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n Spoleto from page 3 Trapped in a war-torn world, she drags her chil dren across the battlefields of Europe, fiercely de termined to profit from the war while protecting her family from its atrocities. Kathryn Hunter will perform the title role in this adapatation directed by Nancy Meckler. • A Spoleto favorite in 1987 and 1989, the Col la Marionettes return to Spoleto with “Aida” and “Around the World in Eighty Days.” Artistic Di rector Eugenio Monti Colla has adapted Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida” for marionettes; complete with a puppet cast of Moorish dancers, Ethiopian prisoners, torch bearers and soldiers. Likewise, “Around the World in Eighty Days” is animated by 300 wooden marionettes. Bridges collapse, steam boats explode and elephants stampede during the 18 scenes of this globetrotting adventure. me v^uiia maiiuiieiica mai staged this spectacle in 1896; today’s produc tion will include some of the original scenes, music and marionettes from the 100-year-old production as well as from the most re cent production that premiered in 1992. • Cannon Park will host a 50-foot-tall candv striped tent in which aerialists, illu sionists, musicians and high-wire artists of the French ensemble Les Colporteurs will create its one ring spectacle. For its North American debut, this 12-member troupe of tightrope and trapeze artists, dancers, and musicians transform the Italo Calvi no novel “The Baron in the Trees,” in which a 13 year-old baron leaves the dinner table one evening, walks outside, climbs a tree and fives the rest of his fife in the tree tops, into their utterly charming pro duction, “Filao.” “Filao” is based upon poems that were written by the troupe and inspired by “The Baron in the Trees.” Dance This year’s dance series will feature two of the most accomplished contemporary ballet compa nies on the international scene today, Cullbeig Bal let and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. • Now entering its fourth decade, Sweden’s Cullbeig Ballet will thrill Spoleto audiences with choreographer Mats Ek’s radically contemporary “Swan Lake,” the only traditional element of which is Tchaikovsky’s score. It promises to offer new in sights into one of dance’s beloved masterpieces. • In its Spoleto debut, Les Grands Ballets Cana diens will pay homage to five of contemporary bal let’s most respected choreographers in two dif ferent programs. For its first two performances, the company will perform its Great Europeans pro gram, featuring Jiri Kylian’s “Symphony of Psalms” and Nacho Duato’s “Without Words,” set to six songs by Franz Schubert and William Forsythe’s “Approximate Sonata.” The final performance will include Balanchine’s “Valse Fantasie” and Jose Limon’s “The Moor’s Pavane.” JKusic • In addition to the Bank of America Chamber Music Series, this year’s Spoleto Artistic Director for Choral Activities Joseph Flummerfelt reunites the Westminster Choir with the Charleston Sym phony Orchestra Chorus and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra for Poulenc’s “Gloria” and Johannes Brahms’ rhapsody for alto, male chorus and or chestra and his “Schicksalslied.” • Composer Heiner Goebbels explores the his torical and experimental aspects of a city through a what is being called a “vibrant” score incorpo rating multimedia elements in the Festival Con cert, “Surrogate Cities.” The performance will take place in Memminger Auditorium, a facility that at one time was Charleston’s major concert hall but has sat vacant for more than ten years. Calling it a visual and audio spectacle, Spoleto Music Direc tor, Opera & Orchestra, Steven Sloane will con duct the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in the Amer ican premiere of this spectacular work that melds lights and images with a vibrant score for am i\ phfied orchestra and vocalists. ls)ac/touia tfazz • The Collie of Charleston will be the 1 site of the 2000 series’ first performance 4 I when vocalist Kurt Elling performs on 4 Q1 May 27 at the College’s Cistern. New i f comer Elling has been creating a stir on Of the jazz scene. Crediting much of his sound Jr to his Chicago roots, Elling has been called one of the best jazz vocalists of his generation by The Wall Street Journal. He has been thrilling both critics and audiences alike with a nch ban tone and his highly original interpretations of jazz classics. • Considered one of jazz’s foremost guitarists for more than two decades, in recent years Bill Frisell has been testing the boundaries of jazz gui tar, crossing over into blues, country, rock and folk. Frisell can be heard on a variety of motion picture soundtracks, including Gus Van Zant’s remake of “Psycho,” the upcoming Wim Wfenders film “Mil lion Dollar Hotel,” the Buster Keaton film “Go West” and his good friend Gary Larson’s animated television project “Tales From the Far Side II.” At Spoleto, Frisell will be joined by his new group, featuring bassist David Piltch; drummer Kenny Wollesen; and guitarist, acoustic dobro, lap steel, Hawaiian Weissenbom and mandolin player Greg Leisz. • With her strong, agile voice, rhythmic virtu osity and improvisational ease, Dianne Reeves is clearly a powerful jazz performer. Her singing knows no boundaries, drawing upon a world of in fluences from Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, gospel, R&B, classic and contemporary pop. Reeves cred its the dignity in her singing to her childhood in Denver, where she was raised by her grandmoth er, mother and aunt. • With his sensitivity to texture and poetic imag ination, renowned pianist Fred Hersch is often likened to the dean of jazz piano Bill Evans. A pi anist and composer, Hersch has been on the scene for more than 20 years and is considered one of jazz’s foremost artists. He has released numer ous albums, two of which have been nominated for Grammys. In addition to his solo performance, Her sch can be seen performing at Spoleto with the Bill T. Jones/ Amie Zane Dance Company in “Out Some Place,” a recent collaboration of choreogra pher and composer. • Chick Corea and Gary Burton return to Spo leto for one evening at the North Charleston Per forming Arts Center. Following ti set of duets with Burton, Corea will lead his new six-piece ensem ble, Origin, in a program of recent Corea compo sitions and will invite Burton to join him in clos ing the performance with Origin. D'esliuat finale • For the Festival Finale, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra will perform excerpts from Edward Elgar’s “Sea Pictures” and Ottorino Respighi’s three Botticelli pictures, “Trittico botticelliano,” con cluding with Modest Mussorgsky/Maurice Ravel’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” The evening will end with a fireworks display. Jean Pierre Estournet Spoleto Festival USA 2000 Tightrope artist Antoine Rigot with the French circus Les Colporteurs will perform in “Filao” during Spoleto Festival USA 2000, May 26 to June 11. The performance by this 12-member troupe of tightrope and trapeze artists, dancers, and musicians is inspired by the novel “The Baron in the Trees” and based on poems written by the troupe.