{"id":2423167,"date":"2026-05-19T11:29:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2423167"},"modified":"2026-05-19T11:29:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:29:57","slug":"spoleto-festival-chorus-highlighting-american-music-for-250","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/spoleto-festival-chorus-highlighting-american-music-for-250\/","title":{"rendered":"Spoleto Festival Chorus highlighting American music for 250"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This is Dr. Amanda Quist\u2019s first year as the music director for the 50-voice-strong Spoleto Festival Chorus<\/a>, and if the program she has created is any indication, she\u2019s definitely diving in with both feet.<\/p>\n

The shows on June 5 and 6\u00a0\u2014 both of which are at St. Matthew\u2019s Lutheran Church, 405 King St.\u00a0\u2014 will feature a unique format for America’s 250th birthday, with Quist conducting a program called \u201cStorytelling Through American Composers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A folk feel to it<\/h2>\n
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\u201cWe have a mix of very new and somewhat challenging music that\u2019s also very beautiful,\u201d Quist<\/a> told The Post and Courier. “But also music that is … sort of folk song-like. So there’s a wide range of styles and even time periods, and that’s especially interesting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured in the performance are Vittoria Aleotti\u2019s \u201cSurge Propera Amica Mea,\u201d a lush Renaissance piece with flowing lines that overlap and intertwine for fresh harmonic surprises, as well as the moving Muscogee Creek hymn \u201cHeleluyan,” which is more spare, leaning on a chanting melodic line and joyful choral singing that feels almost communal.<\/p>\n

\u201cVittoria Aleotti was the first woman to have her sacred music published,\u201d Quist said of the opening composition. \u201cThis particular piece has a little Renaissance and a little baroque, and it\u2019s very sonically strong and uplifting. And \u2018Heleluyan\u2019 is a Native American piece. … It\u2019s a very simple but very beautiful melody sung in a canon.\u201d<\/p>\n

War & Revolution<\/h2>\n

The second section of the program, \u201cWar & Revolution,\u201d continues the theme of American history, threading \u201cChester,\u201d by William Billings, \u201cWhen David Heard\u201d by Thomas Weelkes and \u201cThe Dying Soldier,\u201d arranged by Nigel Short.<\/p>\n

These songs all deal with the horrors and momentary glories of war, Billings’ piece based in the American Revolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a five-verse hymn that was written to be sung to rally the troops, so to speak,” shared Quist. “But then thinking about the cost of war, the human suffering side, I wanted to pair it with a \u2018What David Heard,’ which is the story of David hearing that his son Absalom was killed in battle. And the music is so colorful in the way that it symbolizes the discovery and the pain that his father goes through.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amanda Quist is the new music director of the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n Cole Carrico\/Spoleto Festival USA\/Provided<\/span>
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The program then shifts to more modern times with “The Dying Soldier.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really reminds us of the human cost behind every conflict,” Quist said.<\/p>\n

Dream sequence<\/h2>\n

The next section of the program, \u201cDreams Deferred,\u201d is the lynchpin of the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about people reflecting on the past and responding to it,” said Quist. \u201cThere\u2019s a theme of people looking back into history and thinking, \u2018I wonder if that\u2019s the whole story.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel Thompson’s \u201cHold Fast To Dreams” moves into Ayanna Woods\u2019 \u201cNo. 2 Shift,\u201d Caroline Shaw\u2019s \u201cTo Her Hands\u201d and Moses Hogan’s arrangement of \u201cElijah Rock,\u201d a traditional African American spiritual typically sung by enslaved people in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cHold Fast to Dreams\u201d is actually built on the Langston Hughes poem of the same name, and the writing moves in layered harmonies that make the chords feel like they bloom and settle rather than shift sharply. Woods\u2019 piece expands on some of the questions raised in the opening song, offered Quist, while Shaw’s piece then refers to a poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reaching for something<\/h2>\n

Then the set closes with something Quist describes as “familiar but also visceral.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s the sound of people reaching for something,” she offered of \u201cLove and Transcendence,\u201d which features \u201cBoth Sides Now\u201d by Joni Mitchell and a buoyant arrangement of the traditional hymn \u201cShall We Gather At The River.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Quist said that this program represents not just the fabric of America, but her own vision for the Spoleto Festival Chorus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI love the blend of old and new,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s what reflecting on America’s 250th is all about.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n