On Sunday, October 6 at 12:30 p.m. at Verdi Square in Manhattan, Inter-Cities Performing Arts, Inc. will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, the renowned Italian composer and statesman. Joining the New York/New Jersey-based arts organization and its founders, Leonard and Carmela Altamura, dignitaries from the Italian and...

by Juliette Angoulvant   UNC opera theatre students make Puccini's "La Rondine" come to life in their production, which opens this week on Thursday. Performances will be held on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Langworthy Theatre in Frasier Hall). The production was directed by associate professor of music Brian Clay Lue...

by Kile MacMillan   Like many other European musicians, fast-rising Italian conductor Michael Mariotti decided several years ago that he wanted to expand his European-centered career and take a stab at the vast American classical scene.   The 34-year-old maestro started at the top, making inaugural appearances at the Washington (D.C.)...

L'orchestra houstoniana "Mercury: the Orchestra Redefined" presenta due appuntamenti dedicati al grande compositore veneziano.   Il 28 marzo Mercury eseguira' al Wortham Center del Cullen Theater il concerto "Dreams and Nightmares", una selezionen di concerti fantasiosi ed insoliti che vedra' il concerto per flauto di Antonio Vivaldi "La Not...

An exclusive performance of classically trained Maestro Gabriele Ciampi conducting his CentOrchestra was held at the Italian Cultural Institute on Thursday, June 5, under the auspices of the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles.   Featuring an 18 piece orchestra and 3 soloists from Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, the concert presented Ga...

Music lovers will temporarily swap frigid Minnesota temps for the warmth of sun-drenched Tuscany, thanks to Minnesota Opera's upcoming production, The Elixir of Love. Set in the rolling hills of the Italian countryside, Donizetti's timeless romantic comedy opens January 24 at the Ordway Music Theater in St. Paul for five performances.   In t...

"Veremonda, l'amazzone di Aragona," by Baroque composer Francesco Cavalli, is one of Spoleto Festival USA's two festival-produced opera productions.   Conductor Aaron Carpene and director Stefano Vizioli worked hard to unearth and reconstruct the obscure opera, which was last performed more than 350 years ago, in Naples and Venice.  ...

And what could be more "user friendly" than Gioachino Rossini's wildest and most popular romp? - his 1816 masterpiece, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.   Disguises and false identities abound as men-young and old-vie for the hand of the beautiful Rosina in one of the funniest and most frenetic operas ever composed! The action centers on "Figaro, Figar...

Lately there have been grumblings among some, though not all, of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association board members, wondering why the orchestra should be taking on expensive projects like lavishly cast concert operas in a city that already has a world-class opera company.   Performances as glorious as the all-star concert version of V...

by Fred Plotkin   In our day, because of social media and all manner of electronic communications, news can rapidly spread around the world. On Aug. 20, people who work in or care about opera learned of the passing of Italian soprano Daniela Dessì at the age of 59 within hours of her demise. The outpouring of grief and fond recollections was...