Vanessa Racci is a touring vocalist and recording artist of Italian American descent with a passion for retro jazz and music made famous by Italian Americans. This passion led her to develop a unique niche of music that educates as much as it entertains audiences in Italian enclaves across the country. Vanessa grew up in a blue collar Italian Ameri...

Elena Buttiero e Anita Frumento, Italian musicians from Liguria, are the protagonists of the concert “Italian Opera for piano four hands”. The event is promoted by the Allegro con Moto Association of Savona in collaboration with the "Friends of Maple Grove" of New York. During the concert, music by Giuseppe Verdi, Gioacchino Rossini, Francesco Cile...

The Memorial Art Gallery, located on University Avenue in Rochester, is home to North America's only full-size antique Italian organ. The organ was discovered in Florence around 1980 by a German craftsman who restored instruments. It was almost disassembled and sold as pieces of home furnishings. Now owned by the Eastman School of Music, it is full...

Visitors to Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region typically visit Modena, home of the famous balsamic vinegar; or Parma, the source of the prized prosciutto and parmigiano-reggiano cheese; or Bologna, a famed “culinary capital” of Italy. But these are big cities by our standards. These foods are readily available throughout the region, and venturing out in...

As the Metropolitan Opera re-emerged from its winter recess, it provided its audience with the pleasure of witnessing two contrasting Italian masterworks on stage. The Met’s fresh production of the somberly modern ‘La Forza del Destino’ by Mariusz Treliński graced the stage, soon accompanied by Franco Zeffirelli’s lavishly traditional ‘Turandot.’ T...

It tells a story. It’s about the life of everyday people. The occasional heartbreak notwithstanding, it has no negativity. It’s raw, relatable, authentic and uplifting. That’s largely how 25-year-old Sofia Claire describes country music, a genre she has chosen as her profession. Sofia Claire’s talent for music was evident when she was a child growi...

Accomplished opera singer Nazzareno De Angelis was born on November 17, 1881, in the city of L’Aquila (population 70,967 in the 2013 Census) which is the capital of the province with the same name in the region of Abruzzo. His first serious exposure to music came in local choirs as a boy soprano. Earning praise for the excellence of his voice, he b...

While the average person may not be able to name any of the operas written by the Italian composer and librettist Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), they’ve likely at least heard the titles of his most famous works: La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca or Turandot (and yes, it’s actually Madama and not Madame).Or, if you’re a fan of ‘80s rom coms and/or Ch...

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda made a triumphant return to Teatro alla Scala in an informal role as cultural ambassador, leading the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra that he has made more “luminous” with his personal loan of centuries-old Italian-made instruments. Noseda’s energetic performance Monday evening marked the emotional highlight of the NSO’...

Net of an Italian leg of 170,000 spectators and a series of sold out events across Europe, the announcement of new dates scheduled for next winter in the US just arrived. "I don’t stop because going on stage and giving my all to the audience is what I have been for more than 30 years. The hug I’m receiving in every city that has given me affection...