by Neil McCalmont

If you were to travel to Italy in the summer and jaunt through their Renaissance gardens, you would hear the Italian people speaking their lovely language, water rushing through fountains, and concerts of gorgeous music. That delightful atmosphere will waft through Cleveland’s Italian Cultural Garden during a special opera concert of operatic arias and ensemble numbers on Sunday, July 31 at 6 pm.

“Opera in the Italian Garden” will be presented by Opera Circle Cleveland and the Cleveland Ballet, carrying on the tradition that originally began in the 1930s, and was revived in 2008. “We thought that nobody was going to show up,” said Joyce Mariani, Executive Director of the Italian Cultural Garden Foundation, over a recent telephone call. “But over 200 people came. The next year it more than doubled to 500, and last year we had an audience of 2,000. The audience makes the event what it is. We just present it.” [Read more…]