We Speak Arts
South Carolina Ballet Expands Live Orchestra to All Six ‘Nutcracker’ Performances at the Koger Center
South Carolina Ballet is expanding live orchestral accompaniment to all six Columbia performances of William Starrett’s Nutcracker this December at the Koger Center for the Arts.
Beginning December 12, every Columbia performance of Starrett’s holiday classic will feature the S.C. Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Scott Weiss. Performances are scheduled for December 12 and 19 at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and December 13 and 20 at 3:00 p.m. The company will also host its popular Nutcracker Tea parties ahead of select performances.
The announcement continues a busy fall for the company, formerly known as Columbia City Ballet. Its 2026–2027 season at the Koger Center opened with the theatrical drama of Dracula: Ballet With a Bite on October 23–24, and continues in the new year with Sleeping Beauty on February 20, 2027, and Off the Wall & Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green on March 12, 2027.
South Carolina Ballet’s Nutcracker — the largest, continuously running performing arts event produced in South Carolina — tours eight cities across the Southeast this year, with the company’s professional dancers sharing the stage with more than 100 local children in Columbia.
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WQXR and Carnegie Hall have announced the lineup for the 2026–27 season of Carnegie Hall Live, the broadcast series that brings performances from the legendary New York venue to audiences nationwide and around the world. Now in its 16th season, the series airs live on WQXR-FM and streams at WQXR.org and CarnegieHall.org, with broadcasts also distributed to public radio stations across the country.
The season opened on October 9 with the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Kirill Petrenko, joined by pianist Víkingur Ólafsson in a program of Brahms and Strauss — part of the orchestra’s four-concert Carnegie Hall residency that launched the Hall’s 2026–27 season.
Among the season’s highlights, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s performs an all-Berlioz program on November 5, 2026, led by Louis Langrée and starring tenor Benjamin Bernheim in a rare New York appearance, pairing Les nuits d’été with the Symphonie fantastique. On January 19, 2027, Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, with soloists Golda Schultz, Taylor Raven, Julian Prégardien, and Anthony Robin Schneider.
The series also carries performances by the Vienna Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra as part of Carnegie Hall’s season-long Mahler symphony cycle led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, alongside chamber music programs spotlighting Beethoven and Brahms.
Carnegie Hall Live is hosted by WNYC and WQXR’s John Schaefer, with guest hosts Elliott Forrest and Paul Cavalconte. The series is produced by WQXR in partnership with Carnegie Hall and American Public Media. For the full broadcast schedule, visit carnegiehall.org.
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