by Mariana Oliva / Islip Bulletin
The Islip Arts Council hosted an afternoon of opera on Oct. 20 at St. Patrick's R.C. Church in Bay Shore. The event started at 2:30 p.m. and was put together with the Queens Sound Ensemble to celebrate October's Italian Heritage Month. For the third year, it was a unique opportunity for residents to experience opera close to home and at no cost.
Pianist Helena Kim and Soprano Linda Teixeira of the Queens Sound Ensemble performed at the event. Special guests included opera singers Vincenzo Fiorito, Christina Russo, Gina Haver and Adam Unger. Songs featured were love songs from opera and musical theater, for a total setlist of 19 pieces.
Shortly before intermission, Teixeira and Fiorito performed pieces from Giacomo Puccini's
"La Bohème." The opera is one of the most popular, composed by Giacomo from 1893 to 1895 and having its first performance one year later. The opera tells the story of four struggling artists, one of whom falls in love with an ill girl who knocks on their door, falling in love with one of the artists.
Fiorito started with "Che gelida manina"— "What a cold little hand," followed with a response by Teixeira performing "Si, mi chiamano Mimi"-"Yes, they call me Mimi." The two then performed the love duet, "O soave fanciulla"-"O loveliest of maidens." Their voices were filled with passion as they echoed through the church.
In the shift to musical theater, Unger started the audience off with Richard Rodgers's and Oscar Hammerstein's "Some Enchanted Evening" from the Broadway musical, "South Pacific." Russo performed Harvey Schmidt's "Is it Really Me?" from the Broadway musical, "110 in the Shade." Bringing us back to Italian heritage was Haver with Ernesto de Curtis' "Non ti scordar di mi,"—"Do not forget about me," before a group performance.
For the finale song, Russo, Fiorito, Unger, Teixeira and Haver performed Harry Warren's
"That's Amore! accompanied by Kim. Teixeira invited the audience to sing along.
The Islip Arts Council's executive director Lynda A. Moran thanked St. Patrick's Church director of music and liturgy, Christopher Ferraro, and Suffolk County Legis. Steve Flotteron for funding the event. The Suffolk County Hotel Motel Tax helps fund tourism and cultural events such as this one.
"Thank you very much for coming in," Moran said. "We want to thank Chris Ferraro from St.
Patrick's Church and we really want to thank Legis. Steve Flotteron."
Flotteron thanked the Islip Arts Council and Ferraro for helping put together the event.
'This is for Italian Heritage Month, planning to do this every year as long as St. Patrick's Church is able to be a wonderful host with Islip Arts Council," Flotteron said. "And again, we have so many different committee events, but one thing we didn't have growing up that wasn't in our backyards is free opera events."
