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THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
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Ruata Sossoli, at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, in Rome. In 1938, she won the Gold Medal and
the Diploma of Honor at the Turin National Harp Competition. Later she performed as a soloist at the Teatro
dell’Opera di Roma and the Venice Academy of Ancient Music.
As a recitalist, she performed in Italy, Switzerland, and France. In September 1947, two months after her
arrival in the Dominican capital, she was appointed as harp instructor at the National Conservatory of Music
and Recital, and shortly thereafter, as harpist for the National Symphony Orchestra. She returned to Europe
on August 6, 1949.
Mario Ceccarelli
, considered by international critics as one of the most important virtuosos in Italy, was born
in Rome in 1906. In Rome he studied under Pietro Boccaccini and in Paris under Ludwig Breitner, disciples of
Liszt and Anton Rubinstein, respectively. At the International Competition held in Vienna in 1933, he won an
Honorable Mention and a Gold Medal from among more than 500 contestants.
A prolific recitalist, in Italy he was invited to play a private recital before Pope Pius XII, who awarded him
the Papal Medal.
He arrived in the country on November 11, 1947, hired by the Dominican government to direct a training
course, as a teacher of advanced piano courses at the National Conservatory of Music and Recital. Ceccarelli
was highly appreciated by his students and by those who witnessed his performances at the Capital and Inde-
pendencia theaters.
Tenor
Mario Binci
was born in Castelfidardo, near Ancona (Italy). He was first tenor at La Scala in Milan and
the Teatro Reale dell’Opera in Rome. His voluminous, high-range voice, which easily descended into mid-
dle-range, was discovered in the local church choir. He studied at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
in Rome. In 1940 he won first prize in the National Contest for Singers. Binci debuted at the Teatro Quirino,
from where he went on to Teatro Reale dell’Opera in Rome. In 1949 he debuted at the City Center in New
York, where he also sang as first tenor. He later performed in Havana and at the San Francisco Opera. His
recordings of opera arias were published under the His Master’s Voice label.
On February 13, 1949, he gave a recital in Santo Domingo, accompanied by the Italian pianist María Luisa Faini.
The Chamber Opera Company of La Scala in Milan
, made up of young singers from La Piccola Scala,
some already having gained experience at La Scala in Milan, performed in the top theaters of Europe and
the Americas.
On its first tour of Latin America, the group was led by Italian-Argentine maestro composer Giulio Cesare
Brero. This youthful company had already participated in festivals in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, En-
gland, Spain, and Portugal. Upon arrival in the Dominican Republic, its members were interviewed, and the
soprano Mariella Adani commented: “It is a great pleasure for me to say something about an authentic Do-
minican value. I’m talking about Teresita Montes de Oca, who sang with me at the La Scala theater in Milan,
in the opera
La Volpe Astuta
(
The Cunning Little Vixen
) by Janácˇek.”
On the night of Saturday, October 18, 1958, La Scala Chamber Opera presented
Don Pasquale
by Donizetti
and
La Piccola Arlecchinata
by Salieri.
As one critic noted, “A perfectly balanced ensemble of young voices who, in addition to singing, proved
to have excellent acting skills, under the right musical and stage direction. […] The performance of La Scala
Chamber Opera Company from Milan in the auditorium of the Palacio de Bellas Artes represented a night of
true art that will be remembered for a long time.”
The conductor
Pierino Gamba
was first drawn to music at the age of eight. He began his career in Rome
conducting the Opera Symphony Orchestra, and when he matured, he maintained his own enchanting way
of making music.