ETV looks at the life and accomplishments of Charles Wadsworth, the head of Spoleto's chamber music series. Wadsworth was hand-picked by Gian Carlo Menotti in 1960 to create the original chamber music series at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, which led to Spoleto Festival USA in 1977. He also helped launch the careers of many musicians, including famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The documentary includes an interview with Wadsworth himself, who takes viewers on a tour of his hometown in Newnan, GA.
This documentary bursts with lively musical moments and the joy that Charles Wadsworth brought to the world of chamber music. You won't want to miss the chance to see snippets of concerts which were put together over the years by co-directors Paula Robison and Scott Nickrenz under the leadership of Charles Wadsworth. Hear the St. Lawrence String Quartet and the Borromeo String Quartet, among others. Young performers were paired with established chamber ensembles, giving the young people a chance to learn and shine. Also featured in the documentary, Charles Wadsworth accompanies Chee-Yun playing “Song Without Words” by Charles Wadsworth.
Side Notes
- Charles Wadsworth, Pianist and Champion of Chamber Music, Dies at 96. As the founder, director, and genial host of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he helped drive the chamber music boom of the 1970s.
- WCSC - The man credited with expanding the populist appeal of chamber music at Charleston’s famous Spoleto Festival USA has died.
- Scott Nickrenz 1938-2025. New England Conservatory of Music mourns Scott Nickrenz died March 17, 2025. In addition to his work at NEC, Nickrenz directed chamber music programs at the Spoleto Festivals in South Carolina and Italy, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and, for more than a quarter century, at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where he curated a programmatically diverse series and was instrumental in the design and construction of a celebrated venue.
- Paula Robison - “Her name is inscribed in the history of her instrument” —Fanfare. Renowned flutist Paula Robison has taught at the Juilliard School, is DMA honoris causa from the San Francisco Conservatory, and now occupies the Donna Hieken Flute Chair at New England Conservatory.
- Susan Wadsworth - Susan Wadsworth founded Young Concert Artists, Inc. in 1961, a unique non‑profit organization which discovered and launched the careers of many of today’s most illustrious musicians including pianists Murray Perahia, Emanuel Ax, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Jeremy Denk, violinists Pinchas Zukerman and Anne Akiko Meyers, soprano Julia Bullock, and composers Kevin Puts, Andrew Norman, and Mason Bates, to name a few.
- Richard Goode - has been hailed for music-making of tremendous emotional power, depth and expressiveness, and has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today’s leading interpreters of Classical and Romantic music.
- Barbara Hendricks - born November 20, 1948 is an American lyric soprano and humanitarian.
- Daniel Phillips - Violinist Daniel Phillips (BM ’76, violin) enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician, solo artist, and teacher. He has performed as a soloist with many of the country’s leading orchestras, including the Pittsburgh, Houston, New Jersey, Phoenix, San Antonio and Yakima symphonies.
