Events: Ulysses Festival

Prepare to be entertained and thoroughly charmed by Ulysses.

Ulysses: Charlotte's New Spring Festival of the Arts is a month-long, innovative addition to the rich Carolinas arts landscape.

Born of a collaboration between the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, N.C. Dance Theatre and Opera Carolina as well as regional cultural partners, Ulysses will unify and celebrate the arts community in an unprecedented fashion.

The festival takes its name and inspiration from that of the beautiful Ulysses butterfly, a symbol of Spring, wonderment, rebirth and promise. The inaugural festival will not only celebrate the first time so many arts groups have come together thematically, but also the local debut of great works, including N.C. Dance Theatre's Sleeping Beauty and Opera Carolina's Eugene Onegin, which is also the first Russian opera brought to stage in the group's 63-year history.

The Ulysses festivities will begin with a free community day February 25, 2012 at the Levine Museum of the New South, and continue through March 2012 at venues across the area.

Free and family-friendly events as well as educational outreach (at elementary and collegiate levels) are all part of what is expected to become an annual event. Among the community and arts partners scheduled to participate:

Bechtler Museum

Levine Museum of the New South

The Light Factory

Wingate University

The theme for the 2012 festival - The Majesty of Russia and the Music of Tchaikovsky - fetes Russian culture and composer Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky through a myriad of artistic avenues, highlighted by the creative efforts of leading Charlotte arts organizations:

N.C. Dance Theatre will debut their interpretation of Sleeping Beauty, featuring music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, March 8-18 at the Knight Theater.

Opera Carolina brings to life Eugene Onegin, a lyric opera composed in part by Tchaikovsky, based on the novel in verse of the same name by Alexander Pushkin, March 15, 17, 22 & 25 at Belk Theater.

Charlotte Symphony Orchestra features the works of Tchaikovsky in concerts on March 20, 23, 30 & 31 at the Belk and Knight theaters.

The Light Factory will screen the influential films Battleship Potemkin (1925), Solaris (1972) and My Joy (2010).

"For years we have dreamed of an annual festival that would focus the community's attention on Charlotte's exceptional cultural organizations, as a way of celebrating our organizations, and of enriching the experience of attending events and performances," says James Meena, General Director & Principal Conductor of Opera Carolina and the driving force for the festival.

"We are grateful to all our cultural partners for the spirit of collaboration and the vision each of them are bringing to the festival," he continued. "Year one will be a great start, and we expect to build upon the themed Ulysses Festival in future years."

Find out more about the festival by visiting www.charlottecultureguide.com/ulysses.