Verdi Concert at Carnegie Hall. Maestro Zeffirelli receives IAF Bravo! Award. John Cabot University Gala. 40 Roman Women: Book Launch. New York Stage and Film Winter Gala. Rebirth Rome: Panel and Reception. Italian Academy Foundation Reception. Naoto Nakagawa Studio Visit. Free Fall Art Opening Rome.
La Scala’s December 7 season premiere of La Traviata made headlines in Italy — large type exclamations of how the director was boo’ed. The director’s intrepid vision was to demonstrate that Verdi’s love story need not be trapped in a 19th century Paris boudoir, but whose characters and emotions resonated in an ultra-chic, 20th-century Milanese […]
“Many Minded” is how Homer, the first poet of Western Civilization has been described: “many minded” – it’s Yeats’ expression for the incredible variety, depth and scope of the poet’s work. We may confidently apply that same epithet to Shakespeare, Goethe, Dante, Ovid, Virgil and, in modern times, as well, to Verdi for the qualities […]
On October 14, 2013, Rebirth Rome officially launched with a conference featuring an outstanding panel on the topic of “resiliance”. Rebirth Rome was founded by the renowned proponent of culture (and Italian Journal columnist), Ludovica Rossi Purini. (Photos from this event appear in the Social Journal on page 45). Held in the prestigious Deputy Chamber, […]
Renowned costume and set designer Piero Tosi received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his outstanding design career. He earned five Academy Award nominations for costume design, in the films La Traviata (1983), La Cage aux Folles (1978), The Leopard (1963), Death in Venice (1971) and Ludwig (1973) – the latter three in collaboration […]
The Criterion Collection has published a box-set of three of the films directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Ingrid Bergman. The collection was announced at Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò during a presentation with panelists Antonio Monda, NYU, Kim Hendrickson and Ingrid Rossellini. The three films take place in post-war Italy: Stromboli (1950), Europe ‘51 (1952) […]
Beloved New York restauranteurs Tony May and his daughter Marisa announce the opening of their spacious restaurant for private events. Designed by Massimo Vignelli, the location has three floors and 13,000 square feet of space, including a chic Balcony Room, a wine connoisseurs’ dining area and a grand main dining room. The Executive Chef Matteo […]
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York is showing some rare works of Leonardo da Vinci together with some of his followers and peers. The exhibit, entitled Treasures from the Biblioteca Reale, Turin, displays his extraordinary manuscript The Codex on the Flight of Birds and the Head of a Young Woman, one of his most […]
The Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome have just reopened after years of restoration. The complex is known as “regina catacumbarum” (queen of the catacombs) because of the great number of martyrs buried inside. The restoration was undertaken by the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology. The Catacombs comprise a series of tunnels under what was an […]
by George W. MARTIN
As he enters his two hundred and first year, Verdi continues to hold the interest of American scholars and the affection of a vast audience. The scholars, responding to the “Verdi Renaissance,” which began in Germany in the 1920s and reached the United States in the 1940s, after gorging for half a century on Wagner rediscovered Verdi.