Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Comedic comet
Comedian Laura Ramoso will bring her “Calm Down” tour to the Chicago Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25. An American comedian of Italian and German descent, she is best known for her live sketch specials and viral impressions on social media. She has amassed over 3.5 million followers with hit characters like “German Mom,” “Italian Dad” and “Chiara.” Ramoso was named a 2023 Just for Laughs New Face of Comedy. In 2024, she embarked on her first international tour with her third special, “Sit Up Straight,” performing to sold-out venues throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the United Kingdom and North America. Earlier this year, she opened for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in Boston. For more, click here.
All Italian, all the time
The New Philharmonic will open its 50th season at the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn with a trio of “Music Italiana Dolce” concerts. The program will celebrate some of Italy’s best-known operatic works, overtures and film themes. Included are Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma,” with guest tenor Jesse Donner; Respighi’s “I pini della via Appia” (“The Pines of the Appian Way”); the overture to Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”; and the themes from “The Godfather” and “Il Postino.” The New Philharmonic is the professional symphony orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage. The concerts will take place at 3 and 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 and at 3 p.m. Sept. 27. For more, click here.
Guitar uprising
The Italian guitar quartet known as 40 Fingers will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 30 at the North Shore Center in Skokie. The ensemble specializes in fingerpicking technique, performing a diverse repertoire of original pieces and covers, from jazz and Latin American styles to popular movie scores and pop hits. Their performances reimagine pieces by Queen, Astor Piazzolla, The Beatles, Eagles, Toto, Dire Straits and Eric Clapton. They’ve collaborated with various national and international artists in the course of a nine-year career. For more, click here.
Einaudi flies solo
Composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi will perform selections from his solo piano works at 8 p.m. on Oct. 4 and 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 5 at Symphony Center in Chicago. Classically trained in Italy, Einaudi developed a distinctive musical language defined by lyrical minimalism, harmonic textures, and classical tradition seasoned with avant-garde, rock, and electronic influences. He has composed music for film and television productions, including the TV series “Doctor Zhivago” and “This Is England,” as well as the Academy Award-winning films “Nomadland” and “The Father,” among others. His new collection, “Solo Piano,” spanning his 30-year career, was released in February. For more, click here.
Photo credit: AI/Shutterstock
Vivaldi by candlelight
A string quartet will perform Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” by candlelight at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 9, at the Arts Center of Oak Park. Composed in 1723, “The Four Seasons” is Vivaldi’s best-known work and one of the world’s most popular and recognized pieces of Baroque music. The thinking behind “The Four Seasons” was that each movement — 12 in all, three per season — would create a specific mood against which narrative events could then play out. The four violin concertos broke new ground with their musical depictions of the changing seasons as well as their technical innovations. For more, click here. For a preview, click here.
Esposito in NYC
Acclaimed tenor Pasquale Esposito will perform at 7 p.m. on Oct. 18 at Joe’s Pub in New York City. Joining him will be East-Coast chanteuse Vanessa Racci. Following sold-out performances at the Skirball Center and Kaufman Music Center, the Naples-born artist will present a new show celebrating his Italian and Neapolitan heritage through music and storytelling. Esposito’s career includes four PBS specials, and a 2015 San Francisco Opera debut. His recent production, “Celebrating Sophia Loren – The Italian Icon,” premiered in Los Angeles with Sophia Loren in attendance and will embark on an international tour in 2027 with conductor Carlo Ponti Jr. For more, click here.
Baroque bastion
Music of the Baroque will present “Vivaldi & Beyond” at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 at the North Shore Center in Skokie and 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 19 at the Harris Theater in Chicago. Compositions by Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach headline this journey through the world of 18th-century orchestral music. The lineup features one of Vivaldi’s most intriguing dark-hued concertos balanced by Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 1. Works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann and Franz Joseph Haydn round out the program. One of the pre-eminent figures in Baroque music, Vivaldi fell completely out of favor in the 18th and 19th centuries. He experienced a revival in fame in the early 20th century, and remains popular and widely performed today. For more, click here.
Working-class comic
Stand-up comedian Candice Guardino will bring her one-woman show, “Italian Bred,” to the Des Plaines Theatre at 2 p.m. on Oct. 25. Born and raised on Staten Island, Guardino comes from the tradition of Italian-American comics from working-class backgrounds who poke good-natured, raucous and sometimes bawdy fun at the world they grew up in. Bringing a woman’s perspective to bear, she sends up family dynamics, generational differences and the absurdities of adulthood, motherhood, and marriage while tackling larger themes of love, loss, and resilience. For an in-depth preview, steer clear of the trailers on YouTube and search for “Trip Down Memory Lane | Candice Guardino comedy.” She’s working on a comedic essay collection, “Confessions of an Italian Bred Girl (Because Therapy is Expensive and Laughing At Myself is Free)” and developing a TV project based on her grandmother’s secret family journals. For more, click here.
Busy month
Comedian Candice Guardino won’t be the only Italian American to take to an Onesti Entertainment stage in October. Actor Tony Danza will perform at 2 p.m. on Oct. 11 at the Des Plaines Theatre, showcasing a selection of his favorite standards from the Great American Songbook while interweaving stories about his life and personal connection to the music. Comedian Tara Cannistraci will perform at the Club Arcada Speakeasy Oct. 15-17, bringing her unfiltered New York humor to the stage. “Rocky in Concert” will be featured at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 at the Des Plaines Theatre, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the film on the big screen with the musical score performed live by a full symphony orchestra.
For more on the Danza performance, click here.
For more on the Canistraci performance, click here.
For more on the “Rocky” screening, click here.
Double life
The Bisceglia Brothers and Friends bring their rock and roll to La Barra in Riverside at 7 p.m. on Oct. 29. A seasoned singer-songwriter and entertainer, Joe Bisceglia has performed solo and with his own band and collaborated with other musicians and bands. Despite his day job as a partner in a large Chicago law firm, he has never abandoned his love of music. Over his long “second career,” he has performed oldies, chart-topping hits and original compositions at Buddy Guy’s Legends, Lincoln Hall, the Double Door, Bottom Lounge, Phyllis’ Musical Inn, Jonny Cabs and the Acorn Theater in Three Oaks, Michigan. Band members include his brother, Frank, on percussion. (joebiscegliamusic.com)
For more, click here.
To enjoy a video, click here.
Modern god
Artist Jyl Bonaguro recently unveiled her latest sculpture commission, a bust of “Zeus” in Italian marble. Standing 2 1/2 feet tall and weighing 750 pounds, it’s destined for a private collection in Canada. Bonaguro’s modern interpretation of the Greek deity is meant to be godlike but deeply human, caught not in anger but a state of reflection while remaining ready for action. The delicate gold veining subtly references Zeus’s thunderbolts. Bonaguro’s marble sculptures are hand carved and emphasize the “non finito” technique of leaving parts of the stone untouched. It’s one more step toward her goal of carving a female figure of Athena on the scale of Michelangelo’s David. For more, click here.
Sumptuous showcase
European history buffs will have a field day at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms and Armor. Unveiled in 2017, the expansive exhibit showcases nearly 700 objects from the museum’s rich holdings of art from 1200 to 1600 as well as an extensive arms and armor collection. Among the Italian items on display are a terra-cotta altarpiece by Florentine Benedetto Buglioni, works of art for the bedchambers of Tuscany’s merchant elite, and a tempera-on-panel diptych of the Virgin and Child Enthroned and the Crucifixion (pictured). For more, click here.
Giving tree
A pair of Italian Americans teamed up with several other local artists to transform the remains of a 200-year-old elm tree into a work of art. Rising up from the grounds of Ragdale in Lake Forest, “Diversity of Birds” was created by Jyl Bonaguro and Mia Capodilupo and fellow artists Margot McMahon, Anthony Heinz May, Nicole Beck, Julia Sulmasy, and Fredy Hauman Mallqui. Located at 1260 N. Green Bay Road, Ragdale is an artist residency program and community (ragdale.org). The Ragdale Tree Project was spearheaded by Chicago Sculpture International (chicagosculpture.org). The CSI has collaborated with the Chicago Park District to create more than 50 public sculptures from dead and dying trees. For more about Chicago Sculpture International, click here. For more about The Ragdale Tree Project, click here.
Several of these look very interesting. Thanks for sending.