Title: Reflections on legacy
Format: Interview
Client: The Restoration Hotel
Description: This interview explores the evolving vision of Spoleto Festival USA through a conversation with its General Director, Nigel Redden. The piece reflects on Redden’s personal journey with the festival, the power of interdisciplinary storytelling, and Spoleto’s ongoing commitment to pairing historic works with contemporary voices. From newly commissioned operas to immersive installations that confront history and identity, the interview highlights how the festival continues to challenge audiences, expand accessibility to the arts, and spark reflection—while staying rooted in its founding spirit of curiosity and creative exchange.
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In the late 1970s, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti founded an American counterpart to Italy’s Festival Dei Due Mondi, a tour de force which to this date features some of the most outstanding acts in opera, dance, drama, and the visual arts. By a poetic turn of fate, Nigel Redden, who once served as an intern at its Italian precursor, became the General Director of Spoleto Festival USA. Today, he speaks of the event’s program with the same sense of wonder he might have felt 40 years ago when was a youngster experiencing the transformational power of the arts for the very first time.
Redden developed an interest in the performing arts early in life, attending chamber orchestra and opera performance since he was enrolled in high school. However, it wasn’t until he visited the Festival Dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, a small town nestled between Florence and Rome, that he understood the mighty effect that comes from blending various art forms within a single encounter. Redden explains, “The weaving of multiple disciplines into an integrated program allows us to tell a uniquely human story.” Despite them not sharing a commonplace in history, stories told in spoken text, music, and movement somehow come together to depict nearly universal truths that resonate with people from all walks of life.
When thinking about how Spoleto Festival USA has evolved throughout its 44 seasons, Redden emphasizes that the element of juxtaposition remains a defining trait, but that much like artistic expression does over time, the event’s range has broadened to incorporate emerging perspectives. While the festival still highlights classical works dating back to 300 years ago, sometimes more, it also makes room for up-and-coming artists who contribute performances that blend classical and contemporary elements. To illustrate the point, Redden cites a performance that combines a piece from 1620s, the era of the Mayflower, with a visual installation with photographs depicting the plight of modern-day immigrants.
Throughout his 10 plus years serving Spoleto Festival USA, Redden has lived through a vast amount of meaningful moments that have made him proud to be a part of the annual event. One that particularly stands out to him is helping organize the Places with a Past exhibit, an installation that pushed guests to engage in a conversation about indelible historical wounds that continue to ache us today. Redden adds “One of the pieces, a reproduction of a photograph taken by George Barnard, is still on display at the portico of the Emmanuel Church, to remind us of where we come from how we can begin to heal.”
Taking a look at this year’s program, Redden is especially excited about introducing a newly commissioned opera by Rhiannon Giddens based on the autobiography of Omar Ibn Said, an enslaved Muslim-American man who was brought to Charleston in 1807. American Composer Michael Abels, who write the music for Jordan Peele’s acclaimed films Get Out and Us, is working closely with Gibbens in creating the libretto for the opera, which will incorporate traditional West-African and European sounds.
He is also thrilled to present Emma Rice’s Romantics Anonymous, a charming love story with lyrics and music by Christopher Diamond and Michael Kooman. This musical promises to be a treat for the sense of first-time attendees, who might feel a bit intimidated by the idea of watching an opera. As we were concluding our interview, Redden reminded us, “It’s too bad opera has a reputation for being stiff. From its beginnings, it’s always been meant to delight and entertain. I’m hoping that composers like Giddens and Abels can help us rescue the genre from post-modernity and make it more accessible for all audiences.”
When we asked Redden what he hoped would be the main takeaway of the audience upon watching the program his team has put together for the 2020 edition of Spoleto Festival USA, he said “I would hope they’d leave pleasantly surprised, but also a bit puzzled—I hope the performances linger in their minds and inspire them to ask questions about the topics addressed.” It’s precisely this commitment to pushing boundaries with thought-provoking content that keeps guests coming back year after year.