#antonia

#antonia

Giuseppe Verdi donated all royalties from his operas to the construction and administration of a luxurious retreat for retired musicians, designed by architect Camillo Boito.

The youngest person to win the prestigious Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition, Sierra made her operatic debut at age 16 as the Sandman in Hansel and Gretel. Today Sierra is best known for her roles in Verdi's Rigoletto (as Gilda) and as the lead in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

"Piano piano" is an old Italian saying that sounds nonsensical, but is actually full of wisdom, especially if you, like me, are finding yourself wishing away these frigid winter days and hoping spring and summer gets here fast. These days, I've found myself rushing from one thing to the next, frustrated at the smallest things, from post office lines to just missing my train. And I'm ready to make a change.

The Winter Oympics opening ceremony arrived shrouded in mystery. There wasn't a lot of advance publicity about what might happen, beyond a list of musical performers, heavier on popular classical names including Andrea Bocelli and Lang Lang than pop stars and a quote from the event's creative lead and executive producer, Marco Balich, that it would eschew hi-tech and bling.

Pallabazzer recommends seeing the historic center of Florence at different times of the day. In the early morning, you'll get to experience it "without noise and the pressing pace of crowds." Midday brings droves of visitors, but the destination is "bathed in sunshine." In the evening, "the lights of the street lamps stretch out over the Lungarni [the streets along the Arno River], creating a truly magical effect."

Barbara Strozzi was a true 17th-century revolutionary. The adopted and quite possibly the natural daughter of poet and librettist Giulio Strozzi, she grew up in the bosom of the Venetian intelligentsia, taking part in debates from the age of 15. Her tally of 120 published works for solo voice was unequalled by any of her contemporaries. Despite remaining single, she managed to support four children on the income from her music alone.

She can belt it out in English and Italian; what can't she do? For the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Milan, Italy, Mariah Carey did what those in Milan do: Sing in Italian. As she walked toward the center of the stage in San Siro, she was followed by at least five people who helped carry the train of her dress.

Upon its debut in 1725, The Four Sea­sons stunned lis­ten­ers by telling a sto­ry with­out the help of a human voice. Vival­di drew on four exist­ing son­nets (pos­si­bly of his own prove­nance), using strings to paint a nar­ra­tive filled with spring thun­der­storms, summer's swel­ter, autum­nal hunts and har­vests, and the icy winds of win­ter. The com­pos­er stud­ded his score with pre­cise­ly placed lines from the son­nets, to con­vey his expec­ta­tions that the musi­cians would use their instru­ments to son­i­cal­ly embody the expe­ri­ences being described.