This year's festival, which runs May 26-June 11 in Charleston, South Carolina, will include a new production of Gounod's Rom_o et Juliette, choreographer Bill T. Jones' full-length work Blind Date, and a performance of Mozart's Mass in C minor featuring soprano Jennifer Larmore.
The festival was founded in 1977 by composer Gian Carlo Menotti as a counterpart to his Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.