Are you looking for something fun and cultured to do this weekend around the National Mall?
Stop by the Reflecting Pool as “Opera Italiana is in the Air” presents a free outdoor concert from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. set against the backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial.
Last year, the concert coincided with the International Day of Peace, Italian Maestro Alvise Casellati told WTOP, pointing to the monument’s connection to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.
“It’s a symbol of freedom and dignity of the people and I could not think of a more appropriate place to do this … to disseminate love, peace and beauty,” Casellati said.
This year, the soaring arias of Puccini, Verdi and Rossini will arrive on the eve of the Italian National Day, on June 2.
“Puccini is one of the most famous and performed composers around the world,” Casellati said. “His operas are the most performed, along with Verdi and Rossini. … Music speaks a universal language and every musician around the world reads music the same way. Also music, because of the emotion that it creates inside of us, builds bridges between nations beyond borders, regardless of nationality and sex, so the idea is really to embrace everyone.”
Casellati will conduct an array of world-class musicians and opera singers, including American soprano Ewa Plonka, Italian tenor Antonio Poli and D.C. native bass-baritone Anthony D. Anderson.
“The singers are national stars, along with the young generation that is up and coming,” Casellati said. “Anthony Anderson is an amazing baritone, very young, so we put the young people with the very established ones so that young people will see that opera is their thing.”
He insists that opera is not an antiquated, highbrow art form, but rather popular entertainment for the masses.
“Today, opera is perceived not to be pop music but the music for the elite,” Casellati said. “With this project, we want to prove that opera is popular music. It used to be for 500 years, but certainly in the last 20 to 30 years there is this misconception. … You don’t need to have a degree to understand. When you hear the amazing voice with the technique of opera, the power of this voice … everyone, everyone, everyone will become an opera lover.”
In this populist spirit, the event is open to the public with no tickets required, so just bring a picnic blanket or lawn chair to sit next to the Reflecting Pool — or sit on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial if you want to be up close.
“We don’t want money to be an issue,” Casellati said. “We want everybody to enjoy an experience that is as close to the high-level experience that they would get in theaters.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
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