Leading Italian soprano Elena Monti of La Scala Milan recently performed in the Philippines at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, with world-renowned pianist and CCP president Dr. Raul Sunico and local tenor Ronan Ferrer.
They were assisted by the Musicgear Chamber Ensemble and Italian conductor Ruggero Barbieri.
In the first part, Sunico, Ferrer and Monti performed arias from Verdi and Tosti.
The second part was with Barbieri.
A “pocket orchestra” composed of only 12 musicians also rendered songs by famous composers such as Donizetti, Puccini, Respighi and Verdi.
The audience gave the artists a standing ovation.
Top honors
Born in Milan, Monti graduated in her hometown school of music with top honors and special mention. She later won in several competitions in Italy and abroad. She won for her part in Zauberflote, L’Elisir d’ Amore, in the role of Adina; Armide and Giulio Sabino of Carti in Ravenna Festival.
Monti has worked with various conductors such as Gerd Albercht, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Aldo Ceccato, Ottavio Dantone, Djansug Kakhidze, Riccardo Muti, Jeffrey Tate, Nello Santi, Robin Ticciati, Diego Matheuz and Massimo Zanettie.
She has performed in prestigious Italian and international theaters, including Teatro alla Scala (La Scala Theater). She’s done Mimi in “La Boheme,” Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni,” Fiordiligi in “Cosi fan tutte,” among others.
In 2010, she opened the season at San Carlo Theater in Naples in La Clemenza di Tito. She recently performed in concerts in Tokyo, at Teatro Real in Madrid and she debuted the role of Violetta in “La Traviata” at Teatro la Fenice in Venice.
Emilio Mina, owner of Caruso Ristorante Italiano in Makati, invited his friend of 45 years, Massimo Rossi, to visit Manila, and that led to an invitation for Monti to sing in Manila. Monti is Rossi’s wife. Mina himself is married to a Filipino, Evelyn.
Mina asked the support of close friends such as Sunico and Rustan’s chairperson Nedy Tantoco, who’s also with the Philippine Italian Association.
Tantoco helped push and promote the concert.
Mina’s Caruso Ristorante Italiano prepared an elegant after-concert reception at the CCP Little Theatre Lobby.
Leading the reception guests was Tantoco. Among the special guests were Jose Mari Chan, Becky Garcia, Vicky Zubiri, tenor Ferrer and maestro Barbieri. Monti and husband Massimo Rossi met the Italian Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Roscigno.
Aside from being in the restaurant business in Manila, Mina owns textile factories in Italy and, in 2001, invented the world’s lightest bathrobe, a feat that earned him a special award at the Javis Convention Center in New York.
Mina has been promoting Caruso Ristorante Italiano not only as a dining place but also as an arts venue. In 2015, he organized the Caruso Awards for young Filipino painters under 34 years old, in cooperation with Galerie Astra under Ed Soler.
It established the Kids Awards for painters under 11 years old; young promising artists trekked to the restaurant for seven Sundays to work on their masterpieces.
In collaboration with the Dante Alighieri Society, it held a special theater and dinner presentation to commemorate the 750th birthday of the poet Dante Alighieri.
More recently, Caruso hosted lunch in honor of celebrated tenor Andrea Bocelli. Caruso introduced the Bocelli wine brand, which the tenor’s ancestral family established 130 years ago.
