Drs. Gilda and Mary Rorro are set to receive a mother-daughter duo honor for the Ten for Trenton Award for contributions to our community. The Award will be presented to the Honorees at the Capitol Philharmonic Drama & Irony Italian-themed concert on Saturday, April 12th at 7:30pm at the historic Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, N.J. 

The conductor is Sandro Naglia, from Italy. Here is a link to tickets. Drs. Mary and Gilda Rorro have shared countless wonderful experiences and memories through music and the arts throughout their lives.

Dr. Mary Rorro credits her mother and father Dr. Louis Rorro with nurturing a passion for music and to inspire her to share her gifts with hospital and nursing home patients in Trenton, and for numerous other community events and services, including for Veterans. She performed with the Boheme Opera, Princeton University Orchestra and Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra as a teenager, conducted by Maesto Matteo Giammario.  She reconnected with now 100-year-old Matteo, a World War II Veteran, and the former teacher and student became collaborators on 16 songs together.

As a singer-songwriter and violist, she has performed her original music at Princeton University, Rutgers University, and a full recital of works called “Songs That Heal and Comfort” at Saint Peter’s University.  She has also performed at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC, World War II Memorial in D.C., 9/11 Memorial in NYC and Princeton, N.J. and the Spirit of Princeton and Mercer County Veterans Service Commission Memorial Day services, among many other venues.

Her original music is featured on the New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission educational video “The Creation of America: The Roman Legacy,” as part of their Italian Heritage Curriculum initiative.  A published poet and writer, she also conceived and spearheaded the “Humanities and Healing: An Arts and Medicine Journal” along with Eliza Chin, Executive Director of AMWA, and her colleague Dr. Gloria Bachmann, who is Director of the Rutgers University Women’s Health Institute. The Journal features the talents of medical students and physicians in healthcare and was a collaborative effort with her Student Chairs Cait Cavarocchi and Katherine Chen and physicians on her Committee, Gloria Bachmann, Sydelle Ross, Peju Simoyan and Lisa Wong and Mary Wilde.

The National Italian American Foundation highlighted Dr. Mary Rorro for a featured profile in their international Ambassador Magazine. She has composed Anthems for the international “Filitalia” and “A Chance in Life” organizations and American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) of which she is Chair of the Music and Medicine and Humanities Committee. Her work was included at a panel presentation of her Committee members at Harvard Medical School and the Women in Healthcare World Congress. She was honored through AMWA and Points of Light to receive the Presidential Gold Volunteer Service Award, bestowed by the President of the United States and White House to honor outstanding volunteers who give hundreds of hours per year helping others and recognizes the impact they make through the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.  Dr. Mary Rorro also won an AMWA Exceptional Mentor Award for guiding students in their pre-med and medical school journey.

Dr. Gilda Rorro was the Director of the Office of Equal Educational Opportunity at the Dept. of Education and was Assistant Superintendant to the Trenton Board of Education for Human Resources. She is Chair of the Curriculum project of the N.J. Italian Heritage Commission and is Chair Emerita of the Commission and has been active in the Trenton community for decades. She also served as Honorary Vice Consul of Italy in Trenton, and her office was based in St. Joachim’s Church in Trenton. She wrote a memoir “Gilda, Promise Me,” which includes numerous stories about her life experiences in Trenton.  She describes meeting three Popes in her lifetime,  including  with daughter Mary, Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis, through a delegation organized by Judge Basil Russo, President of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations. She spoke about her activities in Trenton at the Chamber of Deputies in Parliament in Rome as part of “We The Italians,” organized by ‘We The Italians” President Umberto Mucci.  She was published in the international Italian American Primo Magazine, for a featured article “Columbus in Trenton.”  She is the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations National Associate Vice President to create and develop curriculum materials to promote Italian cultural heritage in schools.

Drs. Gilda and Mary Rorro both recently presented together at the New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission conference “Jazz Italian Style” at Rutgers University on March 22, 2025. Dr. Gilda Rorro was instrumental in organizing this conference along with Chairman Emeritus Bob DiBIase and Executive Director Margaret Fontana and current Chair Vince Maione, and other Commissioners. Drs. Gilda and Mary Rorro spoke at the top of the program and Mary presented her original song “L’Italia!” celebrating the cultural contributions Italy has made to the world for centuries. Dr. Mary Rorro also performed this Anthem to Italy with members of the “President’s Own Marine Corps Band” at the White House for the second annual Italian American Heritage Month Celebration.

Dr. Mary Rorro was Knighted in Italy as a Dame of the American Foundation of Savoy Orders, Orders of Saints Maurice and Lazarus at Palazzo Colonna, at the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome. Drs. Gilda and Mary Rorro were inducted together as Dames to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, by Cardinal Fernando Filoni of the Vatican.

The duo received the New Jersey Governor’s Jefferson Award,  the official volunteer/public recognition program of the United State Senate the nation’s highest honor for extraordinary volunteer service at the War Memorial in Trenton, N.J. They were also selected for the Pirandello Lyceum “Mens ets Gesta: I Migliori Award (Best in Thoughts and Deeds) in Boston, and were both inducted into the New Jersey Italian American Hall of Fame. The Ten for Trenton Award represents another meaningful award as mother and daughter. Their mission is to volunteer their time and talents to the Trenton, Greater Trenton community as the community has given so much to them, and on the national and international stage. The mother-daughter pair will make brief remarks on stage to receive this prestigious award, which celebrates their mutual love of music, arts and culture, the “symphony of life,” reflected in their numerous contributions and accomplishments.