Concerto all'italiana, a tribute to Giuseppe Verdi’s operas, together with a range of Italian classic songs will be held on Saturday 1 June, the eve of Italy’s national day, at the Manoel Theatre from 7.30pm.

The event will feature the renowned opera baritone Orazio Mori as special guest in the concert’s first section entitled Omaggio a Giuseppe Verdi to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth. The programme’s second act will also include famous Italian songs and selections from popular operettas.

Orazio Mori has a great international career having sung in the world’s leading opera centres of La Scala, Arena di Verona, the Metropolitan, Teatro La Fenice, Covent Garden, Opera de Paris, Philadelphia; Seville; Mumbai; Berne; Florence; Catania; Palermo; Peking and Barcelona. He has performed with the world’s leading conductors Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Georges Pitre, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Carlos Kleiber, Riccardo Chailly  and Claudio Abbado, and together with famous tenors Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras, Alfredo Kraus and Placido Domingo.

Mori will perform the arias Pari siamo and Cortigiani vil razza dannata from Rigoletto; Morte di Rodrigo from Don Carlo; Pieta’, rispetto, amore from Macbeth, and Eri tu from Un Ballo in Maschera. The curtain-raiser will be the Preludio from Verdi’s La Traviata, performed by Orazio Mori’s daughter, pianist Mro Debora Mori, from Milan’s Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi.

Presentations on the night will be made by Albert G. Storace. Concerto all’italiana is presented by Fiesole Artistic Productions in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute and the Embassy of Italy. Booking from the Manoel Theatre on 2124 6389 or via www.teatrumanoel.com.mt