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In 1956, Vito Picone, a teenager in Staten Island, NY, started his own vocal group, The Elegants. By 1958, the group’s signature song, “Little Star,” rocketed up the Billboard charts to become the #1 song in the nation. Soon, Vito and The Elegants began touring the country with some of the greatest names in rock ’n roll history. Later on, Vito cont...

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Mario Pavone, a bassist, composer, and bandleader who came to music late but spent half a century exploring the cutting edge of jazz, died May 15 at his home in Madeira Beach, Florida. He was 80. His death was reported in numerous outlets and confirmed in a family announcement. Pavone had been fighting cancer for 17 years; a native of Connecticut,...

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Italy narrowly pipped a handful of rivals to win a colorful and kitsch Eurovision Song Contest in the Netherlands on Saturday, scoring victory on the continent's biggest stage after an early test of the continent's emergence from the pandemic. The show featured performances that ranged from the sublime to the eyebrow-raising, as is tradition for th...

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Jazz singer Tony Bennett always looms large in my mind because of the elegant way he artistically embraces humanity. Awareness of Tony Bennett came my way when his music greeted me as a child, especially on Sunday during Italian American family dinners. With the delicious sauce covered ravioli and crisp Italian bread, we also had the vital ingredie...

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Franco Battiato, the legendary Italian singer-songwriter, composer and filmmaker, has died in Sicily aged 76. The popular singer, who had been sick for some time, died at his home in Milo, in the province of Catania, where he retired in 2019. Born in 1945, the star's career spanned genres ranging from experimental pop and electronic music to prog r...

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Due to popular demand, world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has added a second New York show at Madison Square Garden on Thurs., Dec. 16 to his Believe North American Tour. Bocelli’s annual performance at the famed venue will now include two nights on December 15 and December 16.  Stifel, Fan Club and Venue pre-sales for this new MSG show ki...

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In the U.S., we celebrated Mother’s Day on May 9th this year.  As that day occurs each year, I can’t help but think of one that I’ll never forget. The story actually starts two weeks before that big day in 2002.  It was a beautiful sunny Friday and I decided to visit my customer, John Hughes, who was the Facilities Manager at Temple University’s Am...

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Maestro Riccardo Muti has once again reopened the Italian musical season in his adopted hometown of Ravenna after another — and if all goes well perhaps final — round of pandemic closures. With a purposeful nod and flick of his baton, the 79-year-old conductor on Sunday ended what has been an unexpectedly long silence in Italian theaters, enrapturi...

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WHEN: May 18, 2021 at 5 PM ET - WHERE: Facebook Live (no account required) - Organized by the Embassy of Italy, IIC Washington Born in Sicily and adopted by Venice, Patrizia Laquidara is one of the most elusive, multifaceted, and brilliant singer-songwriter in the Italian music scene. Occasionally also actress and writer, Patrizia became “a cult fi...

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If the places we hold dear were to be set to music, then the soundtrack for New York’s Little Italy would be sung by this week’s guest, Jenna Esposito. Known as the “Voice of Little Italy,” this passionate Italian American has performed across the country and in some of the most hallowed music venues in the nation but, without fail, she always lend...

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