“The Serenade at Sunset: Opera for Your
Soul” -
One of the Most Awaited Outdoor
Opera Performances in New York City Returns to Wow
both first-time listeners and fans of Opera
Opera Italiana is in the Air,
a Cultural initiative led by renowned conductor, Founder and
Music Director Alvise Casellati is to host
an outdoor concert at the Naumberg Bandshell in New York
City’s Central Park this Tuesday, September 24th,
2024 starting at 6:00pm until 7:30pm. This special event is
offered for free to the public with no tickets required.
Opera Italiana is in the Air was created in 2017 in Central
Park, New York, following a conversation between Daniele
Bodini, Chairman of the FIAC Foundation, and Alvise
Casellati, Conductor and former Secretary of FIAC. Since
then, its success has been exponential and it has expanded
from Central Park, New York to the cities of Washington and
Miami and to the home of Opera in Italy: Naples, Milan and
Rome.
The program for this special evening will begin with the
Hymn of the Nations, created by Giuseppe Verdi with the idea
of melting national anthems of all countries to demonstrate
that music unites everyone. Additional performances include
Mascagni and his Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo,
Puccini’s arias and duets from Turandot and La
Bohème in commemoration of the 100th anniversary
of the composers passing, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and
a special surprise for those many listeners who will remain
rapt until the very end.
Special guests’ stars include internationally acclaimed
American soprano Latonia Moore, and two of
the most sought-after young talents: Chinese-Australian
tenor Kang Wang and Georgean-Italian bass George
Andguladze. Opera Italiana further collaborates
again with Juilliard’s Pre-College program. This year,
Maestro Casellati, in a blind competition, selected for the
second time a composition by Isaac Thomas,
a 12-year-old composer, whom the Maestro refers to as “the
Mozart of our times”. His composition “Echoes of the Land”
will premiere during this evening.
Once again, Opera Italiana is in the Air continues
its collaboration with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Hospital, Department of Music Therapy and for the first time
a collaboration with the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill
Cornell Medical Center. Sponsors for the event include Intesa
Sanpaolo, GKSD Investment Holding, Ferrero, The Alexander
Bodini Foundation, ENI, Bracco Diagnostics Inc. and Flower&Klein
Executive Search. ‘Opera Italiana is in the
Air’ is presented under the patronage of the Consulate
General of Italy in New York, the Italian Cultural Institute
in New York, the Foundation for Italian Art & Culture, The
National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and RFK Italy.
About Opera Italiana:
Opera Italiana is in the Air is a visionary
initiative dedicated to celebrating the beauty and diversity
of Italian opera while reimagining its role in contemporary
culture. Maestro Alvise Casellati seeks to inspire a new
generation of opera lovers and redefine its role in the
future of classical music. In 2023, UNESCO, the cultural
agency of the United Nations, added Italian Opera Singing to
its Intangible Cultural Heritage list for protected status.
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