SMATCH and the Italian Cultural Society of Washington, D.C. presented
ITALIA IN CANTATA (A Short History of the Italian Song)
performed by IL GRUPPO TEATRO ESSERE from Rome, Italy

at the Friendship Heights Center
4433 South Park Avenue, Chevy Chace, MD.

   How beautiful Youth is
   That nevertheless escapes.
   Who wishes to be happy, should be.
           - from The Triumph of Bacchus and Arianna by Lorenzo Deí Medici

Nothing is more natural, more engaging and at the same time superficial than the act of closing one's eyes and starting to sing. To sing about self, about us, about the happiness and about the sorrows of the world. How many millions of people do it, have done it, will do it?  "Life is made of big and small things".  The songs too are big and small: because they let themselves be forgotten and, at the same time, because they can bring back memories, emotions, tell stories, underscore eras.