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  • Verdi’s Third Century A Conference at NYU



    200 years later, Verdi’s music continues to travel around the world in live performances and recordings, and new technologies—from the internet to high-definition simulcasts— have made opera accessible to broader audiences. The international conference Verdi’s Third Century: Italian Opera Today will bring together scholars, practitioners, and critics at New York University to discuss the circulation and perception of Verdi--and of Italian opera--in today’s world. A principal focus will be how Verdi’s works have been interpreted, imagined, and appropriated. Verdi’s Third Century: Italian Opera Today is organized by the American Institute for Verdi Studies and hosted by two of NYU’s key organizations: Casa Italiana Zerilli- Marimò and the Humanities Initiative. A keynote lecture will be presented by Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Wills (Northwestern University). Philip Gossett, general editor of the Works of Giuseppe Verdi, will deliver a position paper. Speakers and session chairs include over thirty scholars and opera practicioners from the United States and Europe. Session themes include “Visual Aspects in the Opera House and Beyond,” “Verdi in Production,” “Singers,” “Analyzing Verdi,” “Framing Verdi: Opera and Twenty-First-Century Popular Culture,” “Scores and Editions in Today’s Opera House,” and “Reception, National Identity, and Monuments.”
     
     
    The program committee includes Suzanne Cusick (New York University), Francesco Izzo (University of Southampton and American Institute for Verdi Studies), Roberta M. Marvin (University of Iowa), Hilary Poriss (Northeastern University), Emilio Sala (University of Milan and Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani), and Mary Ann Smart (University of California, Berkeley). 
  • Events: Reports

    Wednesday September 11. A Special Event to Remember



    Conceived by choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi and Italian visual artist Rossella Vasta and featuring Italian Flautist Andrea Ceccomori.

     
    Over 100+ Dancers, including the Buglisi Dance Theatre, will appear in this 9/11 tribute
    Performance starts at 8:15 AM and concludes precisely at 8:46 AM
    At the Revson Fountain, Josie Robertson Plaza, Lincoln Center, Columbus & 64th Street
    Free Admission
    Information: 212.719.3301
     
    More and more of the dance community turn out to support this growing movement for peace.
     
    The Table of Silence Project 9/11 at Lincoln Center is included in the events for the Year of Italian Culture in the United States and has been granted the patronage of the Ministro Per L’Integrazione Dr. Cècile Kashetu Kynege and declared a UNESCO Siti by Mayor Claudio Ricci of Assisi.
     
    A live stream broadcast via the internet will begin on 9/11 at 8:15 AM at buglisidance.org.   Last year's tribute was viewed in 25 countries around the world, including by our troops in Afghanistan.

    "The Table of Silence Project represents the common threads of humanity which unite all mankind into a single force with common goals and aspirations regardless of race, culture, or religion.  Through this event, we wish to achieve the dual purpose of celebrating and honoring peace, through listening, a united moment of silence - a call for Peace in our world."   

                                                                                                                           - Jacqulyn Buglisi

     

     

    Jacqulyn Buglisi of Buglisi Dance Theatre and the dancers of the NYC community are honored to have been invited by Lincoln Center to pay tribute to the 12th anniversary of 9/11 through the transcendent  "Table of Silence Project 9/11," a public commemoration and ritual for peace, conceived by choreographer Buglisi and Italian visual artist Rossella Vasta.   Performance will take place Wednesday September 11, beginning at 8:15 AM and concluding at 8:46 AM, the moment when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower.

     

    In partnership with Dance/NYC and the September Concert, Buglisi Dance Theatre brings together over 100 dancers to gather in silent procession, forming patterns of concentric circles to create a peace labyrinth while encircling the Revson Fountain as a symbol of eternity, compassion and continuity of the life cycle.  At 8:46 am, the dancers will turn their wrists with open palms and extend their arms to the sky for one minute, evoking the simple gesture of universal peace.  Spectators are invited to join them in this ritual.

     

    The site-specific work is titled after Rosella Vasta's installation of 100 ceramic plates arranged around a symbolic banquet table, uniting humanity.   Choreographer Buglisi transforms the concept into a moving meditation, a poetic call for tolerance and peace in our world.

     

    The 100+ dancers represent the voice of the diverse NYC community of artists, from cities across the U.S. and around the world from India, Japan, and Korea to Trinidad, Colombia, Belgium and France.   Participating with Buglisi Dance Theatre are both professional dancers and students from NYC's premier conservatories and studios, including Steps on Broadway, The Juilliard School, The Martha Graham School, The Ailey School, the National Dance Institute, Marymount Manhattan College, SUNY Purchase, Broadway Dance Center, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, Dance Theater of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico, and Infinity Dance Theater, which represents dancers with disabilities. Some of the dancers are the children of those who perished on 9/11 or were survivors of the attacks.

     

    Musicians: Flute: Andrea Ceccormori, John Ragusa, and Mariano Gil; Percussion: Jeremy Smith

    Singers: Amanda Baisinger; Carla Lopez-Speziale, Gizelxanath.

        

    Buglisi's "Table of Silence Project 9/11" has inspired numerous similar events around the world in the past two years, including:

     
     
  • Events: Reports

    Turning 200 in the U.S.

    The Cameristi della Scala, the Chamber Orchestra founded in 1982 and formed by musicians from the Orchestra of La Scala and the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, brings to the US an exclusive program, absolutely unique in the international music world.

    The project is sponsored by the Istituto Nazionale per gli Studi Verdiani, the prestigious institute for Verdi studies. Verdi explains Verdi features “Fantasie” from Verdi’s operas composed in the 19th century by important Italian composers, some of whom were Verdi’s friends and coworkers.

    The composer of these transcriptions, fantasies or paraphrases, was often a well-known virtuoso, who used the famous opera themes to demonstrate his talent as a composer and a player. These pieces, gifts and celebrations to the greatness of the composer from Busseto had been left to oblivion, scattered around in different world libraries.

    The Cameristi della Scala found them, transcribed and revisited them, and now perform them for the first time in our modern times. These “Fantasie” from Verdi’s operas represented a very important way to spread Verdi’s music in a time when it was not possible to reproduce music except in a live concert.

    These re-elaborated versions, which could easily be considered covers, are versions of Verdi’s most famous melodies and testament to the incredible popularity of the original themes that inspired them.
    The soloists are Francesco Manara, violin, and Massimo Polidori, cello. Since 2001, Francesco Manara has been the First Violin of the “Quartetto d’Archi della Scala”, with whom he has performed throughout Italy and on tours in South America, Japan, the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

    Since 2001, Massimo Polidori has been the cellist in the chamber music group “Quartetto d’Archi della Scala” and in 2000, Maestro Riccardo Muti chose him for the role of Principal Cello in the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala.

    Through the execution of these pieces, there will be the reading of a few texts written by the journalist and musicologist Sandro Cappelletto. The text is inspired by some letters Verdi wrote during his life, which are used to narrate, in an autobiographic form, some episodes of the composer’s life.

    The event is sponsored by ENI in its quality as Corporate Ambassador of Year of Italian Culture in the US.

     ---

    The US tour has three dates:

    October 7: Cambridge, MA, MIT Auditorium; October 9: Washington DC, Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress; October 10: New York City, Carnegie Hall
  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    Celebrate your Birthday with Eataly!

    Eataly New York is turning 3 on August 31st, and to celebrate the occasion, they have taken the best of their food and wine offerings from the past three years and compiled them for their first-ever storewide Food and Wine Festival that is taking place on September 6th.

    The Eataly marketplace
    will be skilfully transformed into a classical Italian-style festa di piazzawith over 30 specialty food and beverage stands throughout the store. It will be just like walking through the colorful streets of Italy.

    The marketplace and restaurants of Eataly will remain open throughout the day, so shoppers have the option of shopping and dining in, or hopping from food cart to beverage cart as they please. What better way to celebrate a birthday!

    The celebrations will take place on September 6th, 2013! Tickets are available for pre-purchase online >>>, or on the day of at both entrances. Individual tickets are $ 4.00 and the items range from 1 to 5 tickets. Packets are also available for sale (10 at $ 40.00, 20 at $ 75.00 and 30 at $110.00).

    There will be a Fried Bar where guests can enjoy Suppli, fried risotto balls, Frittelle, vegetable fritters and Ceci Fritti, fried chickpeas. Meat lovers will enjoy the Salumi & Formaggi Bar but mostly the Eccellenze Carving Station where they can have Whole Roasted Pork Shoulder (11am-4pm) and Eataly Housemade Porchetta (5pm-11pm). At the Fresh Mozzarella Bar shoppers will try the first ever Burrata Sundae with tomato jam and basil gelee and delicious Caprese skewers. Guests can also enjoy assorted tramezzini, crostini, antipasti, desserts and raw fish at the Crudo Bar. A real feast!

    The program also features Games & Entertainment but they remain a surprise... So mark your calendar... September 6!
     
    But the good news do not end here... Eataly's birthday is on August 31st, and if it is your birthday too, stop by during the September 6th celebrations, show a valid ID and they will have a present ready for you!
  • L'altra Italia

    A Venezia un tappeto di pittura connettiva

    VENEZIA - Continua, con grande successo e affluenza di pubblico a Palazzo Merati d'Audiffret de Greoux, nella cornice della splendida Venezia, fino al 31 luglio 2013, la mostra di Arte Contemporanea Symphonie de colueurs 2, curata da Gregorio Rossi, con la presenza delle opere di 27 artisti selezionati dal Museo M.A.C.I.A e dell’opera collettiva Sinergie di fragmenta 6 realizzata, in questo spazio, con il progetto La stanza del coloredi Anna Seccia.

    L’opera Sinergie di fragmenta 6, nasce il 9 giugno dall’happening pittorico condotto da Anna Seccia nella sala monumentale del seicentesco palazzo veneziano, spesso rappresentato nei dipinti del Canaletto e del Guardi, dove visse Casanova e abitò anche Friedrich Nietzsche. In un gioco gestuale libero con il colore, il pubblico, presente alla mostra, si è trasformato da spettatore ad oggetto di azione e l’artista, come uno sciamano, attraverso un percorso immaginifico lo ha condotto alla danza pittorica del ritmo musicale delle Opere, appositamente composte dal Maestro Antonio Cericola, introdotte dalla violoncellista Elena Krasantovich.

    Baipassando le parole, attraverso un’azione di “pittura connettiva” in un processo circolare di “costruzione e decostruzione” del fare pittorico, giocando con i colori acrilici è stato possibile perlustrare in una dinamica relazionale, quello spazio indefinito di interscambio tra dimensione visiva, forme archetipiche, stesura di colore e suono, per un racconto di senso comune di memorie, in una progressiva dilatazione della fantasia che, attraverso la fusione di gesti, ha prodotto un lavoro in comunione che è di tutti in ugual misura.

    Gruppi di partecipanti ad aggregazione spontanea, in piena autonomia e libertà hanno dipinto sei pannelli in legno di misura cm 90 x 145 cadauno sistemati a terra. I pannelli a fine lavoro sono stati riuniti insieme dagli stessi autori in una singola opera, con un senso di racconto condiviso. Attraverso il successivo procedimento di sintesi attuato dall’artista che ha lasciato spazio alle singolarità di tutte le presenze è venuta alla luce l’opera collettiva Sinergie di fragmenta 6, pittura acrilica su tavola di metri 5.40 x 1.45.

    I singoli pannelli, che si mostrano con  un’autonomia compositiva-coloristica autonoma, pur facenti parte di un racconto di un’opera unica  a fine mostra, nel concetto di interrelazione- relazione - dono- scambio, fragmentazione, caro all’artista, andranno singolarmente a dialogare con  Istituzioni e Musei che ne faranno richiesta. La singolarità della proposta di Anna Seccia ha visto la partecipazione  sia di autorevoli artisti di caratura internazionale che di persone di tutte le età senza nessuna esperienza pittorica, finanche bambini e questo sta a dimostrare quanto l’arte sia portatrice di valori “altri” quando sconfina nella bellezza profonda della partecipazione-condivisione.
     

    Partecipanti: Piero Agostini, Anna Arban, Benedetta Baietta, Libera Carraro, Elena Collet, Angela Crucitti, Alexander  Kanevsky, Daniela Kanevsky, Jeon Kuihee, Elena Mangu, Pasquale Mazzullo, Valentina Morporgo, Flavia Pitarresi,  Caterina Rossi, Anna Seccia,  Barbara Tagliapietra, Stefano Zanus.
     

    L’opera realizzata verrà documentata in un prestigioso catalogo,curato da Gregorio Rossi, inseritonella collana editoriale del Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Italiana in America con i seguenti avvalli: Stemma della Repubblica Italiana, Patrocinio dell'Ambasciata della Repubblica di Costa Rica presso il Quirinale, logo del M.A.C.I.A.

    Partner: Kaleidos, Sfera design, Maimeri , Accademia delle arti “Antonio Cericola”.

    Symphonie de colours II - un salotto per l’arte: 8 giugno 2013 - 31 luglio 2013

    Palazzo Merati: Fondamenta Nuove – Venezia - ore 15,30- 19,30

    Gregorio Rossi: www.gregoriorossi.it

    Anna Seccia: www.annaseccia.it

    M.A.C.I.A: www.museomacia.org

    Ufficio Stampa Kaleidos, Simona De Lutiis: [email protected]  085.2924031
  • Events: Reports

    Calabrian Cantautore PEPPE VOLTARELLI Coming to Canada and New York City


    The tradition of a troubadour singing and telling stories has been with us for eons. Whether it's griots in West Africa, bluesmen in Mississippi or Moroccan gnawa players, these traveling musicians inform and entertain with a mix of political and social satire, love songs, comedy, praise of a deity or whatever else inspires them.

     

    Italian singer-songwriter Peppe Voltarelli comes out of this tradition, putting a distinctly modern and Italian twist on it.  Hailing from Calabria (that's the toe of Italy's boot), Voltarelli sings his tales with a distinctly Calabrian point of view and dialect, pointing out the hypocrisy and deep political corruption in one of Italy's most troubled regions, but balancing that with a dash of humor and catchy melodies often delivered on acoustic guitar.

     

    "I think its kind of Mediterranean blues," Voltarelli says of his music. "I'm a modern songwriter looking at the culture that has dominated our land and then creating imaginary place where a tribal African rhythm meets the sweetness of Greek serenata."

     

    This restless soul brought his Mediterranean blues with a touch of babalu to Germany, Argentina, the U.S. and elsewhere, settling down for a while before moving along to the next country or returning home for another major concert, television appearance or collaboration with noted Calabrian film director Giuseppe Gagliardi.  

     

    "It is an escape," Voltarelli says of his time away. "The people of other countries help me to understand life from different point of view. It's a never-ending exodus and Italian emigrants are my mirror, my music is like blotting paper that preserves the memories of my peoples."

     

    While Voltarelli cites such Italian artists as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roberto Saviano and particularly Domenico Modugno (composer of the standard "Volare") as influences, his music moves well beyond its Italian roots. This is a performer that transcends his bloodlines with a swagger that recalls fellow global pop iconoclasts like Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz, Billy Bragg, Manu Chao or Shane MacGowan, delivering his message with a dynamic intensity and singular style.

     

    Voltarelli (now 43) got his start in music at the ripe old age of 11, eventually founding the popular alternative rock band Il Parto delle Nuvole Pesanti (The Birth of the Heavy Clouds). A band that mixed punk rock and Calabrian folk traditions, it became one of Italy's seminal bands of the 1990's. He eventually left that band in 2006 to pursue a solo career.

     

    His first album "Distratto Ma Però" was released in 2007 and it was among the finalists for Italy's prestigious Tenco Prize. Distributed in Europe by Universal, Voltarelli's second solo album, "Ultima Notte A Malà Strana," came out in 2010 and won the Tenco Prize for the Best Album in Dialect. It is the first album in Calabrese to do so.

     

    Nonetheless, Voltarelli's amazing run of New York City performances in late 2012 needed few if any subtitles.  During four Saturday nights at the intimate but influential Barbes, his audience grew each week and eventually led to a fifth and final show at Drom in Manhattan's East Village to accommodate the crowd and accompanying buzz.

     

    Those who were there saw Voltarelli accompany himself on guitar and accordion in a tour de force performance called "Trip, Fathers, Belonging." He performed Italian songs of other famous artists and his own compositions, interspersing personal stories that were both funny and poignant about his life on the road and what it means when Italian immigrants leave their homeland.

     

    "The basis of my music is the Calabrian dialect and the place itself," he explains. "Then I translate everything to the present, but not to succumb to the stereotypes (mafia, corruption, etc.) associated with it. This, for me, begins the challenge write the song and become a better person for doing so."

    Like all great satirists there has to be strong element of humor to help the message along. Voltarelli takes this tradition into the digital age, making hilarious YouTube videos often directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi that feature the singer goofing around with people he meets on the street, in restaurants and bars, or at his shows.

     

    He's also done formal film work with Gagliardi, most notably in the mockumentary "La Vera Leggenda di Tony Vilar" (The Real Legend of Tony Vilar). The film, which appeared at 2007's Tribeca Film Festival, features a Calabrian present day singer-songwriter (Voltarelli) searching of his rock star hero who came from the same village and became a huge star in Argentina back in the '60s, but then disappeared after all his hair fell out under mysterious circumstances. The trail eventually leads to the famed Italian-American community centered on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.

     

    While Gagliardi and Voltarelli first collaborated on "Doichlanda," a serious 2003 documentary about Italian immigration to Germany, the most recent collaboration is 2011's "Tatanka" -- Voltarelli wrote the score for the film, which was adapted from the Roberto Saviano's best-selling novel entitled "Gomorra."


    Voltarelli is currently concentrating on the not so easy task of writing the best music he can for his upcoming third solo album. "I'm looking for a melody with simple and direct words that excite people," he explains, adding, "a song that speaks of this time and is useful to society."     


    June 25 Toronto - Bata Shoe Museum (with Daniela Nardi)
    June 26 New York City - Chez André @ The Standard, East Village
    July 3 Montreal  - Savoy du Metropolis  34° Montreal International Jazz Festival
    July 4 Montreal - Savoy du Metropolis  34° Montreal International Jazz Festival
  • Events: Reports

    Italy's "Taranta" Masters CANZONIERE GRECANICO SALENTINO Return to North America




    Italy's new-generation masters of taranta, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, return to North America this summer, with a debut at Montreal Jazz Festival and their first dates on the West Coast.  A must-see band on the world music festival circuit, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino – better known as CGS -- have established themselves as the leading force in the revival of the mysterious Italian folk style known as pizzica, or more commonly "taranta."  American media response for this spellbinding, intensely rhythmic music, whose dancer has been called Italy's answer to the whirling dervish, has already been overwhelmingly positive, with glowing write-ups from The New York Times, Chicago Reader and The New Yorker, who called the group "utterly beguiling and trance-inducing."


    Tracing its roots back to the sixth century, this hypnotic style of traditional Italian music drives dancers into a trance-like state – ostensibly to excise the poison of a tarantula spider's bite.  The propulsive rhythms were -- and still can be -- used to effect a psychic cure for more common maladies such as grief, depression and fear, much as American gospel music serves to lift the spirits of the downhearted.  Taranta also uniquely embodies and celebrates the cultural identity of the geographically isolated Salento region of Puglia, in Southeastern Italy (the heel of the boot of Italy).  This mesmerizing folk revival has now caught on with modern audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.  Following the Irish folk revival of the 1990s, the Latin explosion of the early 2000s and Brazilian wave of the 2010s, world music fans -- as well as a new generation of Italians-Americans looking to celebrate their roots -- have embraced the wild, transporting sounds of CGS.


    Recent CGS tours have taken the band to such high profile stops as Austin's SXSW, NYC's GlobalFEST, Washington, DC's Kennedy Center and the international WOMEX Festival, as well as places off the beaten track, winning fans wherever they go. 


    Hailing from Lecce in Salento, the seven-piece band + female dancer have spearheaded the Italian taranta revival since their founding in 1975.  After starting out playing small local folk festivals, CGS now regularly perform for festival crowds in the tens of thousands. Picking up on the band's rise, noted world music magazine fRoots placed CGS on the cover of its May, 2013 issue, joining such iconic cover artists as The Chieftains, Konono No. 1, and others.


    The band is now touring in support of their latest CD on the Ponderosa label, Pizzica Indiavolata (roughly "Demonic Pizzica"), which entered the World Music Charts in Europe at #2 in December 2012 and which features guest appearances by Malian kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko and the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Piers Faccini. 


    "I think it's timeless, mysterious and haunting music that is underlined by the great impact of the dance," bandleader Mauro Durante points out. "Our music talks directly to the inner, instinctive and archetypical part of everybody – it still has the power to bring you elsewhere."


    The brainchild of writer Rina Durante, CGS was handed down in 2007 from founding musician Daniele Durante to his son Mauro, an already noted percussionist and violinist who had performed with Stewart Copeland of the Police and Ibrahim Maalouf.  He has given the band a second life and a global reach.  Maintaining the tradition while bringing in elements Middle Eastern, Balkan and Celtic music, the band was awarded Best Italian World Music Group at Italy's MEI confab in 2010. 


    The group features Mauro Durante (violin, frame drums and voice), Giulio Bianco (bagpipes, recorders, ciaramella, harmonica and bass), Emanuele Licci (voice, guitar and bouzouki), Maria Mazzotta (voice and percussion), Massimiliano Morabito (diatonic accordion), Giancarlo Paglialunga (voice, tamburello and percussion), Silvia Perrone (dance). 


    CGS is now riding the crest of a new wave of interest in Southern Italy's "Pizzica Taranta" music and dance traditions, carrying Puglia's heady and healing music to today's global audience.

    CGS NORTH AMERICAN TOUR – SUMMER 2013


    June 25             New Haven, CT               Festival of Arts and Ideas
    June 27             New York, NY                Joe's Pub 
    June 28             Baltimore, MD               Creative Alliance
    June 29             Pasadena, CA                Levitt Pavilion
    June 30             Los Angeles, CA             Los Globos
    July 2              San Francisco, CA           Cafe du Nord
    July 4              Montreal, QUE, CN           Montreal Jazz Festival
    July 5              London, ONT, CN             Sunfest (also July 7)
    July 6              Detroit, MI                 Concert of Colors
    July 7              London, ONT, CN             Sunfest (also July 5)
    July 10             Rochester, MN               Public Library (3pm) + Paramount Theatre (7pm)
    July 11             Rochester, MN               Peace Plaza              
    July 13 & 14        Butte, MT                   Montana Folk Fest      




     
  • L'altra Italia

    “ Le Giornate dell’Emigrazione “, VIII edizione 2013. Iniziative a New York e Washington.


    NAPOLI - “The pursuit of happyness” (Percezione della felicità), mostra di reperti archeologici in programma a fine anno a Washington, a cura di Fondazione R.A.S. – Restoring Ancient Stabiae e della Soprintendenza di Pompei, e “ LANDSCAPESOFMEMORY”, performance artistica a cura di Anna Maria Pugliese, riproposta al Columbus Day di New York dopo il successo dell’anno scorso, sono solo alcune delle iniziative, peraltro inserite nelle celebrazioni ufficiali della nostra Ambasciata per l’Anno  della cultura italiana negli States, il 2013 appunto, che saranno presentate mercoledì prossimo 5 GIUGNO alle 11,30 a PALAZZO ARMIERI, via Nuova Marina 19/c, sede dell’Assessorato alle Politiche Sociali della Regione Campania.
    In senso più ampio sarà presentata la VIII edizione de “Le Giornate dell’ Emigrazione“, rassegna organizzata da Asmef – Associazione Mezzogiorno Futuro, patrocinata dalla Regione Campania e dal Ministero per gli Affari Esteri.


    Saranno il presidente di Asmef, Salvo Iavarone, e Severino Nappi, assessore regionale all’Emigrazione, a presentare l’evento. Si parlerà anche di un progetto di internazionalizzazione delle imprese, teso a collegare i campani emigrati nel mondo con le imprese della Campania, e di altre proposte. “Siamo pronti ad affrontare anche quest’anno problemi ed ostacoli , sempre presenti“ dichiara Salvo Iavarone, presidente di Asmef  “ma anche determinati, e convinti della bontà del progetto, che ambisce ad unire tutti i campani del mondo alla nostra regione ed alla madre Patria”. Grande novità di quest’anno il Comitato tecnico scientifico internazionale di Asmef, che sarà insediato nel pomeriggio della stessa giornata.

     
    In allegato il programma dell’evento di presentazione, il 5 giugno, e la composizione del Comitato Scientifico Asmef. Il programma completo della rassegna, che è stata presentata in anteprima negli studi Rai di Uno Mattina venerdì 30 maggio scorso, resta disponibile sul sito www.asmef.it (dove è visibile anche il video relativo alla puntata di Uno Mattina menzionata) .




     
     
  • Fatti e Storie

    Videomessaggio del Presidente Napolitano in occasione della Festa della Repubblica


    "Rivolgo a voi tutti un cordiale saluto ed augurio per l'anniversario della nascita della nostra Repubblica. Lo celebriamo nel modo più sobrio, riducendo all'essenziale lo stesso omaggio che non può mancare alle forze armate che servono con onore, anche lontano dal paese, la bandiera nazionale e - con l'apporto del volontariato civile - la causa della solidarietà insieme con quella della sicurezza". Così il Presidente della Repubblica, Giorgio Napolitano, si è rivolto agli italiani nel tradizionale videomessaggio in occasione della Festa Nazionale della Repubblica.


    "E' giusto che in questa giornata del 2 giugno - ha aggiunto il Capo dello Stato - l'Italia dia di sé un'immagine di dignità, di consapevolezza, di volontà costruttiva. Viviamo con profonda preoccupazione il protrarsi e l'aggravarsi della recessione, la crisi diffusa, in molti casi drammatica, delle imprese e del lavoro. Ma diciamo a noi stessi, come all'Europa e al mondo, che a queste difficoltà non ci pieghiamo, che vi reagiamo convinti di poterle superare. Purché scatti uno sforzo straordinario di mobilitazione operosa e di coesione sociale, e insieme un impegno efficace e convergente di governo e Parlamento. E in effetti, ci si sta, in queste settimane, muovendo seriamente in direzioni nuove anche in Europa, dove ormai si impone all'ordine del giorno come problema numero uno quello del creare occasioni e prospettive di lavoro per vaste masse di giovani che ne sono privi".


    "In questo senso, per la crescita e l'occupazione non meno che per il risanamento finanziario, ognuno - ha sottolineato il Presidente Napolitano - deve fare la sua parte, perché è decisivo l'apporto di tutti. Vedete, se tocca ancora a me rivolgervi quest'anno il messaggio per il 2 giugno, è perché ho accettato - sollecitato da molte parti - l'onore e il peso di una rielezione a Presidente. Ma ho compiuto questo gesto di responsabilità verso il paese, confidando che le forze politiche, a cominciare da quelle maggiori, sappiano mostrarsi a loro volta responsabili. E il primo banco di prova sta nel discutere e confrontarsi tra loro liberamente ma con realismo e senso del limite, senza mettere a rischio la stabilità politica e istituzionale, in una fase così delicata della vita nazionale".


    "E quindi - ha aggiunto il Capo dello Stato - vigilerò perché non si scivoli di nuovo verso opposte forzature e rigidità e verso l'inconcludenza, né per quel che riguarda scelte urgenti e vitali di politica economica e sociale, né per quel che riguarda la legge elettorale e riforme istituzionali più che mai necessarie. Occorre recuperare fiducia nella politica e nelle istituzioni, dando risposte concrete soprattutto ai molti tra voi che vivono momenti duri e penosi e sono in allarme per il presente e per il futuro. Ad essi mi sento e resterò vicino".


    "Di qui al 2 giugno del prossimo anno, l'Italia - ha concluso il Presidente Napolitano - dovrà essersi data una prospettiva nuova, più serena e sicura. Andiamo avanti con coraggio per potervi riuscire. Ancora un augurio. Viva la Repubblica !"
  • Life & People

    A New Trade Office in Miami


    More than 200 leaders in South Florida’s business, civic, governmental and cultural communities greeted Italian Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero in his first official visit to Florida, as he announced the upcoming opening of a new trade office and other recent initiatives.
     
    Swire Properties sponsored the recent reception at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami, and Florida law firm Shutts & Bowen LLP organized it under the patronage of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and the Italian Consulate in Miami during the 2013 Year of Italian Culture in the United States.  Swire, established in Hong Kong in 1972 and active in the United States real estate market since 1980, has played a major role in transforming Miami’s skyline, and is now building Brickell CityCentre, a 5.5-million-square-foot, $1.05-billion mixed-use development complex comprising shops, restaurants, three office buildings, two residential towers and a 243-room hotel.
     NIAF Board Member and General Counsel Arthur J. Furia, a partner in Shutts & Bowen’s Miami office, organized and hosted the event. Those welcoming the ambassador included: Miami’s Italian Consul General and Mrs. Adolfo Barattolo; NIAF’s Chairman Joseph V. Del Raso, and former FBI Director and NIAF Vice President-International Judge Louis Freeh


    As evidence of growing connections with South Florida, Ambassador Bisogniero announced the planned September 1 opening of a full-fledged office of the Italian Trade Commission within the offices of the Italian Consulate in Miami.

    The ambassador noted that trade between the United States and Italy reached an all-time record of $52 billion in 2012, with a 9 percent increase in Italian exports over 2011. Italy’s $21-billion trade surplus with the United States is the highest surplus Italy has with any country in the world.

    Ambassador Bisogniero said that Italian companies are finding growing success in South Florida. Miami-Dade County recently awarded AnsaldoBreda a $300-million contract to supply a fleet of cars for the Metrorail network. A smaller Italian company, Brieda Cabins, has signed a contract with the Port of Miami to supply four high-tech cabins for operating cranes. The TREVI Group has been awarded a contract for maintenance at the Herbert Hoover Dike near Lake Okeechobee. The Ambassador emphasized that Italy and Florida have common thriving economic sectors, particularly in cruise liners, port infrastructure, design, fashion, life sciences and medical research, and agro-food.


    Guests at the May 9 reception included Senator Gwen Margolis, who presented the ambassador with a proclamation from the State of Florida; Miami-Dade Deputy Mayor Russell Benford, who awarded the ambassador a Distinguished Visitor Certificate; U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill of the Middle District of Florida; Shutts & Bowen partners Bowman Brown, Chair of the firm’s Executive Committee, Peggy Rolando, John Mariani, Maxine Long and Francois Henriquez; Consul General of Brazil Hélio Vitor Ramos Filho; federal and state district court judges; St. Thomas University President Msgr. Franklyn Casale; Miami Museum of Science President Gillian Thomas; Dr. Carol Damian, director of the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, and Dr. Camillo Ricordi, Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami and a leading authority in cellular transplantation.

    As part of the evening's entertainment, Italian-American tenor Roberto Iarussi performed the national anthems of Italy and the United States for the guests. Mr. Iarussi, who is regarded by many as the most important Italian-American tenor since Mario Lanza, also sang "I Believe," from his new album of the same name, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and produced by Grammy-award winner, Jorge Calandrelli.


    The 2013 Year of Italian Culture in the U.S. showcases Italy’s cultural tradition exemplified not only by artists such as Michelangelo, da Vinci, and Caravaggio, and composers such as Rossini, Verdi and Puccini, but by the nation’s design, research, technology, food, wine and fashion – in a word, the Italian lifestyle. The year-long celebration involves 200 events in 50 cities.

    Ambassador Bisogniero presented his credentials to the president of the United States and assumed the functions of Ambassador of Italy to the United States on January 18, 2012. Prior to being named ambassador, he was NATO Deputy Secretary General, responsible for a variety of security and strategic issues. 
     
    About the National Italian American Foundation:
    The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the heritage of Italian Americans.  Visit www.niaf.org.
     
    About Shutts & Bowen LLP:
    Founded in 1910, Shutts & Bowen LLP is a full-service Florida law firm with 240 lawyers representing individuals and business entities nationally and internationally.  It has six offices throughout the state of Florida. See more at www.shutts.com
     

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