audrey Davidson Early Music Award. Dr. Quist was invited to serve as a clinician in Indonesia and Australia, and participated in ACDA’s International Exchange Program in South Africa.

A frequent guest conductor and lecturer throughout the United States and abroad, Dr. Quist is a professional member of the GRAMMY Recording Academy and recently served on the Choral GRAMMY Screening Committee for the 64th Awards.

Attendance at all events is subject to the Festival security policy.

You may also like: Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5, Bank of America Chamber Music