Love IT Detroit
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Italy is the birthplace of opera, roughly around the year 1600, and since its inception has continued to play a dominant role in the genre. It is the nation that has produced some of the most incredible composers of the 19th and 20th centuries (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini) but Italian is also the language of some of the most famous operas by foreign composers (such as Handel, Mozart and Gluck).
According to National Geographic, two out of ten of the world's best opera houses are in Italy and Teatro alla Scala in Milan is the most famous in the world.
The history of wine predates the Romans, who then elevated their vineyards with sophisticated viticultural and winemaking methods The geographical conditions allow for a great location, with the peninsula’s shoreline allowing for a mild climate and the hilly terrain for great soil conditions. As a consequence, Italy's vineyards are home to more than 2,200 grape varieties, the most variety in the world (with the second most varied country having roughly 200 type of grapes).
From those times to today, Italy has become the biggest wine producer in the world. But its not only a question of quantity, but also of quality! Italy boasts more than 350 appellations and more than 100 IGT designations – meaning that those wines where so good that they can only be called with that name if it is from that area using that registered method.
So why not combine the two areas of Italian excellence? Thanks to the Detroit Opera House, an excellence onto itself, we will have their very talented Resident Artists (Melanie Spector, soprano, Lisa Marie Rogali, mezzo-soprano, River Guard, tenor, Ben Reisinger, baritone, Rolfe Dauz, baritone) performing some of the most known arias from some of the most known Italian composers.
And to accompany us on this journey of operatic exploration with a program put together by Nathalie Doucet, Head of Music and Director of Detroit Resident Artist Program at the Detroit Opera House, we will be pairing the arias with the tasting of some wines from the region of origin of the composers of those operas.
It will be tantalizing for the tastebuds as well as for the ears! Libiamo!
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