Seymour resident and international opera singer Donata Cucinotta grew up loving to sing, and being an Italian descent, she learned at a young age the secret to making great pasta sauce. “It’s a scientific fact that if you sing to your pasta sauce, it will taste better,” she said. Cucinotta described herself as one of those kids who would not stop singing and was exposed to opera at an early age when she grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“My parents weren’t really singers, but they would play their favorite operas every Sunday when they would make the Sunday sauce,” she said. “I could not get enough of music, and it was the only thing that stimulated my brain.” Her mother started to put her in the local choir as well as piano and ballet lessons. In high school, she started to consider opera as a serious career path.