To mark 150 years of Italian unification (1861-2011)
The Embassy of Italy and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in collaboration with the Committee for Italians abroad (COMITES) Kenya request the pleasure of your company at the eighteenth concert in the ‘Pianoforte & Friends’ series
L’Opera, Unità d’Italia (The Opera, Unification of Italy)
By Angela Papale (Soprano) & Fabio Marra (Piano)
at the following two venues:
Nairobi
Venue: Italian Institute of Culture – Michelangelo Hall
Date: March 17, 2011
Time: 6.30pm for 7pm
More info tel.: (020) 4451268 / 0733 624834
Malindi
Venue: White Elephant Sea Lodge & Centre of Creativity – Indian Ocean Hall (by the pool)
Date: March 18, 2011
Time: 6.30 for 7pm
More info tel.: 0720 712028 (Armando Tanzini)
Entrance: Free (both events)
PRESENTATION
“Viva V.E.R.D.I.”, the slogan of the unification movement of which initials stand for Vittorio Emanuele Re d’Italia (Vittorio Emanuele King of Italy) is certainly the most authentic, emblematic and vital expression of the Italian Risorgimento and a confirmation of how much the Opera has contributed to exalt, like a vibrant soundtrack, the popular and patriotic reawakening that led to the Unification of Italy in 1861.
As already wished for by Mazzini in “La filosofia della musica” (1836), the historical moment demanded great effort and political commitment, but also and above all it necessitated a new moral and spiritual conscience towards the affirmation of the ideals of freedom that the evocative power of music could really sublimate and propagate.
Giuseppe Verdi was the most sensible and attentive exponent, fully capturing the essential need for unanimous popular solidarity and who, launching his personal challenge without hesitation on the battlefield, contributed decisively to the definition of our cultural identity.