We are excited to invite WE the Italians' readers to an upcoming benefit concert by Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the orchestra and choir of the famed Cagliari Opera in Sardinia, to the Basilica. Please see the information about the concert and historical background below. We hope you will be able to share this with your readers on the website and Facebook. We have created a discount code for We The Italians for 20% off benefit reservations: Italians20

Italy's Cagliari Opera at the Basilica - Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. At the corner of Prince and Mott Streets, New York, NY. Tuesday, October 16 at 7:30 pm. Reserve seats:
https://www.showclix.com/event/italys-cagliari-opera-at-the-basilica/ Use Code Italians20 to get 20% off your reservation

Italy's Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the famous Opera house of Cagliari, Sardinia, is coming to do a re-construction of the 1826 Orphans' Benefit Concert. The original 1826 concert was a benefit for the Orphan Asylum run by the Sisters of Charity at 32 Prince Street. The event featured the first Italian opera company to visit the United States, the Garcia Company. Their mezzo soprano was the 17-year-old Maria Garcia Malibran, soon to become the greatest operatic diva of her time. The 1826 benefit concert was the largest and most successful musical event in New York at the time.

This year, Basilica Organist and Director of Music Jared Lamenzo combined forces with Italian musicologist Francesco Zimei to realize his long-held dream to re-construct the 1826 concert. On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 7:30 PM, Italy’s Cagliari opera performs an evening of sacred vocal and orchestral works based on that 1826 performance. The music includes works by Haydn and Handel, as well as rare works by 18th-century Italian opera composers Zingarelli and Cimarosa in their first modern performance. The concert is a benefit for the 1868 Henry Erben Organ.

Jared Lamenzo will play a concerto by 18th century composer Thomas Arne as a pre-concert recital.