Artistic Director Monique Veaute at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston

Institutional trip for director Monique Veaute, who was a guest of the Spoleto Festival in Charleston last weekend, on the occasion of its inauguration. The trip, the result of the renewed dialogue between the two institutions, and of the director’s personal relationship with the new general director Mena Mark Hanna, opens a new phase of collaboration between the two Festivals founded by Gian Carlo Menotti and new scenarios for future developments. Monique Veaute was able to attend the world premiere of the new production of the opera Omar. The opera, set to music by Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens and composer Michael Abels, is based on the autobiography (written in 1831) of Omar Ibn Said, a Muslim scholar who was forced to leave West Africa on board a ship for Charleston, where he was sold and enslaved. The debut was sealed with great success: the narrative highlights Said’s faith and his resistance to being defined or erased by his slavers, ensuring that his spirit lives on.