Articles by: Luigi Boccia

  • Art & Culture

    Giuseppe Di Stefano: the southern Italian voice that conquered the world!


    The news rapidly circulated in the newspapers around the world and caused profound sorrow among all those who got to see this extraordinary  tenor in theater or had a chance to listen to one of his many live and studio recordings.



    Giuseppe Di Stefano was born in Catania, Vincenzo Bellini’s hometown, in 1921 and moved to Milano with his family when he was six, gradually becoming a ‘milanese’ as he would often joke commenting about his Sicilian roots and  northern Italian accent.

    A young Giuseppe Di Stefano's autographed portrait (1946)



    Pippo Di Stefano, as his fans around the world would lovingly address to him, is definitely one of the most phenomenal and controversial operatic vocal talents of the last century. People very often start conversations about Di Stefano with words like “I wish he had never sung that role…I wish he had never smoked so much, or gambled so much….I wish he had covered the sounds in the ‘passaggio’ …I wish he had sung more belcanto repertoire… I wish he had sung longer etc.

    This long list of wishes serves as an indirect proof of how much his fans and people in the operatic field cared about his astonishing vocal gifts and loved him. In fact, wishes apart, Giuseppe Di Stefano will be always remembered for the unbeatable quality of his voice, a color whose velvety warmth would win even the most arid hearts and as a man of unbearable charisma…even in a world, Opera, where gossip and professional jealousy are often the two sides of the same coin.



    The debut on the operatic stage for the young Giuseppe came right after the II world war, in a  production of Massenet’s Manon in Reggio Emilia, Ferruccio Tagliavini’s city and ironically enough in the same theater (Teatro ‘Peri’ then, Teatro ‘Valli’ now) were another star of the tenor galaxy would make his debut in years to come, of course the modenese Luciano Pavarotti.

    In 1943 Giuseppe Di Stefano moved to Lugano, Switzerland and started working for a radio station, where in a couple of years he recorded some of the most famous operatic arias that still now are the most vivid witness of his glorious days. He was only 22 and the recording rapidly circulated around the world as “Giusepppe Di Stefano: the early years” (available on-line at www.bongiovanni70.com) and many claim that this is not only Di Stefano’s best one, but the most thrilling solo album ever recorded.

     

    Giuseppe Di Stefano in the role of Duke of Mantua from Verdi's Rigoletto



    A year after the Reggio Emilia debut, Di Stefano was already at La Scala, again in Des Grieux’s shoes, the leading tenor role in Massenet’s Manon.

    His U.S. debut came almost immediately after his first Italian successes and already in 1948 the American audience was having the privilege of  hearing one of the most rare and precious tenor sounds in Verdi's Rigoletto.



    One of the features that most determine someone’s career, beside technique, stamina and consistency is always the possession of a distinctive sound, a sound that is recognizable or easily associated with the name of the singer. If one recalls the names of the best male and female singers one can also recall the uniqueness of their voices - their timber. Even an average opera goers can tell when Callas is singing rather than Tebaldi, Nilsson rather than Sutherland. Among tenors Di Stefano’s was unique for virtues and defects. His virtues were uncountable, especially at the beginning: beauty, warmth, endless extension, natural projection of the sounds made him rise to fame incredibly quickly. Among his defects there were some related to technical issues – sometimes his singing was too open, almost screamed and his pronunciation too emphatic – and some related to his lifestyle and personal behavior.



    His career is conventionally divided in two periods, the Belcanto period and the lirico-spinto - we agree with this division.

    The young Di Stefano had a sunny, shining Italian sound, a natural inclination towards perfect diction and pronunciation of the words, while everything came to an exaggeration in the late years and where a strong, solid technique (Pavarotti docet!) could have made the difference, Di Stefano’s total refuse of technical  support caused a quick deterioration of his miraculous natural gift.



    Di Stefano surely had few technical skills on one hand, but avalanches of passion and sentiment on the other. The extension was phenomenal: Di Stefano sang the highest roles of the Belcanto repertoire and succeded as few others, especially with operas like Bellini's Puritani, where the tenor has to prove himself able to sing 4 high C sharps, of which one in the last act after the poor Arturo, the leading tenor role, has already exhausted his throat with the long and melismatic Bellini’s melodies throughout the first two acts.

    G. Di Stefano in the role of Des Grieux from Massenet's Manon

    He also was a wonderful Rodolfo in Puccini's Bohème and a superbe Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto and had the luck to be quite at ease with French, due to his swiss experience and sang a repertoire that many of his colleagues would butcher, if not avoid at all.

    Famous is Di Stefano’s Faust at the Met in the 1949-50 Season that general manager Rudolph Bing recalls in his “5,000 nights at the opera” with the following words: “ The most spectacular single moment” was “when I heard his diminuendo on high C in Salut! Demeure in ‘Faust’. I shall never as long as I live forget the beauty of that sound!

    Another French title that will be forever linked to Di Stefano’s voice is Massenet's Manon. In the recording with Licia Albanese and Fausto Cleva as conductor (New York 1951), Di Stefano’s rendering of Le Rêve is a dream with open eyes for the listener!

    And yet Di Stefano’s abilities were beyond that of making a diminuendo on a High C. His velvety voice was warm, his phrasing so firey and dynamic, his interpretations always unforgettably passionate. On stage he was a fine actor, probably one of the finest of his generation and his ‘sicilian look’ (an abundant bunch of black hair, cunning eyes, charming smile) made of him a favorite of opera goers, especially among women.



    His name is also often associated to another astounding name: Maria Callas. From the very first opera they sang together, Traviata 1951 in São Paulo (Brasil), they became a very consolidated operatic couple like Pavarotti-Sutherland, Corelli-Nilsson and why not (?) Nebtreko-Villazon just to show for a second how low we have sunk recently!

    With Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano shared more than a simple professional relationship, the two of them eventually became lovers and it was Di Stefano to sing next to her in the last pitiful tour of America, Asia and Europe that the ‘divine’ Maria (by now the divine attributes had already left her along with all the money that Onassis took from her) made in 1972-1973.

    G. Di Stefano and M. Callas at the Royal Festival Hall (London) - Nov. 26th 1973



    Di Stefano in that period was in his descending phase as well, although precision wants us to say that the decline started in the late 50’s, when Di Stefano started opting for heavier roles: Cavaradossi in Tosca, Turiddu in Cavalleria, Canio in Pagliacci, Andrea Chenier in the homonymous opera by Giordano, Fabrizio in Fedora in a climax that led him the the final disastrous Pasadena’s Otello in 1966.

    These roles tired his voice especially for his way of singing with scarily open sounds in the delicate transition from the middle register to the high register. Lacking of a good, strong technical basis likehis colleagues Raimondi or Bergonzi, Di Stefano soon lost his top and started having problems with pitch. In the last years of his career unfortunately he became famous also to be the tenor that was always flat.



    Despite all this, his charisma on stage remained intact until the very end and even in a negligible performance some of his sounds would remind the audience of the glorious splendor of that voice.
    Giacomo Lauri Volpi, another famous Italian tenor from Caruso’s era, in his book ‘Voci parallele’ wrote a remarkable comment about Di Stefano, saying: "Sul palcoscenico e nella vita, nessuno fu più tenore di lui" ("On stage and in life, no one was more of a tenor than he was!").



    In fact it’s notorious how Di Stefano’s behavior affected very much his career, especially after he had reached success and wealth. He lifestyle was not really what one would call a diligent and wise way to preserve stamina and concetration before the performance. He was sensitive to the feminine element and enjoyed very much smoking and gambling…now one doesn’t need to be a famous tenor or necessarily an opera singer to know that certain activities could exhaust your our body after a long period. For a singer, though, the issue is even more important because the vocal cords are in the body and reflect of the body’s health as much as they reflect the body’s fatigue.

    G. Di Stefano's DECCA solo album of Neapolitan and Sicilian Songs


    Last but not least, we must make specific mention of Di Stefano as interpreter of Neapolitan songs. Since Caruso, who was a Neapolitan “scugnizzo” ("street urchin") and knew his dialect perhaps better than he knew Italian, Di Stefano is the only other Italian tenor that was able to sing Neapolitan songs with an almost perfect Neapolitan diction, but always with true, authentic Neapolitan sentiment.

    In conclusion, I want to share a private experience with my readers. My passion for Opera started a long time ago with a LP of Luciano Pavarotti singing Neapolitan songs. Being from that region, those songs were all known to me because my grandmother would sing them often while doing her housework. Of course I immediately fell in love with most of them and sang along with Pavarotti for months until one day a friend brought me an LP of another tenor: Giuseppe Di Stefano. I listened and for the first time  I felt that  intense, visceral, dramatic and melancholic southern Italian passion that made Pippo's voice so unique and these songs so immortal.

     

    *** A special thanks to Maestro Arthur Mc Manus for his tireless and priceless editorial supervision!

     
  • Art & Culture

    Giuseppe Giacomini on YouTube. III PART. “The Beautiful Sound is the One Deep Inside Me”


    Journalist: How do you make your palette of sounds? How do you understand that one sound is more beautiful than another. Does it depend also on the opera or the text you have to sing? Therefore you go forward to find that sound, because it is not even a color, it’s a sound.



    Giacomini: Yes, I would use the word sound, but I don’t make any distinction between beautiful or ugly sound - sure if it’s ugly I try not to sing it – but the beautiful sound is the one deep inside me, the sound that is colored by my intimacy, that carries out my emotion. Suffering or rejoicing are really close to each other, almost the same thing. There is not such a great separation between grief and joy. One cries also when he or she is happy. The beautiful sound for me is the one that is loaded with great emotions. I’ve always been looking for this: this sound that takes all my soul, that – no matter whether I’m saying the word Amore or I’m shouting – has plenty of my intimacy. That’s the beautiful sound. Surely it must be sung with the discipline of the technique, always, but this is the beautiful sound in my opinion because it’s rich with emotions, it’s rich with my soul.

    “Affondare”, l’affondo is the accelerator of the engine. If you push your foot and put a block on the pedal, the pedal remains there and the engine will keep the power. Every sound in general must be considered in a vertical dimension, never in an horizontal dimension…



    Journalist: Therefore it’s a very low support?


    Giacomini: It is, but consider also what the physical limits are. If you open the mouth a little bit, you don’t open it because you want to. The instinct to open the mouth has to come from the diaphragm. The diaphragm gives you the possibility to open or close your mouth a little bit more. Everything happens inside. It’s inside that all the muscles must be coordinated. Leave the vocal cords in peace: “We have 4 vocal cords, two are good, two are crazy”… but what do they mean? BASTA (that’s enough)!


    Journalist: The vocal cords are only the medium. But the throat must be a pipe, the larynx low …


    Giacomini: It should be so…



    Journalist: This should be something that the singer is already looking for…


    Giacomini: But we can’t study these things, otherwise we would be surgeons; we are there to analyze the vocal cords. Come on, I know why they vibrate. This is the only thing you need to know. But you have to make them vibrate in the right way and find this coordination that makes your body vibrate from the groin up to the chest. The vibration has to be appropriate to your body, it doesn’t have to create any tension…of course there are moments of particular effort while singing, but the effort is directed to the coordination of all these muscles. That’s the way you get the ‘affondo’ (he imitates a piston with his hands) and more colors, because the color doesn’t really come from the head resonances, but from the lower part of the face. The higher part of the head is only responsible for the projection and the brightness of the sound. But a voice that hits only in the head cavities is always white or colorless. The color is given in the lower part.

    In the past I liked the colors of many great singers but I couldn’t imitate them, because my structure is different – we need to say this. Moreover it is the bone structure – and not everybody knows it – that helps us with the sound, because if we have a bone structure that resonates, that is strong and healthy or if we have a one of a particular type…if the bone were of cotton we wouldn’t have any resonance. You have to take from the great singers if you can, but you don’t have to try to push your sound in that direction, because the sound of the singer you like is the result of his bone and face structure and we don’t all look alike.


    Journalist: Everytime you study, even though it’s the same opera, you have to adapt your throat to the score.


    Giacomini: Absolutely, yes. Also in this case there are limits. You can’t go further than a certain point. The scores we are talking about have been written by souls that really knew how to write: rarely you find a sound that is out of place there, because these melodies came from inside. All the scores and the composers are different, so you definitely have to find a different position for the diaphragm and different sounds according to the need of that score.

    One must recognize the essence of a score in depth. This is our duty. If you have to sing a role that you have sung five months or a year ago, you still have to review the whole part, because your muscles respond differently or you suddenly feel a phrase in a different way. That means to go into something thoroughly. You can’t say: “Ah, ok I’ve learned it, tonight I’m going to sing Trovatore, tomorrow Elisir” or “I know this role musically, memory helps me” etc…No!, gentlemen, this is not singing. You can get along for a short amount of time in this way, but you’ll never have time to analyze in depth, absolutely not. Even though it’s the same opera – and I can tell you based on my experience of 40 years and with a repertoire that never gives the voice any respite – I still discover and find a deep and new intensity in the score, which is different from what I found in the same score years ago: the sound may have lost something, but it is enriched by many other things. This is the bad mistake that the new generation of singers makes. They think that once you’ve learned the role you can nail it on the wall, basta. No, no, you must re-debut it every time you sing it and you will be rewarded inside for the ever new situation. In that case you are no longer just a professional, you are a SINGER.



    Journalist: One doesn’t have to be in a hurry to learn how to sing, right?


    Giacomini: No!



    Journalist: One must learn to wait?


    Giacomini: Absolutely… learn to wait!

     

  • Giuseppe Giacomini on YouTube. II PART. "A Singer Lives Spiritually Through their Voice"


    The tenor has released an interview on July 8th 2006 published on YouTube by Agatarco. The interview is in Italian. Reading the comments, though, we found people who wished that this interview could be translated in English, accessible to a larger audience of opera lovers

     

    Okay here we go - this is pretty much my relationship with my faith: I think the moment has passed - after 40 years of the operatic world being in the hands of various different people – but my dream has always been (and in some ways, I’m still convinced) that the spirituality of the voice has the capability to convert and unite both the good and nasty people of the world. You can live together with any political color or intention. The voice doesn’t bring evil, only good… deep good, that one does not need so many words to understand. This is my message, and this has been at the same time my biggest source of suffering.



    When I started singing, thank God, there were way more possibilities than there are today to start a career in the right way. There were many people managing theaters both big and small who were people of theater - they lived spiritually through the voice. This is very important. Now, though, those days are gone. There are no longer the so called ‘small theaters’, nor instances of private management – sure people in the past may have thought how to enrich themselves on the success of the singer’s blood and sweat, but they were theatrical people. Today, these are office people (those guided more by their administrative duties and marketing), from political groups and agencies.

    They say “I want this famous singer… and let’s hire this other one alongside him. Let’s do this opera and see who is available on the agency’s book (on the list)? Who is the best singer represented from the strongest agency?” Whether or not these choices are appropriate matters so much less. Nobody seems to think about which singers are appropriate (especially together) for which opera anymore. These things that seem so intuitive in the world of opera are lost in attempt to sell more tickets or promote a bigger production.



    Once upon a time, they would evaluate your voice and your abilities very accurately, and then would say: we believe that next season you could sing Tosca or Fedora, and maybe you could do this other role, etc. This kind of management operated for the singer’s sake. They used wonderful intuitions. Which theatrical people, nowadays, do the same?



    Perhaps one name or two come to my mind, but in general this is a world that has completely disappeared. This world is now managed by bureaucrats and politicians. Don’t you dare start telling me that I shouldn’t talk about things like religion or politics for which everyone has different opinions, because in a way the political presence in theaters is necessary. Let me tell you, though, that theaters managed in this way today are going to face a sure and immediate end. There must be a specific interest from a private institution or organization (one that is ready for the possibility of getting its fingers burned) in funding the successful theaters.



    This, however, does not exist anymore and that is why we are gradually losing all the work that has been done in the past generation, especially concerning the young singer’s career – nurturing young singers in the right roles to make the young singer grow towards a career of endurance and vocal health. A healthy career, after all, is full of “No’s” too! I myself have had crazy offers for the interest of some specific theater (do this or that), despite the overwhelming feeling that my conscience was saying NO or that I felt, in general, not ready for this specific offer.



    For example, I had people insisting in asking me to make a debut in Un Ballo in Maschera. I looked at the score – it was in the early years of my career – and said: I can’t sing this! At that point in my career, I wouldn’t have been able sing that role in such a way to convey what it was that I felt inside me. Of course now I have some regrets that I have never had another chance to sing this amazing role, although I know that at the time it would have been a much larger regret by not doing it justice. While we’re on the subject, I might as well tell you that there have been so many other things that I’ve said no to! I needed to say no because the voice wasn’t ready. And trust me, it took me a long time to pay off my debts to all of the friends that supported through 10 years of “No’s” in my career - 10 years!



    Luckily, God kept me healthy and I already had a family: I knew I wasn’t going to starve, but how many times I had to say NO. I knew that I had to invest in my technique and my personality - both things that came slowly and in with much difficulty. These things are probably also a result of my peasant origins, but you should know that I’m not saying this because I want to point out that I was able to climb from peasant to Opera Star. The origins are rather to explain the pure soul - the honesty that brings you to invest your whole being in what you do and believe so that tomorrow you can be better off than you are today!




     
  • Art & Culture

    Giuseppe Giacomini on YouTube: "Try Going to the Theater and Experiencing the Artists in Person"


    Journalist: How should the audience have to judge, analyze or respect a singer?


    Giacomini: I think people must start from a very simple position: if the singer’s artistic expression enters inside you, if it makes you experience beautiful moments in such a way that you look at the people closest to you (relatives, lovers, wives, husbands, children, etc.) and feel that you can look at them with more joy at that moment in the theater, listening to this singer… If, in other words, you think that this expression, this acuto, this technique, this way of singing that truly moves you live inside, (and not because of the singer’s name - for this is merely a surface trick: sure the name may sometime play a big role, but the true artistry must be something more important inside, something that lives inside of you and not just for the high notes! )… If it makes you experience a range of emotions inside yourself, then you are able to judge him or her based on these feelings you are having. It is in this mindset which you must go to the theater, with these intentions - not going there with prejudiced thinking (“Let’s see if he or she is going to hit this high note tonight!” or “Let’s time how long he is going to keep it!”). These are just exteriorities that do not make a fair assessment in Art. They are pointless.



    The recent generations, especially have been spoiled by recordings. Recordings are witnesses, but what we seem to forget is that there is always a technical interference inherent here. The voice must be heard in the temple, in the theater, in the right theater, without microphones, to be truly felt and appreciated.

    Try going to the theater and experiencing the artists in person, become “spiritual” friends with them, and see if they inspire in you beautiful moments of feeling and emotion. If so, this is a sure sign that you are in the right position, but also that the artist is too.


    Journalist: Having been given this wonderful vocal talent, it seems that you want to remain humble in front of the score and the vocal art in general. Do you feel that you’ve succeeded in donating your life to study with respect and humility, as well as with respect to the gift you were given?



    Giacomini: You’ve touched a very delicate point for me – I feel I’ve always been misunderstood. I have always said, (and for this was always reprimanded): the voice is the spirit, by all means, and this spirituality can be different for different people according to their political beliefs. Of course, we don’t want to get down to the nitty gritty, because we are all entitled to have different opinions about this, but yes… I feel compelled to talk about this spirit regardless…



    First, it is not really about religion. I’m a believer, thank God, and I recognize this never-ending gift (the voice), because there is no other way to explain it. Yes, later on my job became singing, but there are many times when you walk in the theater and think to yourself: how am I going to make this happen tonight? I’m not feeling well, the voice is not ready. Your conscience and your honesty also make you feel all the possible and psychological pains possible. On the contrary, though, it ends up being a wonderful evening (miraculously). In these moments most of all, singing is prayer, but not so much prayer as much as a pure expression of gratitude to heaven, to God to the Virgin Mary, to the Saints, whatever you want! A prayer for a dear person you know who has recovered from a disease, an international calamity or some grief in the world.



    The thing that made me suffer the most is this: I started and am still immersed in this great spirituality, but in the theater I felt pressured and squeezed. The voice is not acknowledged as a spiritual gift, rather a specimen to be evaluated for its entertainment value. The consciousness that (through your voice and your art you can muster) to cancel all the bad things from the world cannot always oust this pressure. I’m not saying to treat your spirituality like a relic, but it is, however, something we must keep safe and protected - I feel that’s why we are lacking an important starting point for the opera theater. The gift is one of the greatest. After all, what is the reason we are able to express anything? Sure the technique, the body, all of these trainable and obvious factors, but the great voices of our time had something more.

    With the voice today you are able to produce a sound one day, and the day after you are unable to repeat that same experience with the a similar sense of ease, because many times it is the spirit that drives you in different directions.



    I happen to have at this moment of my life great emotions, which has seen a genuine response from my audiences (I hope not because of pity) in these last few things that I do on the stage. These small performances become huge - I see great emotions from people in the environment, from singers, colleagues and the general audience. They cry with their eyes because a person, with his or her voice, is an instrument that is capable of inspiring deep emotions. The voice is only an expression of gratitude, it is not your thing, its purpose is not something to conquer the world.



    One should be able, yes, to accomplish a very noble task with the voice. For example, I am convinced that we are capable of finding a direction, beyond any politics. Can you imagine if it was possible to sing for the terrorists, in the most “bastard” moments of life and inspire in them beautiful feeling?, I believe that this is the purpose that a singer has when he/she sings: to unite the souls in the good. Sometimes, unfortunately, I get frustrated, but I don’t curse against God. Sure I’ve been given the most beautiful gift, but God didn’t give me the armor to protect myself against a world that doesn’t understand me, that can’t wait to squeeze me and put me in a box or somewhere else and say “finally he is ill.” It is not, after all, about feeling good or ill, because when I am on stage I don’t think about my role - absolutely not! I think about living those moments.



    The artist doesn’t have to sing for his own interest, but for the interest of the common souls of audience. The audience must be with you thanking heaven for this gift. When the high note comes out beautifully, when the phrase is properly sung, when you experience these great emotions, you must make the audience live them alongside you and, if you do make it in the end, you will feel that the audience has been able to share these deep rewards with you. This is a very important thing!

     
  • Art & Culture

    Anton Coppola: Maestro …by All Means!


    A musician, composer, conductor and teacher, he is among the most renowned in the world and the bright symbol of Italianità in the classical music field. Needless to say the interview is in Dante’s language: “Parla Italiano? Mi difendo” starts funnily Maestro Coppola.


    His parents arrived in the United States in 1904; his father from Bernalda (Matera) and his mother from Tricarico (Matera), both of lucan origin (Lucania is the other name for the region Basilicata). He was born and raised in East Harlem, at a time when it was almost exclusively an Italian enclave.


    “My uncle Giuseppe, owner of a popular barber shop in the area, had an unstrained passion for Opera and used to bring me to see performances at the MET.

    I was only a child, but already had a perception of how much Opera was one of the reasons to be proud of being Italians, especially for those who had just emigrated from their homeland and were a having hard time in their daily struggle to survive.”

    Nevertheless it’s not surprising that, especially at the beginning of the last century, Italians performed almost all the Operas and the MET general manager, Gatti Casazza, was also Italian. Italians interpreters like Enrico Caruso, the legendary Neapolitan tenor, and the very remarkable bass Ezio Pinza are good examples to demonstrate how some were able to climb the operatic boundaries and assert themselves as relevant personalities among the world’s stars.


    A childhood spent behind the back stage: “ my uncle would often take me behind the stage, to the dressing rooms, between busy crew members and singers in costume ready to step onto the stage and sing their challenging arias, in a mix of nervousness, anxiety, and superstition that you can always breathe before, during and after a theatrical performance.”


    He was only 13 when his Uncle Giuseppe – who would play a fundamental role in addressing his young nephew towards an artistic career, in the years to come – introduced him to Neapolitan conductor Gennaro Papi. At that time he was in New York to conduct Puccini’s Bohème and was also one of the closest assistants to another Italian celebrity, Arturo Toscanini.

    The Metropolitan Opera Theater, until the end of the 50s, was located at the corner between 39th Street and 7th Avenue. It was in that theater that the adolescent Coppola had the good fortune of seeing people the caliber of Martinelli, Pinza, Bori (operatic Italian glories at the beginning of the XX century). Too young to have seen Caruso, he likes to say, though, that akin to what Pavarotti did many decades later, Caruso “was the fulcrum of national pride and glory. It was important for us to show that we could offer not only hands for factories, but that we were also enormous exporters of Art and Culture, both elements wonderfully summarized in the melodramatic genre.”


    The beginning? Not easy, like in every respectable story, but in Coppola’s case, there had also been many fortunate meetings. “One day, maestro Papi decided to audition me. I was so nervous. I started playing and singing some opera scores. He liked me very much and, since he was living alone in NY, adopted me like a son. It was a beautiful teacher-student relationship. He would invite me to the performances and the day after he would phone and ask what my opinion was about the previous night’s show. We would have very long conversations and Papi always showed deep interest in my opinion. He would then go over the most difficult passages of the score and say: «See, Anton, if you happen to conduct this opera, be veeeeeeery careful of this passage»!!!”

    Papi also convinced his talented pupil to start practicing another instrument besides piano, “it’s good in order to have a better understanding of the orchestra musicians’ jobs. In this way you know what you really can ask of them! – he used to repeat – and so I learned how to play oboe under the guidance of Bruno Labate”, the first oboist in the New Philarmonic during the Golden Era of Toscanini’s baton.

    “On a Saturday morning, like every Saturday, there was the Matinée at the MET. I don’t honestly remember what opera was to be performed, but I vividly remember that Maestro Papi didn’t show up. A few hours later we learned that he had died of a heart attack. When a mentor like him suddenly disappears, it leaves a wound in your soul that is difficult to heal and creates a huge void in your life; if I’ve become someone, it’s mostly because of people like Papi, a great man and musician!”

    Family also played an important role in Coppola’s career. Agostino, his father, was a lathe turner. “A father of 7 children, when he came back from work, he wanted to see all the kids gathered around the table. When my mother yelled: «Guys, come eat»! - my father, would point his finger towards me and would often say: «Leave him alone, he’s studying»!

    This concession often made me feel special and gave me a bigger sense of responsibility towards my parents, although I should say that I never too much affected them financially, having been lucky enough to receive free lessons for all of my training period. Maybe because in the years of my apprenticeship, from 1929 to 1940, things were different: there was less money and more values. Many teachers believed in their students and transmitted to them all of their science in a free and disinterested way, in the same way their teachers had formerly done with them.”

    It’s also true that Coppola’s apprenticeship years coincide with what so far is considered to be the worst period of economic and financial crisis in the United States. In order to find a remedy for the deep economic depression the country was experiencing, the Roosevelt Administration launched the so-called “New Deal”. It was an innovative economic program in which one of the projects, the WPA (Work Progress Administration) guaranteed that all the workers would receive a salary of 23 dollars per week, no matter what job they were performing or what professional category they belonged to. In this way it was possible to quickly reduce the percentage of unemployed people in the country.

    “During the ‘great depression’ period in NY, there were 5 symphonic Orchestras and a permanent Opera Company, whose resident conductor was Fulgenzio Guerrieri, from Torino, “ what we would call a living encyclopedia; he knew almost everything, with only one big flaw: he was too attached to the bottle. Even if it’s not pleasant, put it down in this way, this has been my fortune. In fact, once I became his assistant, I was put in charge of rehearsing with the Orchestra members and when the opera was ready, Gurrieri would perform it in the 5 boroughs of NY: 5 performances, one for each borough and then he we would start over with new titles.”

    In 1936, on a Sunday morning, there was the last performance of Samson et Dalila by Saint-Saëns and Gurrieri wasn’t feeling well. I had already gone through the whole rehearsal period with the Orchestra, so I knew the opera very well. Therefore, when they asked me to jump on the podium, grab the baton and give instructions to the musicians in the orchestra pit, I didn’t hesitate a second!”

    Also in 1936, Coppola ran for the position of primo oboe in the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, a 50 element orchestra, “they were all very talented musicians; it was a job where my paycheck finally got a little bit bigger!

    When World War II deflagrated, I was recruited as a simple soldier. One day, walking around, I noticed flyers posted all over regarding a band conductor position. It was a 3-month training course. I applied and was accepted. After the trimester training, they sent me to Texas to conduct an aviation camp band. We twice got the leave order, but thank God both times the order was canceled”.

    Not an easy situation for Coppola, son of Italian parents, born in the USA and recruited to fight a war that, at least in the first phase, saw Italy among the hostile countries. “My father would often repeat: we are in the United States and we’ve got to behave as respectful guests of this nation. He didn’t care at all about Mussolini. Those who were fascists in the United States didn’t know anything about fascism: what they would see here was another thing; it was only the folkloristic aspect of that political tragedy. Others were just chasing some sort of utopia, and ignoring the potential consequences.

    Yet fascism and its proselytism in the United States caused a certain type of diffidence towards Italians and reinforced preexisting prejudice towards Italian/Americans. It’s worth saying, though, that it was never as severe as it was for the Germans or the Japanese, who, after Pearl Harbor, were literally deported to concentration camps.”

    By the time the war was over, Coppola had been contacted by San Carlo Opera Company, which had nothing to do with the prestigious Neapolitan Theater (Teatro San Carlo). The manager of this company, Fortunato Gallo, was in charge of organizing a tour throughout United States and Canada. The company would perform a different title every night. The repertoire was quite traditional, except for Wagner’s Lohengrin, the only German opera present in their season. “They were looking for a conductor and after an audition, I got the job. This put me under a very intense operatic schedule, since I had to conduct, night after night, the most famous operas of the repertoire. The end of the tournèe was held at New York Center Theater. That night we were performing Bizet’s Carmen. The general manager of New York’s Radio City Music Hall came to see me on the podium and the day after invited me to conduct there. It was there that I met a very pretty dancer named Almerinda Drago, whose parents were from L’Aquila”. Two years later Almerinda became his wife and the mother of their two children, Bruno and Lucia, “who speak Italian like Roman senators! From the very first day that we brought them from the hospital, Italian was the only language we spoke with them.” Coppola and his wife have just celebrated 57 years of marriage.

    A significant change in Coppola’s career came in 1952, when he was called to conduct a particularly difficult show, offered to him because: “they needed a conductor with an operatic background and a familiarity with a more complex repertoire.

    This started Coppola’s adventure with Broadway, which kept him busy for 10 years, during which he conducted The Boyfriend (1954 with Julia Anders), New Faces (1952) and Silk Stocking (1954). In 1958 he conducted “The Most Happy Fellow”, the story of an Italian emigrant who didn’t speak English very well and finally My Fair Lady, one of the most popular shows of all times in which he conducted the second company.

    A few years later, the Manhattan School of Music contacted Coppola about a teaching position. “They were doing Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Ravel’s Heure espanol. They hired me, and so I became responsible for young people in symphonic and lyric orchestras. Working with young talented people is an unforgettable experience.” His work at the Manhattan School of Music continued for 15 years. In the intervening time, Coppola began intensifying his schedule as guest conductor.

    From 1977 on, Coppola decided to only work as guest conductor, mainly due to the many requests he received from all over the world. This choice enabled him to accept prestigious engagements, like the one at New York City Opera, where he conducted the world premiere of Jack Beeson’s Lizzie Borden, of which he also conducted the first recording. With regard to world premieres, he also conducted Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, first performed at the Seattle Opera in 1970.

    Under his baton passed important names the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, of whom Coppola conducted the American debut in San Francisco’s Bohème. Next to Big Luciano, who is known to larger audiences, appear names like Siepi, Giaiotti, Tucker, Merrill, Peerce, Consiglio, Scotto, Di Stefano, and Stella; a list of operatic stars that would make Coppola envied even by the most famous conductors of the moment.

    “All the singers I have worked with respected me and have never been temperamental. They have always considered me a representative of the Old Italian School and were mostly eager to learn from my experience and knowledge. If the young conductors nowadays listened to the few conductors left of my age, perhaps Opera would have a better future and it wouldn’t be forced to become something else or to resemble more and more to other genres”.

    Despite age – whether he is older than 80 or younger than 80 doesn’t really matter – Anton Coppola still shows incredible energy, to the point that he recently recorded a Puccini operatic anthology for EMI with the soprano Angela Georghiou and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.

    On the compositional side, Coppola gave a noble contribution with his opera Sacco and Vanzetti, based on the story of two Italian anarchists whose execution is still a controversial topic amongst historians.

    “About 10 years ago my nephew Francis phoned me with an idea of doing a documentary about these two anarchists who were put to death on the electric chair in 1927. «If you want – he said – you could try to write 4 or 5 pieces». After he had heard the pieces, he called me: «Uncle, but this is an opera»! I interpreted his opinion as a sign of encouragement to continue and got extremely passionate about the subject, reading all I possibly could read and learning all I could learn about the different theories and reasons regarding why these two Italians were condemned. First I wrote the libretto and then the music. I wanted the libretto to be bilingual, in order to respect one of the most peculiar features of the Italian/American Community in the 20s.

    As a matter of fact, they spoke Italian when they were with their fellow countrymen and English in their day to day lives and therefore forced to make themselves be understood.”

    The world premiere was held in Tampa (Florida) in 2001, with a 24-singer cast, chorus and traditional orchestra enriched by 5 band instruments and 160 costumes. The success attributed to the Opera by the critics and the audience makes it difficult to understand why, besides Tokyo and Trieste, no other theaters have showed interest in the title.

    “I remember that in my family, as in many others, we discussed a lot whether they were innocent or guilty. I want to say, though, that the goal of the Opera is not to prove them innocent, also because in my opinion Vanzetti was undoubtedly innocent. Perhaps Sacco was too. The purpose is rather to raise the question: was the trial fair? Was justice fair in that situation?

    Apparently not, since the judge who was expected to write the verdict, walked out of his golf country club, saying: «you’ll see what I’ll do with those bastards»! We must admit one thing: whether innocent or guilty, there was a huge prejudice against them: they were Italians and anarchists and this very much affected the final decision”.

    In fact even representatives the US Justice department recognized it as a mistake 50 years later.

    “Sacco and Vanzetti’s story is a very significant one, emblematic in shedding some light on the actual situation that many Italian emigrants had to face, in the USA at the beginning of the XX century. Often we talk about the many achievements of Italian/Americans of second or third generation in various fields, but we forget the sacrifices and often the discrimination that our parents and grandparents endured.

    My nephew Francis Ford Coppola is really devoted to his family and his Italian heritage. Just a year ago he bought the biggest Villa in the center of Bernalda and named it Villa Coppola. Bernalda is the place from where my father emigrated when he came to the United States. I get goose bumps if I think about it.

    My father walked out of that village with nothing and now his name returns on the walls of the most sumptuous villa. I know that he would be happy, because he, like me, always loved his country and the values that we have been able to export all through the rest of the world. As a musician, I’ve always been proud to be an ambassador of an unbeatable historical, artistic and cultural patrimony”.

    Anton Coppola fulfilled his duty wonderfully. Thank you, Maestro!
  • Life & People

    Columbus Day Parade. La sfida di Enzo Pizzimenti


    ... , che si terrà, come ogni anno, l'8 ottobre, sulla prestigiosa Fifth Avenue. Nel corso della riunione sono state illustrate nei dettagli le modalità organizzative di uno dei più complessi one-day events, alla cui riuscita lavorano per un anno intero una miriade di collaboratori e associazioni dislocate in ogni parte del mondo. Come sia possibile coordinare e incanalare in un'unica direzione gli sforzi febbrili di un team internazionale, lo spiega Enzo Pizzimenti, 58 anni ben portati - di cui più di 30 vissuti negli States.


    Originario di Gallico Marina, paesino alle porte di Reggio Calabria, marito e padre di due figli, oltre ad essere un imprenditore di successo nel campo alimentare ed edilizio, Pizzimenti si è particolarmente distinto per la sua attività di Presidente del circolo culturale ‘Harrison Friends of the Opera' e socio della Columbus Citizen Foundation, dai cui membri è stato recentemente designato chairman della parata di quest'anno. Lo incontriamo a distanza di qualche settimana ad Harrison (NY), dove lavora e vive affiancato dall'inseparabile compagna di una vita, sua moglie Pina, reggina anche lei.


    "Una delle fasi più importanti per la riuscita dell'evento è senza dubbio quella del fund-raising. Negli ultimi dieci anni - spiega Pizzimenti - si è capito che non si poteva contare solo sulle donazioni di cittadini italo-americani, perlopiù residenti nel nord est degli USA. Infatti, man mano che l'evento cresceva in termini di prestigio e di popolarità - anche grazie all'interessamento di alcuni emittenti televisive che ne curano diretta (tra cui NBC e Rai Interntional) - si è dovuto far fronte ad un monte spesa decisamente superiore alle donazioni ricevute. Di qui - aggiunge il chairman - la necessità di estendere le attività di fund-raising ad una rete di istituzioni commerciali, pubbliche e private, desiderose di pubblicizzare il proprio marchio attraverso la parata e disposte, perciò, a contribuire all'evento in veste di sponsors".


    "Il metodo si è rivelato assai proficuo - confessa l'intervistato - e il merito di questo innegabile successo va senz'altro ascritto a tutti coloro che nell'ultimo decennio si sono prodigati per raggiungere tali risultati, a partire dal mio predecessore A. Catalanotta, chairman della parata dal 2000 al 2006, fino a Lawrence Auriana, chairmen of board of governors, e L. Tallarini, presidente in carica della Columbus Citizen Foundation".


    "Ma la raccolta fondi - precisa - è solo uno degli aspetti organizzativi. La ricerca degli sponsor è importante almeno quanto quella della definizione dei contenuti culturali dell'evento". A giudicare dal programma, è il caso di dire che al pari delle ditte maggiormente interessate alla sponsorizzazione della parata - prevalentemente italiane - anche una larghissima fetta di artisti invitati a vario titolo a presenziare all'evento sono italiani. Anche per questo motivo, ad affiancare l'imprenditore calabrese nella gestione dei rapporti con l'Italia, scorgiamo una squadra di collaboratori dallo statuto bilingue, tra cui menzione particolare meritano Anna Maria Toglia e il giovanissimo Anthony Sama (appena 21enne), entrambi impiegati a tempo pieno presso la Foundation e la dott.ssa Giuliana Ridolfi-Cardillo, "la cui preziosa collaborazione in qualità di chairwoman dei rapporti culturali con l'Italia si rivela quotidianamente di grandissimo supporto" . "Il fatto che i miei collaboratori ed io parliamo italiano ed inglese - precisa Pizzimenti - rende spesso il lavoro e la comunicazione coi vari soggetti istituzionali e/o commerciali meno complicata".


    "Quest'anno, per esempio, siamo riusciti a garantirci la presenza della Banda Militare della Guardia di Finanza, che - ci viene rivelato in anteprima - eseguirà un favoloso programma concertistico a Columbus Circle", all'ombra dell'obelisco che celebra quel visionario genovese che, come recita la lapide marmorea alla base del monumento, «donò un nuovo mondo, al mondo». "Un momento dall'altissimo valore simbolico ed evocativo - e gli occhi del chairman si inumidiscono repentinamente -, si tratta di un pezzo della storia militare e musicale d'Italia in quella piazza che, come poche altre, è memoria permanente dell'enorme contributo del genio italiano alla storia e alla cultura degli Stati Uniti d'America".


    "Per incassare tali risultati, occorre lavorare duro e stabilire contatti in ogni parte del mondo. Ci sono giorni in cui trascorro letteralmente ore al telefono, al computer o in videoconferenza. È parte del mio lavoro e della mia missione per un anno, io l'ho scelto e lo rifarei ancora!" E non sembra smentirsi il ruspantino patron dell'evento, il quale aggiunge che " se con la sua gestione si riesce a seguire la linea che è stata già tracciata in passato dai suoi predecessori e a contribuire al contempo al miglioramento della parata introducendo idee e spunti nuovi, non è da escludersi che, famiglia permettendo, ripeta l'esperienza anche per il 2008!".


    Variamente articolata ed eterogenea sembra infatti la bozza del programma - per ovvie ragioni ancora in piena fase di assestamento - che scandirà il ritmo delle manifestazioni previste a NY dal 4 all'8 ottobre p.v. Innumerevoli i settori del made in Italy coinvolti: cibo, moda, arte, musica, design, turismo, ciascuno dei quali è anche promotore di mostre, esibizioni, spettacoli e degustazioni in punti chiave della metropoli, come la storica stazione ferroviaria Grand Central, sede ospitante di alcune di queste iniziative.


    "In passato abbiamo avuto l'onore di ospitare personaggi del calibro di Sophia Loren, Pavarotti, Zeffirelli, Cavalli per citarne solo alcuni e quest'anno non vogliamo essere da meno. È quasi certa, infatti, la presenza di una star della musica pop italiana e internazionale", l'omissione del cui nome, anche a seguito di numerosi tentativi di strapparlo dal vincolo della segretezza, contribuisce ad aumentare vertiginosamente la nostra curiosità!


    "Tuttavia, più che concentrarci quasi esclusivamente sulla presenza di un solo nome roboante, abbiamo preferito puntare le luci dei riflettori su personalità di altissimo livello i cui nomi potrebbero non essere stranoti grande pubblico, ma il cui lavoro quotidiano ha una notevole incidenza in settori strategici del mercato musicale statunitense. Uno di questi è sicuramente Kara Dioguardi, probabilmente la compositrice e autrice di testi di maggiore successo a livello mondiale nel campo della musica pop, avendo firmato i testi delle canzoni più note di giganti del panorama della musica leggera contemporanea come Eros Ramazzotti, Ricky Martin, Celine Dion e Laura Pausini. Oltre alla Dioguardi - rivela con una punta di orgoglio il chairman - abbiamo voluto premiare un'altra donna, Lidia Bastianich", la chef di origini triestine che da anni conduce uno show televisivo e scrive libri dedicati alla cucina italiana. "Può sembrare che la scelta celi un pizzico di civetteria, ma la realtà è che è doveroso un tributo a tutte quelle donne che riescono ad affermarsi ad altissimi livelli nelle loro professioni, continuando ad essere il fulcro e l'asse portante dell'istituzione familiare. Senza l'aiuto e il supporto morale di mia moglie Pina sarebbe stato impossibile imbarcarmi in una simile impresa".


    I succitati sono ovviamente solo un assaggio dei nomi snocciolati durante l'intervista, su alcuni dei quali per serietà professionale è necessario mantenere il riserbo fino al momento dell'accettazione ufficiale dell'invito. Cautela che, dato il particolare momento, diventa necessario quando si parla dell'eventuale partecipazione di esponenti di spicco dell'attuale compagine governativa. "Per gli inizi di settembre - assicura il nostro - il programma avrà una veste definitiva. È un anno davvero speciale, se si considera che tra le altre cose, vi è la ricorrenza del bicentenario dalla nascita di un altro dei nostri eroi nazionali, Giuseppe Garibaldi, a cui stiamo lavorando per dedicare un degno e doveroso tributo. Di certo non vi è penuria di spunti o idee, il nostro lavoro è pari a quello di un equipe di sarti, prendiamo le misure e valutiamo singolarmente ogni taglio o aggiunta!"


    "Pochi sanno - e chi scrive non era tra quelli - che lo scopo della fund raising della parata e della Columbus Citizen Foundation in quanto tale è di carattere esclusivamente filantropico. Ogni anno, al di là delle spese logistico-organizzative, destiniamo il 100% dei fondi raccolti ad un programma di sostegno economico volto ad aiutare ragazzi di origine italiana particolarmente bisognosi che non potrebbero altrimenti permettersi di pagare le tasse scolastiche. Grazie all'erogazione di borse studio, la cui attribuzione è basata su criteri di merito e reddito, lo scorso anno siamo stati in grado di aiutare circa 700 studenti, per un importo complessivo di diversi milioni di dollari. Alcuni dei vincitori, una volta terminati gli studi e diventati affermati professionisti nei rispettivi settori, tornano da noi in qualità di volontari o soci sostenitori, memori del ruolo che la C.C. Foundation ha giocato nelle loro vite. Questo mi riempie il cuore di gioia e dona un senso assai profondo a tutto ciò che sto facendo".


    "Allargare la parata non solo agli italiani d'America, ma agli italiani nel mondo", questo il sogno nel cassetto di Pizzimenti, il quale alla domanda: quando potrà dirsi soddisfatto? Risponde: "Mai. C'è sempre la possibilità di far meglio. Me lo diceva mio padre, lo ripeto di continuo ai miei figli e ai miei nipoti. Vale per tutto nella vita. Essere parte della C.C. Foundation equivale per me ad avere il privilegio di far parte di una famiglia i cui componenti sono tutti accomunati da un sogno e un obiettivo comune: promuovere e diffondere la cultura italiana nel mondo. L'atteggiamento giusto per poter raggiungere un traguardo così arduo, è quello di essere contenti, se è il caso, e gioire dei risultati positivi, se ve ne sono, ma soddisfatti mai!"
  • Facts & Stories

    Columbus Citizen Foundation. Interview with Louis Tallarini


    Mr. Tallarini is a successful businessman and the owner of a Manhattan based company, Value Investors, in real estate. Born 60 years ago in New Rochelle (NY) to American born Italians, he lives now in Westchester where he enjoys life with his family.

    Since he became President of the CCF new challenges are confronting him, which he generously discussed with us.

    Mr. Tallarini: can you tell me a little bit about your family history or background. Many of our readers are already familiar with who you are, but aside from your professional life, can you tell us about yourself outside of the business environment?


    My family came to the USA in the early 1890’s. My mother’s father, Luigi Panico came from Lacedonia, Avellino. All the children of his family came except for one, whose descendents I met last September. My mother’s mother came from Calitri, Avellino as well few years later and met my grandfather through his brother in New Rochelle – NY.

    My mother was born here in 1914 in New Rochelle and at 93 she still lives there; she is very healthy and has never been on a plane. I offered her many times trips to Italy, but she doesn’t want to get on a plane.

    Last September I finally visited Lacedonia and Calitri. I went there to receive the Filippo Mazzei award in Bonito, near Avellino. A member of the Italian Government in that situation asked me about my heritage and they found the children that stayed behind in Lacedonia and Calitri, so we had a family reunion. On the 15th of August I also received the honorary citizenship from Lacedonia.

    My father’s  family originally came from Piemonte and Bergamo and they emigrated here around 1886. He was an older man, his name was Ermenegildo Tallarini and he met and married Concetta Eremita from Campobasso here in USA and married her in St. Joseph’s church, New Rochelle - it was one of the first weddings in the new church. It was 1906, a long time after he arrived in the USA.

    As you can see my grandparents were immigrants, my parents were both born in the USA, but Italians on both sides.

    I was born in New Rochelle as well, north of the city in Westchester, one of those small cities where the concentration of Italians is very high. I would say that Westchester in general is undoubtedly an area with a strong Italian flavor.

    What about the adolescence, did you feel part of a community, or beside the last name you felt just as any other American?


    We grew up in an era where the children of emigrants were being Americanized and I think that was because of a natural assimilation process. Simply put, I think that some of this assimilation was driven by the Second World War. We were not encouraged to learn or speak Italian in an educational environment. At least in my family there wasn’t an emphasis on that, maybe because we were one generation passed.

    How influential has Italian Culture been in determining your lifestyle as an Italian-American? When did you let your heritage influence you?


    I think having Italian roots, even in the time of assimilation, it always influences the way you carry on your life. We still practice all of the Italian traditions. Each Sunday, since I was a child, was spent at my grandmother’s house, at each grandmother’s house. This went on forever, until I grew up and went in the Army and even afterwards. The whole family would gather. On my mother’s side, my grandmother had 11 children, that gave her 36 grandchildren, so on a Sunday afternoon it wasn’t unusual to have from 20 to 40 people in the backyard of this house, with all the women in the kitchen getting a meal ready and the men under the grapevine playing cards, talking, and drinking wine.

    So we truly inherited the family tradition that we identify with Italy. This is one of the greatest value people brought here from Italy. Few cultures have the same veneration for family and elderly people. Think about how Italians take care of elderly parents or uncles.

    Have you cultivated your Italian roots all your life or is it more of a recent development?


    I’ll qualify that answer. Today I think I’m part of a movement of second and third generation of Italian/Americans. We retain the family traditions in many respects, but we are not knowledgeable about many other aspects of Italy’s culture: language and history and those are areas that many of us are now discovering in so many ways for the first time.

    There is a reaction to the assimilation that makes us reach back and find out what we don’t know about our culture. Until this process started my idea of what Italy is was exclusively what I would see in the USA. That was the only exposure we had after all.

    When did you become member of the CCF and what factors led you to that decision?


    I became a member in 1979, about 20 years ago. I was asked if I might have interest in the Columbus foundation by a member at the time and I really didn’t have an idea of what the foundation was. I knew it was an organization of many prominent Italian Americans, not only financially prominent. The Foundation grew from the organization of the first Columbus day Parade which was 1929, organized by Generoso Pope a powerful Italian leader who emigrated from Benevento, Southern Italy. Those early members inherited his legacy and of course I didn’t know the specific history of the Foundation when I was asked to join.

    On the other side you could not grow up in this region of the United States and not know Generoso Pope and his newspaper Il Progresso. He was responsible for thousands of scholarships to not only Italian American students, but to all students that attended catholic schools in NY. He would say “pick the best students and also those who are in financial need and let’s help them with our grants!”

    Today we have 848 active scholarships recipients and this year we granted more than 2.4 million dollars in scholarship funds. This money goes to children who have economic needs and high academic performance. Grants are also given to children in Italy that we support through the Zeffirelli scholarships program, which supports all the arts: sculpture, movies, music, literature, etc. 

     

    How has you life changed since you became president of this Foundation?


    It’s an enormous responsibility. I’m president of an important investment company, but I spend more time as President of the Columbus Foundation. It’s a full time job, really. This organization is responsible for supervising the largest celebration of Italian culture in the world, the Columbus Parade. This is possible because we have many members and volunteers. One of the few important administrative charges that I have is to supervise the chairman and the committees that run the various elements of this celebration: exhibition in Grand Central Station, broadcasting of the Parade in the USA and in Italy, the parade on 5th avenue, the gala and the many events that go on during that day. That’s something that everybody knows. What most people don’t know about are the efforts towards the scholarships programs to help hundreds of young students.

    With your scholarships you not only help Italian/Americans  to get the education they couldn't get otherwise, but you are also contributing to the collective cultural identity of the younger generations of Italian/Americans. How important is that idea in what you do?


    We have brought now 4 separate scholarship programs: Zeffirelli, Elementary, High School and College. We have members who chair each committee and members who participate in the review of the applications and in the interview. We interview each student individually. That process starts right after the Columbus Parade. On Nov. 1st the applications are available online and students start responding. The process finishes in June when we make the final awards in a ceremony for each program.

    Of course these students keep a very strong connection with the foundation for the rest of their lives. Some of them join as members, some just come back as volunteers.

    The chairman of our High School scholarship program, Vincent Toscano, is a former scholarship recipient. Two decades ago he received the scholarship to complete his studies. After graduating he entered the business world and became very successful. After 10 years he became member of our Foundation. More and more we do our very best to include also the families in our activities. We invite them to our programs, to the parade, we try to create a very strong sense of community.

    Needless to say that we have also other programs that support trips to Italy or trips in the US Mid West where our students can take Italian classes. We subsidize tuition and room and board for these excursions.

    And what is the biggest challenge you are confronting?


    There are two challenges. One is to continue to support and increase with the assistance we give to needy Italian Americans. The other challenge is the cultural one: to continue to educate Italian/Americans and Americans about Italian culture. Those are two primary missions. When you come to America, the first thing in your mind is to make a good living to support yourself and your family. Sometimes you get caught up. With all this wonderful success that we have in America, we end up forgetting about the foundation of our culture, not only of the Italian culture.

    Much of American culture is based on Italy too. Italy was the first America if you think about the Roman Empire. It was the first real melting pot. The cradle of civilization for 2000 years. In many ways what is happening in America is what was happening in Italy two millennia ago. Even more recently there have been Italian personalities that played a huge role in helping this country to become what it is. Filangieri was one the closest correspondents of President Jefferson and Mazzei had many of the ideas that ended up in the constitution. To him they attributed the famous sentence : “All men are created equal”. To not mention the fact that part of the 5th Amendment is the result of Cesare Beccaria’s thought.

    Mr. Tallarini, your predecessor, Lawrence Auriana, was openly dealing with the problem of stereotyping.... He fought Hollywood and even Robert De Niro... He also made a lot of news when he refused Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to walk at the Columbus Parade with a couple of actors from the Sopranos... How do you feel about it? Do you think that your Foundation should continue to be on the front line in this?


    We will surely continue to be on the front line. No other culture has been subject to the amount of negative stereotyping that we as Italian/Americans have been subject to. Not only us, but our children, our neighbors, Americans around the USA, essentially being educated by Film and Television media that Italians are a certain way that we are not. So we think that when someone or some company uses negative stereotypes harming us as Italian Americans we have the right to make them aware of that and speak out against them. This is an educational process.

    Mayor Bloomberg, regarding the particular episode you are referring to in your question, relied on trusted aids who gave him bad advice about these actors, who are good people and good actors, but who are also portraying characters in a show that showed under an incredible negative light Italian/Americans people and culture.

    Each culture, for different reasons or maybe for the same reasons, has its own underbelly. Some of it it’s based on culture: if you think about the first wave of emigrants, we are dealing with the lower economic classes; some of it is based on smart people taking advantage of weaker people.

    In our case I would say it’s in vogue as an entertainment venue to make fun or to stereotype Italians. Today Michael Bloomberg is one of our best friends. It was embarrassing that we had to sue him if he pretended to march on 5th Av with those actors, because he would have violated freedom of association.

    At the time the mayor didn’t understand how offensive was the presence of those actors. He just got bad advice. To him it was just another TV show and probably he doesn’t even watch the show. Because, I repeat, he is one of the closest friends and supporter of The Columbus Foundation Activities.

    In some respects the whole episode was a blessing, because it got the right media attention. At the time Sopranos came out we went all around scratching our hands about this horrible show. It was not the first or the only case, there are many other TV shows and movies that stereotype Italians in a negative way, but this show in particular had a huge effect because it is on television, in your house, once a week and portrays the Italian Mafia Family as a MODERN family, making the paradox believable and realistic.

    The staging of this show has no redeeming social or cultural value. The show is full of made up caricatures of what a crime driven modern Italian family might be like. This is someone’s vision, someone’s imagination that was put in to a show and doesn’t have any connection with reality. How many people know that, though?


    And also, what about politics: what do you think of the Rudy Giuliani candidature?


    Rudy is going to make all the Italian-Americans proud. He was a forceful mayor. He had many friends here while he was mayor and he made enemies because he ran the city like a business. We don’t always agree with his positions, for example when he didn’t want to take position in the Soprano’s case, but he makes all of the Italians feel proud in the USA. He may be indeed elected. We are very proud of him whether he wins the election or not.

    As an important 'persona' in the public eye of the Italian American community, what would you like to be remembered for in years to come?


    I’d like to be remembered for someone who helped the movement to reeducate Italian Americans about their culture.