Books, Arts & Manners: A Little Lower than Festive

FOR the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, 1996 was not a good year. Gian Carlo Menotti relinquished the leadership (though not necessarily the reins) to his adoptive son, Francis, an uncharismatic figure. The mayor wishes to gain control, subsidies are imperiled, the natives are restless. Menotti and the sister festival in Charleston parted company several years ago, though there are rumors of reconciliation. I myself caught only the last nine days of the festival, thereby perhaps missing some good things. Or perhaps not.

Now in its 39th year, this festival of classical music also includes light music, ballet, theater, art exhibitions, and even some film. Of the musical offerings, by far the most satisfying are the midday concerts, 75 minutes on average, in the charming little Teatro Caio Melisso on the Piazza del Duomo. These are chosen partly by the violist Scott Nickrenz and his flautist wife, Paula Robison, and partly by Menotti and his protege, the forty-yearold conductor Steven Mercurio.

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John Simon

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FOR the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, 1996 was not a good year. Gian Carlo Menotti relinquished the leadership (though not necessarily the reins) to his adoptive son, Francis, an uncharismatic figure. The mayor wishes to gain control, subsidies are imperiled, the natives are restless. Menotti and the sister festival in Charleston parted company several years ago, though there are rumors of reconciliation. I myself caught only the last nine days of the festival, thereby perhaps missing some good things. Or perhaps not.

Now in its 39th year, this festival of classical music also includes light music, ballet, theater, art exhibitions, and even some film. Of the musical offerings, by far the most satisfying are the midday concerts, 75 minutes on average, in the charming little Teatro Caio Melisso on the Piazza del Duomo. These are chosen partly by the violist Scott Nickrenz and his flautist wife, Paula Robison, and partly by Menotti and his protege, the forty-yearold conductor Steven Mercurio.