BRUNO FUSCO WORKS WITH CHOIR SINGING FOR POPE FRANCIS

AMHS member Bruno Fusco is collaborating with the Washington, D.C. Boys Choir which will perform for Pope Francis during their tour of Italy from July 9-18, 2015. Cavaliere Maestro Fusco, a former AMHS board member, will collaborate with the choir which will be performing in Rome, Florence, Venice, Torino and Milan. Bruno said he looks forward to visiting Expo 2015 with the group while they are in Milan.

Bruno’s collaboration with the 30-member D.C. Boys Choir came about through an introduction by the son of Il Canale’s Joe Ferruchio. Subsequently, Ms. Eleanor Stewart, the choir’s founder and artistic director, asked Bruno to collaborate on two wonderful pieces - “Va pensiero” from the third act of Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco and “Torna, o bella” from the second act of Orfeo and Euridice by Christopher Willibald Gluck and Ranieri de Calzabigi. Bruno said the D.C. Boys Choir, which was founded in 1993, will perform for Pope Francis as part of the American Celebration of Music in Italy.

He noted that this will be the D.C. Boys Choir’s 22nd year singing throughout the United States and abroad. The group, whose motto is “Striving for Excellence through Song,” promotes cultural immersion and international exposure for these musically talented young male students.

The D.C. Boys Choir has had a long list of command performances from Harlem to the White House and throughout Europe, even representing the nation’s capital in Beijing, China at the pre-Olympic Music Festival in 2008. If you would like to get more information or support the choir, please go to www.dcboyschoir.org. Before meeting up with the D.C. Boys Choir over in Italy, Bruno will be making his annual spring trip to judge talent competitions. He left May 21 and will be judging competitions in Naples, Salerno, Milan, Rome and Varese. We look forward to hearing from Bruno about the trip after he returns in mid-July. Buon viaggio!!

KEEPING THE TRADITIONS ALIVE

One of our community’s important goals is to keep our heritage and traditions alive, and to this end, AMHS member Pino Cicala wrote an article in Italian that was published in the April 2015 Voce Italiana about a beautiful tradition of his hometown in Fiumedinisi, Sicily.

The tradition was recently celebrated at Holy Rosary Church on March 22, 2015. Pino recalls the beautiful singing of the “Evviva Maria,” a song especially mentioning Fiumedinisi devotion, and the velvet mantle on the statue of Maria Annunziata that is literally covered with jewels. (You can view the Fiumedinisi Vara on YouTube). We thought our readers would appreciate an English translation of the article which was done by Maddalena Borea, AMHS member\. Maddalena’s translation of Pino’s article follows:

Italian Americans from Fiumedinisi Celebrate the Feast of Maria Annunziata

Once again this year, Italian Americans with ties to Fiumedinisi have come together to celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, recalling cherished memories of their Sicilian heritage. This secular celebration in Sicily was initiated in our nation's capital at Holy Rosary Church, thirty years ago by a group of native sons and daughters of Fiumedinisi or “Ciuminisani”. At this event the old and the young join a procession, carrying the statue of Maria Annunziata and singing “Evviva Maria.”

In Fiumedinisi, following an ancient ritual that lasts several months, the faithful hold special events on the Saturdays preceding the feast of the Annunciation on March 25. These Saturdays are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and the events include solemn Vespers and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. On these Saturdays, various groups and traditional trade organizations sponsor the events in an effort to outdo each other in beauty, size and fervor. This is a competition in the spirit of shared faith, and a sign of the devotion that the people of Fiumedinisi have for the Blessed Mother under her title Maria Annunziata. Everyone plays a role: the poor, laborers, sharecroppers, artisans, farmers, shopkeepers and aristocrats.

These events culminate in a special communal celebration on the eve of the feast of the Annunciation, and on the feast day itself. On the vigil of the feast, the statue of the Virgin is taken in procession from the old country chapel, the “Nunziatella”, near where Fiumedinisi borders the ancient maritime village of San Ferdinando. The faithful bear the statue to Fiumedinisi's “Matrice,” or Mother Church, a basilica dedicated to Maria Annunziata. The devout cover the last leg of this sacred journey on their knees. As they press forward on their knees with the aid of canes, they carry candles to illuminate the path. At the end of the procession, well into the evening, they enter the “Matrice”, where the main altar is covered with a dazzling white cloth trimmed in gold and silver filigree, and precious candelabras, and the statue of the Annunziata is draped in a richly bejeweled velvet mantle.

The Basilica was constructed as a gift of Queen Isabella, in memory of the contribution of 300 knights from Fiumedinisi who fought the French. On this special evening it is illuminated by thousands of blazing candles, as the congregation sings the “Evviva Maria”. On the day of the feast, the 25th of March, statues of Maria Annunziata and the Archangel Gabriel are borne through the 11 streets of the town, stopping at various “stations,” where elaborate ceramic plaques illustrate the story of the Annunciation. This event is vividly recalled at special intervals as the town celebrates the “Festa della Vara.”

The “Vara” is a specially designed platform on which actors representing Maria Annunziata, the Archangel Gabriel, and God the Father reenact the significance of this special feast in a dramatization inspired by the sacred works of Jacopone. Those filling these roles are chosen from among the young people of Fiumedinisi. The “Vara” is carried by hundreds of men who take pride in bearing this platform with such steadiness and precision that it seems to float through the streets. Upon reaching the square in front of the Basilica, the bearers of the “Vara” enter the church to give thanks for having completed their sacred task without mishap.

The enduring significance of this event can be seen in the number of individuals who return to Fiumedinisi from all over Italy and from distant lands to honor the Patroness of their birth place. The “Ciuminisani” living in Washington, not able to return to Sicily, met at the Holy Rosary Church for a solemn Vesper to celebrate Maria's “Be it unto me” (Lk, 1:38), and the first feast of Spring. They commemorated the feast in procession and in song. At the end of the liturgy Father Ezio Marchetto, the Pastor of Holy Rosary, reminded the congregation of the value of celebrating this special feast observed in Fiumedinisi.

He also saluted the faithful for their devotion and urged them to keep the special tradition alive. After the liturgy, those celebrating the feast gathered in the parish hall to savor the special desserts prepared by the ladies who preserve Fiumedinisi's culinary tradition and converse in pure “ciuminisanu”.

For a fascinating and interesting take on Italy, I suggest you read “The Italians”, by John Hooper. Mr. Hooper is a British correspondent stationed in Rome (he writes for The Economist and two British newspapers). Mr. Hooper draws on his many years of experience and observations of Italy and its people.

He offers insight into the country’s bewildering politics and their love of life and beauty. No doubt some of us have read books about Italy and Italians by Italian authors such as Luigi Barzini and Beppe Severgnini, but “The Italians” is quite unique and special. “The Italians” is a wonderful journey into Italian life and culture. For an Italian like myself I learned a great deal about some unique aspects of Italy’s culture.