abstract:Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world'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.
At Spoleto, they also provided a showcase for Jennifer Rowley, an exciting young dramatic soprano, and for the SpoletoFestivalUSA Orchestra, which sounded robust and vivid under the direction of Maurizio Barbacini.