The Tell Your Story project is an annual creative engagement initiative that brings Spoleto artists together with the Charleston community to forge connections, document oral histories, preserve the sounds of rapidly changing landscapes, and create new works to be shared at the Festival.
Partnering with We Are Family, Charleston Jewish Federation, and Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach, the project identifies a cohort of “resident narrators” every year who connect with Spoleto, share stories of their experiences living and growing up in Charleston, and translate those stories into musical works that are premiered as part of the Festival programming.
The Tell Your Story Fellows are identified by inviting applications from past members of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra and Chorus. These young musicians and composers, who have experience performing at Spoleto, are seeking a deeper connection to Charleston, its complex and rich history, and its residents. The fellows undergo workshops in cultural humility, ethical interview techniques, recording design, and audio engineering to support their work on the project. They then come to Charleston for a week-long period of getting to know the resident narrators, recording their stories, and working on forming their musical compositions. These materials are refined throughout the spring resulting in new works that are rehearsed, workshopped, and premiered during the Festival each year.
Tell Your Story is led by Renate Rohlfing, Edward Kass, and Philip Snyder.
In The Press
Post and Courier 2022 – “Spoleto’s ‘Tell Your Story’ project connects festival musicians with community”
SC Public Radio – Interview with Bradley Fuller
Post and Courier 2023 – “Spoleto Festival partners with We Are Family for community-based musical initiative”
Post and Courier 2024 – “Spoleto event spotlighting LGBTQ youth, children of Holocaust survivors’ stories”
Works
All past Tell Your Story compositions and their details are archived below and are shared with the permission of the performers, fellows, and resident narrators.
The Forester
Gabriele Jones, Voice
Hannah O’Brien, Violin
Throughout his life, Resident Narrator Gabriele Jones has brandished many titles. A queer artist of color who paints marginalized marvels. The first and only two-spirited officer of their Future Famers of America chapter. An ever-caring friend and tender “husband” to their queerplatonic partner. And, for his efficiency and passion for agriculture, someone who heartily answers to “Cattle Dog”, upholding the name through daily labors of love. Whether they’re following in the footsteps of older farmers or brightening the world with bold, new creations, Gabriele is always steadfast in one mission: to honor movements, minorities, and opportunities that promote diversity, especially if such greatness can break a troubling tradition. By sharing their laughter and this “love letter” to their muses, they hope listeners will learn to embrace the raw beauty of nature and self-determination in this age of bewildering, but bountiful experiences.
Hannah O’Brien is a classical and Irish fiddle player based in the Boston area. A graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music and the New England Conservatory, Hannah has played with ensembles including the Boston Lyric Opera, Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, and New Bedford Symphony. In addition to classical performance, Hannah is an Irish fiddler, composer and arranger, and is part of an acoustic string duo with musical partner Grant Flick. The duo released its debut record in 2021 titled “Windward,” and will be releasing their second studio album this coming August. They are recipients of many grants including the Binkow Chamber Music Grant, and the Club Passim Iguana Fund, and spent last summer as Resonance Festival Artists at the Honeywell Arts Academy. When not playing music, Hannah enjoys thrifting and doing her daily wordle.
Somebody Like Me
Shirley Silberstein Mills, Voice
Rituparna Mukherjee, Viola
Resident Narrator Shirley Silberstein Mills serves on the Charleston Holocaust Remberance committee, speaking at multiple local and state schools including teachers’ conventions. She has also created an Endowment at the Jewish Federation for Holocaust education in South Carolina. She is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors who met in a refugee camp in Milan, Italy, where she was born. Their faith, courage and hope motivated them to have two children and later chose to move to Israel to help build the new state. Later they immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio for her father to be with his brother, his only remaining family member. They believed their surviving 9 concentration camps together was a miracle. She states that “My legacy is to spread their story and teach young people to be our ambassadors of a kinder world with less hate.” “Am Yisroel Chi!”
Rituparna Mukherjee completed her MM at New England Conservatory, where she received the Presidential Distinction Award, under the tutelage of Nicholas Cords. From performing at Carnegie Hall with the Oberlin Orchestra to the Jazz Educators Network in New Orleans with the Genre Nova Ensemble, to rebuilding houses and performing in Port Au Prince after Hurricane Harvey, Rituparna strives to be a versatile musician using music as a means of communication and understanding between different people and communities. As a double-degree student in Viola Performance and Psychology she is a founding member of the “Strings at Grafton” at Grafton Correctional Institution.
Mind. the gap
Ethan Lam, Voice
Liam Gibb, Violin
Resident Narrator Ethan Lam was born and raised in Simpsonville within a Vietnamese immigrant household, where he was taught the importance of heritage and community at an early age. During his high school years, he explored around downtown Greenville with his camera to see what all the city had to offer. His sense of exploration continued into his college years in Columbia while attending the University of South Carolina for his undergrad. There, he participated in various student organizations such as the Vietnamese Student Association, and local interest groups such as Street Meats. This helped reinforce both his love of community and the importance of seeking it out. Now in Charleston, Ethan mainly devotes his time to studying at MUSC. He still tries to find things to do in Charleston whenever possible, whether it be riding around the city with bike riding groups, visiting thrift stores, or exploring the local state parks. When he’s not studying in the library or riding around, he likes cooking, baking, photography, and catching up on reading. During breaks, Ethan would come back home to spend time with his loved ones, including his hometown friends, and his parents and younger brother.
William (Liam) Gibb is a violinist and composer based in Cincinnati, OH. In his works he seeks to combine classical repertoire with LGBTQ+ advocacy. He hopes to highlight queer perspectives and experiences both in the music he performs and the pieces that he writes. Grateful to participate in Tell Your Story for a second year, Gibb firmly believes that it is dynamic and diverse programming like TYS that sets Spoleto apart from other festivals. As a soloist, recent engagements have included performing with the Richmond (IN) Symphony, Carnegie’s Weill Recital hall as a laureate of the American Protégé International Concerto Competition, and the 2023 Spoleto Festival.
Under the Birch Trees
(inspired by the story and paintings of Sandra Brett)
Sandra Brett, Voice
Ye Jin Min, Violin
I. My Grandfather
II. Birches and Embers
III. mɔːrnɪŋ
Artwork by Sandra Brett, in the order of appearance:
For My Grandfather – Birches and Embers – Ascending Embers – Ascending Smoke – Ascending Souls – Ascending Sparks
Liam Gibb, Ye Jin Min, and Hannah O’Brien, violin; Rituparna Mukherjee, viola; Edward Kass, bass
For most of her professional life, Resident Narrator Sandra Brett taught studio art and art history at the post-secondary level. After relocating to Charleston, SC in 2006, she reinvigorated Holocaust education as director of the Charleston Jewish Federation REMEMBER program, an initiative for which she was well suited as a child of Holocaust Survivors. She continues to create cultural initiatives as director of the Charleston Jewish Filmfest. She is a board member of the Charleston Interreligious Council, the ADL Southeastern Region, and the Charleston Jewish Federation. Her artwork can be viewed at sandrabrettart.com. Other interests include hiking, cycling, and racquet sports.
Ye Jin Min, a violinist-composer at the New World Symphony and pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at Yale School of Music, shares her musical passion with audiences worldwide. Ye Jin’s compositions have premiered at Catalyst 2023 by Knight Foundation, and the Juan Carlos Maldonado Collection among other venues. Guided by a profound appreciation for contemporary and underrepresented composers, Ye Jin seeks new ways of engaging audiences, collaborating across disciplines to create novel musical experiences. In 2023, she founded Unboxed Musicians, a musicians’ collective redefining concert experiences through multi-disciplinary collaboration.
Jumbled House
Jonatan Guerrero-Ramirez, Voice
Liam Gibb, Violin
Heart of a Poet
Zoe Harvey-Prioleau, Voice
Aurora Mendez, Violin
Text: “3:53AM” by Zoe Harvey-Prioleau
And Then We Come Home
Kimberlee Clark, Voice
Stephanie Liu, Violin
Cal
Cal Boyce, Voice
Austin Lewellen, Double Bass
Stephanie Liu, violin, Rituparna Mukherjee, viola, Simon Housner, cello
I’ve Got a Story to Tell
Antwoine Geddis, Voice
Aurora Mendez, Violin & Sound Design
“I’ve got a story to tell” highlights the many sides of Antwoine Curtis Geddis and his rich family history that he has single handedly traced back seven generations through personal research and oral accounts passed on to him by family members. This piece is centered on several musical motifs that are based on Geddis’ initials, “A C G,” and his musical identity as “DJ Sporty.” Throughout the piece, you will hear repetitive loops that represent the importance of telling our stories, as well as sounds from his “DJ Sporty’s Sugar Shack” stand on Johns Island.
For more than two decades, Resident Narrator Antwoine Curtis Geddis has been the owner of Dj Sporty Entertainment of Johns Island as well as Dj Sporty Mobile Sugar Shack with Snacks and Boiled Peanuts. He is the former drummer of Cedar Spring Baptist Church and, as a family and community historian, has been recognized for researching seven generations of his family history. A father of four children, Geddis also serves as a line technician for the Charleston Executive Airport.
Violinist and New York City native, Aurora Mendez is a multifaceted musician, educator, and Web3 builder. Aurora is a former Orchestra of the Americas Global Leader Fellow and currently holds teaching positions with SOPAC, Music Mentors Collaborative, and the NJ Symphony Orchestra Youth Program. In Web3, she serves as an advisor and consultant for leading blockchain music projects and is the founder of “Crypto Cleff Media,” an online initiative that aims to bridge the gap between classical musicians and Web3. Currently, Aurora is a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Apex Ensemble, and the Latin Orchestra of Europe.
You Got To Move
Christina Hunter McNeil, Voice
Sound design by Viola Chan, feat. Immanuel Wilkins
“My work dives into the life of Ms. Christina Hunter McNeil, a Johns Island native and descendant of the Gullah people. In this soundscape, which heavily features Ms. McNeil’s telling of her life story, both the noises of Charlestonian nature and traditional spirituals are interwoven in its texture. I rely on Christina’s structure of storytelling and utilize the musicality of her speech; my own additions to the work are only meant to enhance her narrative.” -Viola Chan
Resident Narrator, Christina Hunter McNeil was born and raised on Johns Island. At seven-years-old, she began traveling with her mother, Janie Hunter, as a storyteller and singer—work she continues to do as an adult. Janie Hunter can be heard at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, and McNeil describes it as a joy and gift to carry on her mother’s legacy. A lover of sewing, baking, and cooking, McNeil most relishes going to church and spending time with her daughter, leAndrea.
Flutist Viola Chan is a multifaceted artist and musician based in New York City. She has made notable appearances at Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center, and she has participated in numerous festivals nationwide. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and is dedicated to portrait photography and the craft of hand music engraving.
letting go and be
Jacqueline Grimball Jefferson, Voice
Sounds by Joy Guidry and Khari Lucas
Artist Statement
This work combines words by Jacueline Grimball Jefferson and an ambient soundscape designed by Joy Guidry and Khari Lucas. Jacqueline reflects on her life and Charleston’s history through her perspective as a Gullah woman.
A proud Gullah woman of the Sea Islands, both Wadmalaw and Johns islands, Resident Narrator Jacqueline Grimball Jefferson is in love with nature, music, and life itself. She believes the way to a peace-filled world is to better understand others and to be understood oneself.
Radical self-love, compassion, laughter, and the drive to amplify Black artmakers comprise the core of New York City-based bassoonist and composer Joy Guidry’s work. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and Mannes School of Music, Guidry has performed with numerous prestigious ensembles and Festivals. They also spearheaded Sounds of the African Diaspora, a competition and commissioning platform for composers from the African diaspora, offering the resources necessary to foster new and innovative music.