Jane Austen is coming to Spoleto 2003, and so are dueling flamenco dancers and a most unlikely puppet show about the World War II Battle of Stalingrad.

They are just part of the attractions for the next Spoleto Festival USA, the Charleston festival that stakes a claim to being one of the world’s premier eclectic celebrations of the arts.

There should be little doubting that when the 27th annual Spoleto rolls around May 23 to June 8.

The highlights include a production of Leo Delibes’ French opera “Lakme”; the return of the Gate Theatre of Dublin with Austen’s best-known novel, “Pride and Prejudice”; the World War II Battle of Stalingrad viewed from the startling perspective of a Soviet puppeteer; the Spoleto debut of the National Ballet of Canada; appearances by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ned Rorem and noted choreographer and director Meredith Monk; and a production of Handel’s Baroque opera “Tamerlano.”

“We think it’s going to be a very good year, and really an extraordinary one when you consider the difficulties of working in this economy,” says Nigel Redden, festival general director.

Spoleto 2003 will operate with a budget of $6.7 million, only $30,000 less than did the 2002 festival, which ended the fiscal year with a surplus of about $6,000. For 2003, earned income (ticket sales, merchandise, etc.) will make up about 47 percent of the budget with the rest coming from grants. The belt-tightening may be most evidence in two programs.

l The visual art program “Evoking History,” an ambitious element of the past two festivals with a budget of about $500,000, has been considerably scaled down for 2003, Redden said, with fewer sites and fewer artists.

l Festival officials hope the return of Circus Flora :quot; a popular attraction whose audiences are often not the usual ones for Spoleto’s more high-brow attractions :quot; will generate additional ticket sales.

Unlike in past years, the festival is announcing the entire schedule, not bits and pieces over several months.

“We know there are a fair number of people who like to make their plans early,” Redden said. “And by getting out all of our news before Thanksgiving, we hope that a lot people will be interested in spending some of their Christmas money with us.”

Brochures with ticket order forms for Spoleto 2003 attractions will be mailed out in this week.

Here’s a look at what else is coming for the 27th festival in Charleston:

Opera

The opening night will offer Spoleto’s first production of Delibes’ exotic grand opera “Lakme” with Lyubov Petrova, who starred as Despina in 2002’s “Cosi fan Tutte,” in the title role. Spoleto music director Emmanuel Villaume will conduct in the Gaillard Auditorium.

Handel’s opera seria “Tamerlano” will be performed in the Dock Street Theater with countertenor Christophe Dumaux in the title role and Harry Bicket conducting.

Music

Charles Wadsworth will offer his all-star contingent of young artists for another season of twice-a-day chamber music concerts in the Dock Street. Performers will include the St. Lawrence String Quartet, pianists Wendy Chen and Anne-Marie McDermott and soprano Courtenay Budd. Ned Rorem will be the composer-in-residence during the festival’s final week.

The Spoleto Festival Orchestra under Villaume’s baton will play Mahler’s Sixth Symphony and Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe” in a pair of concerts.

The popular Westminster Choir, in two programs directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, will perform Verdi’s “Stabat Mater” and “Te Deum” and Haydn’s “Theresienmesse.”

The “Music in Time” series will offer plenty of contemporary classical music including a rare performance of Samuel Beckett’s “Words and Music,” a radio play, performed with Alan Stanford of the Gate Theatre.

The Intermezzi series will includes music spanning four centuries, featuring selections by Rachmaninoff, Borodin, Durufle and Bach performed by many artists from other Spoleto shows.

The Wachovia Jazz concert series will showcase four prominent female jazz artists: pianists Lynne Ariale and Jessica Williams, Brazilian vocalist Monica Salmaso and singer/songwriter Abbey Lincoln.

The Spoleto Finale at Middleton Place will end the festival with fireworks and an outdoor orchestra concert with the music of Wagner, Verdi, Bizet and Tchaikovsky conducted by Victor DeRenzi.

Dance

Canada’s premier dance ensemble, the National Ballet of Canada, will pay its first visit to Charleston with more than 50 dancers and a live orchestra taking part in artistic director James Kudekla’s acclaimed “The Four Seasons.”

Two famous Spanish flamenco companies :quot; Maria Pages and Farruquito :quot; will share the Gaillard stage for colorful programs in what Redden calls “a fantastic dance-off.”

Israeli-born Yasmeen Godder and her company will present their atmospheric, evening-length program “Hall,” the storied history of an abandoned dance hall.

Choreographer/artist/opera singer Shen Wei will bring his New York contemporary company for a surreal program of original dance works including a setting of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.”

Theater

The Gate Theatre of Dublin will bring a revival of its biggest box office hit, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” to the Dock Street Theater. Alan Stanford will direct for this appearance, the fifth time the acclaimed Irish company has come to Spoleto.

Rezo Gabriadze from the Republic of Georgia will present his puppet theater staging of “The Battle of Stalingrad,” a cinematic and sometimes whimsical miniature perspective on a catastrophic period of history. The show is not recommended for young children.

Meredith Monk will return to Spoleto for a revival of her interdisciplinary theater/music piece “Quarry,” a look at an incomprehensible world through the eyes of a child. The show won the 1976 Obie Award in New York.

Daniel MacIvor from Canada will offer “Cul-de-sac,” a dark comedy in which the actor plays eight characters, all of whom somehow meet one another onstage at one point.

Other events

Circus Flora, a popular lure for audiences of all ages in its previous appearances, will be back with its tiny one-ring, European-style show featuring high-flying aerialists, miniature stallions and circus family acts.

“The Borough Project,” two small houses that were part of the festival “Evoking History” visual arts program, will hold student exhibitions during the 2003 festival.