At the end of this week, Spoleto USA kicks off another season in Charleston, two and a half weeks during which the city, always a genteel and charming location, becomes positively electric with the infusion of visitors and the many artists from every discipline imaginable. Here then, briefly, are the events that seem to me to be the highlights of this season...as always, I give no assurances as to ticket availability to any particular event, but I think (especially as many of these have multiple performances) you can still get seats for many of these.

Any discussion of Spoleto has to begin and end with what for me is its signature event, and that is the series of daily chamber music concerts in the Dock Street Theatre, curated by the irrepressible Charles Wadsworth. The high level of artistry, the relaxed atmosphere, the intimacy of the space...all these contribute to the series' enormous success over the years and to the health of the chamber music genre within the overall picture of classical music today.

Of course, Spoleto is also about the big events, and specifically opera, founded as it was by the late Gian-Carlo Menotti. A twentieth-century classic and a twenty-first-century offering by a increasingly hot commodity seem to be must-sees. The classic is Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's searing "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny."(It's a good year ahead for Weill in South Carolina...Opera at USC in conjunction with the Southern Exposure series will be doing "Threepenny Opera" this coming season.) As every postmodern composer struggles with trying to come to grips with the inescapability of popular music in the world around us, Weill's mastery looms ever and ever larger.

The new work is "Faustus, The Last Night" by the 52-year-old French composer Pascal Dusapin. One of a handful of younger-generation French composers who seem able to acknowledge the hovering influence of Pierre Boulez without being crushed by it, some of Dusapin's scintillating Piano Etudes were played at Spoleto last year by Jenny Lin. A look at Dusapin's output shows that he already has a number of stage works to his credit.

In a admirable bit of cross-programming, some of Dusapin's many chamber music works (along with some Weill) will be performed on the Music in Time series held at the College of Charleston's Recital Hall on June 9. Another not-to-be-missed show on that series is an old friend of mine, accordionist Guy Klucevsek. Anybody who fits in equally well appearing with John Zorn or in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (yes, it's true) has got something special going on. Klucevsek has pulled the accordion (kicking and screaming, he might say) into the twenty-first century. And he's a wonderful composer in his own right. His Music in Time show (titled "The Well-Tampered Accordion) is June 1. Check out all the MIT concerts if you can, along with Columbia's Southern Exposure series it is the most extensive opportunity to hear new music in the state.

Philip Glass has been introducing new work at Spoleto for many years now...here is my festival badge when we premiered Hydrogen Jukebox with Allen Ginsberg there 17 years ago:

Glass is back in 2007 with a new work drawn from the poetry of Leonard Cohen entitled Book of Longing, with three shows late in the festival.

Some other Spoleto offerings that look appealing to me: the Verdi Requiem with the Westminster College Choir on June 4; a Spoleto Orchestra concert featuring late Romantic classics (Mahler 4 and Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegel") on June 5; the Gate Theatre of Dublin presenting W. Somerset Maugham's "The Constant Wife" with 18 shows in the run; and in the jazz realm, pianist Ahmad Jamal's June 3 concert, and Enrico Pieranunzi's trio appearance on June 2. I don't know pianist Pieranunzi's work, but that trio date is with two legends, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron, so that's good enough for me.

Sometimes the weather can already be a bit toasty around here this time of year, but in recent days things have seemed just about perfect. I highly recommend that those of you in the Columbia area celebrate this chance to enjoy the outdoors before the onset of sticky summer by checking out the next offering of the Rhythm on the River series tomorrow (Saturday) from 5 to 8 PM. The setting is unbeatable: the amphitheater at the base of the Gervais Street Bridge, on the West Columbia side of the river. Our state's living treasure Bill Wells and his band the Blue Ridge Mountain Grass will be playing. How can you beat that? Pleasant weather (so it's predicted), great bluegrass, views of the Congaree River, the beautiful bridge, and the Columbia skyline. And you can bring your dog(s) too...as long as they're leashed.