The Italian Cultural Institute of Washington presents an extraordinary evening celebrating the birth of opera and the rebirth of the Teatro San Cassiano. This special American launch announces the visionary project to reconstruct and restore Venice’s first public opera house — inaugurated in 1637 and the birthplace of public opera.
The evening features a captivating presentation by Dr. Paul Atkin of the story, scholarship, and vision behind the reconstruction, and its impact on placing cultural patrimony at the heart of a sustainable future for Venice. Interwoven throughout, enjoy stirring performances of early opera arias — the music that sparked a global opera boom and made Venice its capital.
