The Italian-American Musical Experience

Oct 23, 2024 / 18:00 – 19:30 / VILLA SASSETTI

Share This Event

Event Details

Wed, October 23, 2024

18:00 – 19:30

RSVP here

VILLA SASSETTI
Villa La Pietra
Via Bolognese, 120
50139 Firenze, Italy

A Conversation with Valentina Bensi
Moderated by Gaia Varon, Lecturer, NYU Florence

Towards the end of the nineteenth century and beyond, the United States of America seemed to be a ‘promised land’ for countless European musicians, who had relied on American tours to establish their fame and fortune. Among the ambitious Italian emigrants, Mozart’s librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte and conductor Arturo Toscanini are just two of the most brilliant Italian personalities whose presence enthused audiences across the Atlantic. Drawing on a wealth of evidence, this book recounts the overseas experiences of eight Italian composers—Ferruccio Busoni, Rosario Scalero, Alfredo Casella, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Luigi Dallapiccola, Gian Carlo Menotti, Nino Rota, and Luciano Berio—and their interactions with the America of their day as well as its music and musicians. Their sojourns in the New World—stays that ranged in duration from occasional tours to many decades of residence—not only highlight an understanding of a lesser-known aspect of their biographies, but also forged the image of the United States in Italy. They also shaped the way in which ‘ Italianness’ was perceived abroad, while also nurturing a bicultural interrelationship in the field of Western classical music.

Featured Biographies

Valentina Bensi

JOURNALIST, PRODUCER, AND MUSICOLOGIST

Valentina Bensi is a journalist, producer and musicologist, based in Switzerland. She received her PhD in Musicology (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich), with distinction. She also obtained a master’s degree in Musicology (University of Venice) and a master’s degree in Management of Cultural and Artistic Activities (ESCP, Paris). In addition, she studied piano, with a specialization in chamber music (Austria, Italy, Spain). After working as a project manager in Germany for several years, since 2013 she has been working at the Swiss Radio and Television. She has organized concerts and international tours, which has involved working extensively with many world-renowned artists; produced CDs recordings; and authored radio programs and interviews. Currently, she combines her managerial activities with scholarly activity in Switzerland and all throughout Europe. Her research interests include Italian and American musical life in the twentieth century and the European-American cross-pollination in the field of Western art-music. Bensi is the author of The Italian-American Musical Experience: A Journey from Busoni to Berio (LIM, 2023). Her book was recently presented in many venues such as the Center of American Studies in Rome and the Circolo Filologico in Milan, among others, and on radio broadcasters (RAI, Radio Vaticana).