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While PT is galvanizing Gaillard, the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble -- a group of dancers and musicians who live and study together in their own utopian "dance village" -- will timeshare the Robinson (May 27-31). Their new piece, Sacred Space, showcases the odissi style of Indian dance, blending sensual, ecstatic and ritual elements of the Hindi.

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company brings its distinctive brand of agitprop to Sottile Theatre (June 1-3), their third appearance at Spoleto. Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton brings an equally wild mixture to Robinson as her company, ASzURe & Artists (June 1-4), perform Lascilo Perdere. Besides Barton's erotic dancers, filmed images are ladled on top of sacred and secular selections of Vivaldi's vocal music -- including De Profundis played by the Cracow Klezmer Band!

JAZZ

Soul is the theme as Solveig Slettahjell (May 26-27) makes her US debut amid the crickets and magnolias at the lush outdoor setting of the Cistern under the stars. We're sorry to report that Kurt Elling has grown so ripe in repute that his swinging session, "Elling Sings Sinatra/Sings Elling," now must move indoors to the more mundane Gaillard Auditorium (June 2). A 17-piece band joins Elling in his traversal of choice Old Blue Eyes charts.

Wachovia Jazz guru Michael Grofsorean has a special affinity for the Brazilian scene, so if your heart and feet respond to the bossa beat, you're likely to treasure Grofsorean's latest finds, composer-singer-guitarist Sergio Santos at the Cistern (June 3) and, in his US debut, guitar virtuoso Marcus Tardelli at the Robinson (June 7-10).

Old school? Join me and the Hank Jones Trio at the stately Sottile (May 29).

OPERA

If their voices are even half as gorgeous as their headshots, you'll want to hear tenor Frederic Antoun and soprano Nicolle Cabell at Gaillard Auditorium in Romeo et Juliette (May 26, 29, June 3, 9). Gounod was probably the first to make such a fuss over Mercutio's Queen Mab soliloquy, long before Prokoviev jumped overboard with her in his R&J ballet. Waltzes, choruses and, of course, tortured love duets are also among the musical highlights.

MUSIC

If you like Mozart, you'll particularly cherish the lunchtime Bank of America Chamber Music Concerts (May 26-June 11) this year. Every one of the 11 concert programs will contain at least one Wolfie morsel, introduced by the personable Charles Wadsworth, and played by the usual suspects. With the St. Lawrence String Quartet back at the Dock Street, along with pianists Wendy Chen and Jeremy Denk, clarinetist Todd Palmer and flutist Tara O'Connor, you can expect the full range of chamber repertoire to be explored -- with an occasional splash of harpsichord from Wadsworth himself.

We'll admit that the modernistic Music in Time series (May 27, June 3, 6, 10) has looked -- and sounded -- in past years like a cooking show. But with heavyweight composers John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, Philip Glass, Pierre Boulez and Kaija Saariaho in this year's lineup, the music-to-noise ratio figures to improve. Particularly on June 10, when the series moves out of its customary clean room Recital Hall at Albert Simons for the first time and into Grace Episcopal Church. That earmarks the Glass-Saariaho program as extra special.

Always at the chaste Grace, the 5pm Intermezzi concerts (May 28, 29, June 1, 4, 5, 9) showcase the young virtuosi of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in programming that is every bit as wide-ranging, adventurous and euphonious as the lunchtime chamber fare. Minus the Wadsworth banter -- and you do need to arrive early and scramble for the best general admission seats.

CIRCUS BY THE SEA

OK, so maybe the racy, amoral Don Giovanni and Philip Glass's Symphony #3 aren't the epitome of family-friendly fare. Spoleto is packaging a combo ticket that gives children of all ages (12 is the price borderline) a seat at Circus Flora and a visit to the nearby South Carolina Aquarium between May 23 and May 30.

So do it. Run away.

REVIEW

Here's a lesson in self-promotion. If you're writing headlines for yourself, be sure they're flattering. Back in January, when she was introducing the first CPCC Opera Theatre production at Halton Theater, Carmen, Rebecca Cook-Carter promised her audience that she was going on a major weight-loss program. So that when she returned in May as Cio-Cio San, she would truly be Madama Butterfly and not Madama Butterball.

Cook-Carter had to eat her words last weekend, no doubt cursing the pasta she secretively devoured over the intervening months, as she donned Cio-Cio's pure white wedding dress. To her credit, Cook-Carter's acting and heartfelt singing often had me forgetting that she had long since passed the ages of 15 and 18 -- and that her wedding dress might shelter a Cirque du Soleil performance.