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In Italy, brass and wind bands – known as bande musicali – are everywhere: they perform in town squares, lead religious processions, train local youth, and preserve centuries of musical tradition. Still today, they are a central feature of social life in many villages, and their history is strictly connected to that of Italy as a nation.  In the ea...

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Operagoers have been warned they will be banned from entering Milan’s prestigious La Scala theatre if they turn up wearing shorts, tank tops or flip-flops. Kimonos, however, are acceptable. The venue’s management team reminded people how not to dress for an opera after complaints that some spectators were donning attire more suitable for the beach....

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Connie Francis is currently recovering in a Florida hospital. With the news of her condition spreading, most of her fans are reflecting back on when she had been in the music field. Her popularity came at the end of the 1950s and the early 1960s with pop, rock 'n' roll and ballads. Her story-songs were usually about growing up, love and heartbreak....

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Teatro Grattacielo is proud to present the revival of Pietro Mascagni's charming verismo opera, L'Amico Fritz. This new production aims to introduce a wider audience to the rarely performed masterpiece, last presented by the company in 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opera will be directed by Anna Laura Miszerak. Click here for...

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In addition to being a world-class entertainer, Frank Sinatra certainly had great taste for fine foods. Among the numerous restaurants Frank Sinatra loved across the U.S., a number of these establishments specialized in Italian fare. An only child of Italian immigrant parents, Francis Albert Sinatra was a proud Italian-American and always did his b...

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If you are of a certain age, or perhaps a fan of vintage American crooners, you will undoubtedly recall that one of the ways to know you're in love espoused by singer and actor Dean Martin in his 1953 single "That's Amore" was "when the stars make you drool/just like pasta fazool." Setting aside the potentially unpleasant issue of stars making one...

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She doesn’t come from mainstream pop charts, but from the stage. She doesn’t chase after traditional Italian songwriting, but the sound itself. And she doesn’t sing in English, but in a blend of Barese dialect, soul, jazz, and electronic music. Serena Brancale, a musician from Apulia with a conservatory background and a career forged in live perfor...

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Summer may be concert and festival season, but you can experience The Four Seasons all in one night when Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons make their way to the DeYor Performing Arts Center in Downtown Youngstown in August. Valli is set to perform Friday, August 1, which coincides with the Greater Youngstown Italian Fest weekend, which lasts from...

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It's not every day you encounter a piece of history that still sings. But for those fortunate enough to witness it, a remarkable 1899 barrel piano, once a familiar fixture of Boston's bustling streets, is making a grand return. This past Saturday, the instrument made its first appearance on the streets of Boston in 51 years at the Friends of Christ...

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Every winter, town squares and natural snow-covered stages across northern Italy come alive with the voices of male choirs wearing the distinctive feathered hats of the Alpini corps: these are the Cori Alpini, ensembles rooted in the traditions of Italy’s mountain infantry and closely connected to the cultural fabric of the country’s Alpine regions...

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