Leisure News

Anyone who regularly attends Italian fests has heard the golden voice of Italian tenor Moreno Fruzzetti. A native of Pisa, he has enchanted audiences throughout the world for more than 30 years. If you missed him the last time he performed near you, don’t despair. His most recent CD, “E’ amore,” puts his talent at your fingertips. On it, you’ll find the Brazilian beat of “Amado mio,” the ballo liscio stylings of “Amore dimmelo,” the toe-tapping beat of “Quando caliente” and a host of time-honored Italian and American favorites. The CD was produced in Pisa by Maurizio Nuti of the …

  Ballet Légere will hold auditions for its 31st annual production of “The Nutcracker” on Aug. 15 and 16 at Légere Dance Centre in River Forest. Parts are available for girls ages 4-1/2 and up with heights ranging from 45 to 61 inches; boys ages 5 to 12; gymnasts and tumblers; and male and female dancers, both teen and adult, for pointe and non-pointe roles. Callbacks will be held Aug. 22 to 30. Ballet Légere has been performing “The Nutcracker” annually under the direction of Donna Vittorio since 1985. (773-237-1874, www.balletlegere.org)  

  “We Gotta Bingo” is the latest interactive theatrical event to take Chicago by storm. Slated to open for an extended run on Aug. 3 at the new Chicago Theatre Works on Belmont Avenue, the show is set at a fundraiser for a pair of Catholic parishes — one mostly Italian, one more Irish — that are about to merge. The audience interacts throughout the evening with a cast of characters that includes local actors Jane Allyson-D’Arienzo, Mitch Conti, Jerry Marzullo and Jennifer Pompa. (wegottabingo.com)

    Maestro Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2014 performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is available for free on-demand video streaming at cso.org/Beethoven9. The performance — recorded at Orchestra Hall in Chicago on September 18, 2014 — opened the CSO’s 2014/15 season. It featured Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, prepared by Chorus Director Duain Wolfe, and vocal soloists soprano Camilla Nylund, mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, tenor Matthew Polenzani, and bass-baritone Eric Owens. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is recognized today as one of the pivotal works in the history of music by virtue of …

  What a wonderful day of music at Lyric Opera for its production of “Tosca” on March 8 at the Civic Opera House! It was such a gas because I went fully expecting to be satisfied with the afternoon’s performance by the singing of who I think is the best baritone in the world — and that was plenty. I got that all right, but there was something more — something I was totally unprepared for. A tenor. Not just a professional singer with a decent voice, mind you, but a singer with an outstanding, powerful sound — especially in …