373 / 540
THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
372
tennial of the Restoration of the Republic, held in 1963, along with maestro Juan Francisco García, president,
and Manuel Rueda, jury member.
On April 25 of the same year, the Compañía Lírica Dominicana, recently created by the tenor Rafael
Sánchez Cestero, presented a new version of Mascagni’s
Cavalleria rusticana
under the musical direction of
Vito Castorina and a cast of Dominican artists (except for the soprano Dagmar White). On that occasion, the
orchestra led by maestro Castorina scored a new triumph—two standing ovations from the audience.
By then, many of the Italian musicians who had belonged to the La Voz del Yuna (La Voz Dominicana)
Radio Circuit since 1947 were already part of the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of its con-
ductor, maestro Roberto Caggiano, who, long after completing his memorable mission to the country, had
incorporated them into that institution and, more recently, had brought in a new group of ten Italian and four
French maestros to reinforce the orchestra and at the same time teach at the National Conservatory of Music.
Closing Observations
In the cultural history of the Dominican Republic, the presence of the most prominent Italian musicians—
hired by La Voz del Yuna beginning in 1947, with the mission of creating a symphony orchestra exclusively
for that station—represented the greatest qualitative leap for the only Dominican radio station that was then
broadcasting across the country, and whose programming had been focused on the showcasing of popular
music in its highest expressions and toward other aspects of art.
The brilliant music of the violinist Danilo Belardinelli, and of Francesco Montelli with his Ars Nova Quartet,
the Italian Bow Orchestra conducted by Roberto Caggiano, and the Carta-Cabiati piano duo, formed by Mario
Carta and Enrico Cagna Cabiati, were only one part of the scintillating new world that Italian music opened for
thousands of listeners from all over the country: the window to a world to which they had never had access.
Due to the diplomatic skills of the cultural authorities of the moment, the differences that arose in past
times between the owner of La Voz Dominicana, José Arismendi Trujillo Molina, and the National Sympho-
ny Orchestra were overcome, and both institutions joined efforts aimed at the common purpose of training
Dominican musicians.
The Italian instrumentalists who had come from 1947 to La Voz del Yuna were gradually incorporated
into the National Symphony Orchestra and the National Conservatory of Music, and Roberto Caggiano’s
masterful direction of the Symphony Orchestra (1951 - 1959) would pass into the annals of history as the most
glorious period of music in the Dominican Republic, up to that time.
From that time onward, the Dominicans who had the privilege of living through this stellar period fully
understood the meaning of the word “excellence” as applied to artistic activity, and it could therefore be con-
cluded that the greatest Italian legacy for Dominican music and culture was this very pursuit of excellence.
Dominican Musicians in Italy
Teresa Montes de Oca began her professional career studying under Carlos Moresco. On September 9, 1957,
she auditioned for the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and was chosen from 175 applicants. She was as-
signed to Professor Campo Galiani, and in June 1958 she realized her dream of singing in Janácˇek’s
The Cunning
Little Vixen
. In 1998, she was the only Dominican to sing under contract with La Scala in Milan.
Vicente Grisolía
(Puerto Plata, 1924). Grisolía studied advanced repertoire with Professor Germano Arnaldi
in Rome (Italy) after completing teaching degrees in piano at the Liceo Musical and the Conservatorio Nacio-
nal de Música.
Ramón Díaz Peralta
(Salcedo, 1932). Díaz Peralta was a student of the master pianist Mario Ceccarelli and