Taste of Italy bella for South festival

    Bell’italiano canzoni ed arias (beautiful Italian songs and arias)—what better way to be transported to the passionate imagery of Italy.

    The South Campus Italian Street Festival began with the music of over a dozen composers of Italian music sung by voice students. Giordani, Puccini, Verdi and Mozart were among those represented in art songs, arias and popular music.

    Themes ranged from love (of course, this is Italian. That’s amore.), fidelity, loss, longing, despair and delight. English translation was available in the program notes, but the emotion of the songs transcended language to communicate their message.
    Jo Ann Thomson and Alan Dodd shared the stage with the singers and gave strong individual interpretations in their accompaniments.

    After the performance, the audience was entertained by accordianist Nick Ballarini, in full Venetian gondolier regalia. He was joined by some impromptu singing as students dug into their repertoire and delivered more Italian songs. Some participants and guests even started dancing.

    Warm pizza satisfied the after-show appetites (thanks to some fancy pinch hitting by an on-her-toes voice teacher who realized that the caterer was pulling a no show).

    Guests spent a few hours on an April night to be transported to another land and free food. They celebrated the work and talents of students and supported a fine arts scholarship fund.

    Now that’s bargain travel.