Siamo ritornato...

Back home after three weeks of fun in the sun in Europe. Lots of sun - and heat! Our tour with the chorus lasted 12 days, and was very successful. What a joy to sing in some of those ancient places. Perhaps the high point in that regard was singing in the cathedral of St. Francis in Assisi. The acoustic was lovely, and the place oozed spirituality. In a country where there are so many questionable relics, it was very special to be in a place where the remains of such a remarkable person truly lay.



Another high point of the trip was to meet up with my 19 year old daughter in Firenze, where she had just finished a month of intensive Italian at the Istituto Europeo. We spent the afternoon together, had a wonderful bistecca fiorentina at Frescobaldi (1.5 kilos!) and ate gelato in a bar owned by some older folks who had taken her under their wing.



I'm not sure if this was a compliment, but she did note amazement at how well I was able to make myself understood in my "crappy Italian..." I choose to take it as such!

The best way to learn to speak "good" Italian is to get out there and use "crappy" Italian, letting folks give feedback. Our previous trip to Italy was four years ago - I did much better with the language this time. A wonderful experience.

Buon Viaggio!

We are off to Europe this week for a concert tour with our singing group, The Camerata Singers of Monterey County.

Our first stop is the Czech Republic, and we will stay a few days in Prague. Our first concert is Saturday evening at 5:00pm in the Monastery of St John under the Cliff, which is located in the Beroun, about an hour west of Prague. This is very exciting for me, as my cousin from Minsk is going to come and visit us in Prague. Before two years ago, neither of us knew that the other even existed, but thanks to the wonders of the internet (and a bit of detective work) we were able to make contact. It turns out that we both have artifacts in our possession from the same great uncle who went down with his ship in the Baltic Sea in 1919!

Then on to Salzburg, Austria and a joint concert on Monday the 19th at 8:00pm in the Parish Church of Faistenau with the church choir.

Our tour continues to Venice, Italy, and two days later, on the 21st, we sing at 9:00pm in Chiesa S. M. dei Miracoli. Then on to Florence for a couple of days and a concert on Friday the 23rd at 9 PM in the Chiesa San Stefano al Ponte. That refers to the Ponte Vecchio. My daughter will come to hear us there - she is studying intensive Italian in Florence this month! Due to a large convention, we were unable to find accommodations in Florence itself, so we will be staying in the nearby resort town of Montecatini Termi.

Our final stop on the tour is Rome, and we will be singing a mass at 5 PM on Sunday, the 25th in the Chiesa S. Maria dei Miracoli. It is one of the twin churches on the southern end of the Piazza del Popolo (the one on the right!)



My wife and I will stay on another week in central Italy, with a home base in an Agritourismo farmhouse in Monteleone di Spoleto, and then will spend our last three days back in Rome.

Arrividerci!

Grazie, Fred!

This weekend I travel back to UC Riverside to attend a reunion of members of the Collegium Musicum in honor of the retirement of our dear friend and professor, Fred Gable. Dr. Gable was inspirational to me and to myriads of other students who loved early music, and many of them have become successful professional musicians.

We will be playing, singing and giving a free concert at 3:00 PM on Sunday in the Arts Building at UCR, room 166, all to say "thank you" to a man who has touched many.

They say "Snail!"

Languages are wonderful. The way people around the world express themselves has such incredible variety. I've been spending some time watching RAI International in preparation for an upcoming trip to Italy in June, and am really enjoying the Italian language programming. I don't understand very much of it, but I'm getting better at it.

I've noticed that at least one announcer - Francesca Alderisi, of "Sportello Italia" - uses the term chiocciola for the @ sign in the e-mail address. It is the word for "snail" or "spiral." I like it!

"SportelloItalia chiociolla Rai punto I - t !"

Untimely Passings

Many friends and acquaintances have shuffled off their mortal coils in the past couple of years, the bulk of which have been untimely. The most recent is an online acquaintance who succumbed to cancer last week at the age of 56. It seems that I am always buying sympathy cards. Each passing is a reminder as to how precious life is, and how we need to actively live it every day.

It means "Don't Stand on Ceremony!"

Non fai complimenti - a favorite saying of my father's. We'll see what develops here, but please, don't stand on ceremony.

This blog has been set up serendipitously, as I was obtaining a username so I could post an entry on another blogger blog - one set up for remembrances of Georgina Joshi, a young singer who died in a plane crash with four other Indiana University music students.

I had the opportunity to get to know and sing with these talented people last summer at the Carmel Bach Festival. Their passing is a great tragedy.

Strascinati

You may be wondering about the url for this blog - strascinati.blogspot.com...

Strascinati is a dish from the small medieval comune of Monteleone di Spoleto, provincia di Perugia, Umbria, Italy. My father used to make it for me all the time growing up - his grandfather came from Monteleone. It is a pasta dish made with eggs, cheese and Italian sausage, and is reputed to have been improvised by a young wench in 1494 in an effort to prevent an invading army from killing the young men of the town as retribution for an inadequate meal.

Every year on August 16th, they hold a Strascinati Festival in Monteleone. It sounds heavenly!