pdf  Retiree News & Views - Nov./Dec. 2014 The audience applauds as tenor Anthony Tolve, right, hits a high note.

The Retiree Division's annual celebration of Italian Heritage Month focused on opera and its significance to the culture. "Opera is part of everyone's life in Italy," said Susan Milisits, assistant director and event coordinator, in her welcoming remarks. "It's made for everyone."

Proving the point, Roberto Scarcella Perino, a composer and senior lecturer in the Department of Italian Studies, New York University, introduced the audience to a brief history of opera, packing 400 years of the music tradition into a fascinating half-hour presentation. Beginning with the powerful DeMedici family in 16th Century Florence, where the first opera, Euridice, was performed for the wedding of Maria de Medici and Henry IV of France, and ending with Maria Callas, the "Diva of Divas," who died in 1977, Perino illustrated how music, drama, dance and all arts are combined in
opera.

Opera singer, Anthony Tolve, a tenor from Brooklyn, sang several Italian classics and receiveda standing ovation for his outstanding talent. Nancy B. True, director of the Retiree Division, thanked the planning committee, including Paul Asaro, Rocco Brienza, Richard Fischetti, Liborio Torregiano, Anthony Cottone, Vincent Aquilino, Salvatore Montalbano, Frank Aiello, SalvatoreM. Conti, and Linda Tavolaro. True said that "watching them put together materials for the event I felt one hundred percent Italian."