Menotti: A tribute to Spoleto's father

Composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who once described himself as a lazy music student who hated piano lessons, will be remembered the way he would have liked today at a special music concert performed by the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra and three guest conductors.

The Italian composer started the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, and Charleston's Spoleto Festival USA as stages for young artists and inspired hundreds of performers and music lovers with his operatic compositions and his contemporary vision of the arts.

The orchestra, made up of young, talented musicians who audition for the spot each year, was Menotti's creation and will showcase his work during the concert. He wanted young musicians to have the experience of playing

professionally, and they originally went from the Charleston festival to the Italian one. The two festivals split in 1993 so that no longer happens.

Among the selections will be Magda's aria from Menotti's opera "The Consul," performed by soprano Karen Huffstodt, who sings the role of Begbick in the opera "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny." Also, "Adagio for Strings" by Menotti's friend Samuel Barber, which was performed at Menotti's funeral in Monte Carlo.

He died Feb. 1 at age 95.

Menotti was educated at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia along with fellow students Leonard Bernstein and Barber, who became Menotti's partner in life and in work. Menotti crafted the libretto for Barber's most famous opera, "Vanessa," which premiered in 1958 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Menotti himself won two Pulitzer Prizes, including one for "The Consul" in 1950 that was performed at the first Spoleto Festival USA in 1977. Other operas, such as "The Saint of Bleecker Street" and "Amahl and the Night Visitors," also have been performed here.

June Griggs of North Charleston recalled meeting Menotti when she was serving as an usher at the Dock Street Theatre.

"Years later, after I saw Mr. Menotti's opera 'Amahl and the Night Visitors' on television, I bought a Reader's Digest 'Christmas Book' containing this classic," said Griggs, who has been a volunteer for years at Lamb Elementary School in North Charleston.

"Then, in 1992, I took the book to the festival's opening ceremonies and afterward I went up to Mr. Menotti and asked if he would kindly sign it."

Menotti told her it always made him happy to see the joy the opera brings to young and old.

He designed the two arts festivals to be a showcase of opera, music and dance and delighted in giving edgy, young artists who were just coming to prominence a stage on which to perform their work.

Participating conductors of the orchestra will be Emmanuel Villaume, the festival's music director for Opera & Orchestra; John Kennedy, who directs the festival's Music in Time series and who is conducting the opera "Faustus, The Last Night;" and Marc Williams, assistant conductor of that opera.

Speaking during the program will be Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and Joseph Flummerfelt, artistic director for choral activities for Spoleto Festival USA.

Reach Dottie Ashley at 937-5704 or dashley@postandcourier.com.