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On Monday June 28th at 7:00 PM, Opera Italiana is in the Air returns to Central Park to present a special, one-night only, open-air performance of beloved Italian opera classics under the baton of Maestro Alvise Casellati at the newly reopened Naumburg Bandshell. A summer evening of music that is free and open to the public, the concert will be tit...

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As New Orleans jazz landmarks go, it’s an unlikely one. For starters, it’s still standing, somehow having survived that period in history in which the idea of preserving the city’s cultural landmarks simply didn’t exist. Also, there’s its location. It’s not Backatown, that then-unfashionable area behind the French Quarter where the city’s Black pop...

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The Opera Festival of Chicago will present its inaugural season this summer. Created by Music Director Emanuele Andrizzi, the festival is dedicated to presenting world-class standard productions of Italian opera masterpieces in Chicago that rarely grace the stage in the United States. The festival opens with performances of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s w...

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Gianna Rolandi, an American soprano who brought effortless coloratura technique, bright sound and a vibrant stage presence to diverse roles over a 20-year international career, died on Sunday in Chicago. She was 68. Her death, in a hospital, was announced by the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Rolandi had earlier been the director of the company’s Ryan Ope...

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Louis Prima (1910-1978) represents, for me, the epitome of the joyful fun side of jazz and swing. If Prima and the other musicians in the band weren’t so accomplished and the standard of musicianship wasn’t so high then many of these arrangements would risk sounding seriously cheesy. Because the actual sound and swing of these guys is so huge, the...

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La musica leggera, con Susanna Rossi. Friday, June 25, 6-7pm EST, evento in italiano. REGISTER HERE. After registering, you will receive the Zoom link on the day of the event. Have you ever heard of Laura Pausini, Pavarotti, Maneskin ... and so many more artists? Calling all music lovers and explorers of Italian culture! This event will take you on...

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The end of opera season always competes with outdoor activities that can feel more appealing as the winter gray finally gives way to summer weather. And as we emerge from pandemic restrictions, a June opera stream is a particularly hard sell. Even so, it’s worth blocking out two hours to watch Seattle Opera’s “Tosca,” streaming June 25-27.  You’ve...

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Rivers Cuomo was born on June 13, 1970, in New York City. His father, Frank Cuomo, was a musician who played drums on the 1971 album Odyssey of Iska by jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter.  Rivers was raised in Rochester, New York, at the Rochester Zen Center, until his father left the family in 1975. His mother relocated the family to Yogaville, an ash...

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It took composer Dan Romer a while to find the right Italian touch for the music of “Luca,” Disney-Pixar’s animated fantasy (opening June 18) about young sea monsters masquerading as humans on the Italian Riviera. “Not quite Italian enough” was director Enrico Casarosa’s response to his first try. “Too Italian!” was the response to his second. Even...

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Italian rockers Måneskin are the subject of a praise-laden article in The New York Times which suggests the Rome band - fresh from Eurovision triumph - could be on the cusp of achieving global stardom. Under the title They Won Eurovision. Can They Conquer The World?, the article mentions celebrity record executive Simon Cowell of X-Factor fame as a...

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