Image of singer Laura Campisi.

Italian Open Day (Spring)

Italy through Images, Words and Music: Award Ceremony and Concert

Italian open day image

Wed. April 5 (3-5pm)
Room CELS 110
College of Science and Mathematics

RSVP required by Mon. April 3
See flyer

The Italian Program in the Department of Spanish and Italian and the Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies are pleased to invite all students to attend Italian Open Day (Spring). The event will include presentations by professors and students about the unique academic and pre-professional opportunities offered by the Italian Program at Montclair State University, and will embrace the award ceremony for the video contest: “Adopt an Italian UNESCO Site.” It will be followed by a special concert of Italian music by the Laura Campisi Duo,organized by the Italian Club on campus.

With her Italian Jazz project, Italian-born singer and songwriter Laura Campisi aims at exposing the American audience to the Italian soundscape of the last four or five decades, a repertoire that remains lesser known in the U.S. compared to the canzone napoletana tradition, for instance. Her songbook embraces Italian pieces composed between the 1960s and the present, and revisits them through the fine lens of jazz, combining intimate arrangements and intense Latin-inspired rhythms. Songs include evergreens such as Parole parole and Volare, as well as more hidden gems like L’appuntamento by Ornella Vanoni and Mi sono innamorato di te by Luigi Tenco, just to name a few. More recent compositions by Vinicio Capossela, Cristina Dona’, and an original tune by Campisi herself are also featured in this concert. Campisi will closely work with students to develop short presentations about the songs and composers in order to make the event more inclusive and interactive. The songs she will perform come with a story linked to the larger history of Italy that she is keen on sharing to enrich the image of the country, and especially of its more recent and contemporary culture.
Laura will be accompanied by Steve Nelson on guitar.

PRESENTATIONS PROGRAM:

  • Introduction: Performance by the Laura Campisi Duo with songs translations by the Amici Italian Club (Dominique Aponte, Anna DiMeo, Ashly Espinoza and Mark Sample, under the supervision of Dr. Marisa Trubiano)
  • Enza Antenos-Conforti, Deputy Chair: Overview of the Italian Program: “Degrees, Courses and Scholarships”
  • Teresa Fiore, Inserra Chair: “Cultural Activities, Student Initiatives, and Donors’ Support”
  • Marisa Trubiano, Associate Professor: “New Directions in Italian Studies (Translation and Business)”
  • Gaetano Sollazzo, Italian teacher at Nutley High School, NJ: “From Majoring in Italian at MSU to Teaching Italian in the HS system”
  • Domenico Lisa, Italian major and business minor: “Interning at Monte dei Paschi di Siena Bank, New York City Branch”
  • Rosanna Coviello, double majoring in Italian and Jurisprudence, Law and Society: “Translation and Titling: From Class to Special Project, All the Way to an International Internship”
  • Emilia D’Albero, Alumna Class 2015 and Education & Events Manager at Eataly: “From a BA in Italian at Montclair State University to a Full-time Job at La Scuola di Eataly, NY”
  • Patti Grunther, Italian teacher at Watchung Hills Reginal High School: “Summer 2017 Italian Immersion Course for College Credit”
  • Award ceremony:
    Adopt an Italian UNESCO Site contest: Emma Rush, Oscar Guevara and Luca Celentano
    Scholarship/Internship award for the 2017 Summer Internship in Macerata, Italy: Rosanna Coviello
  • Closing with live music by the Laura Campisi Duo

More about Laura Campisi:

Sicilian jazz singer and songwriter Laura Campisi has lived and performed in New York since 2011. She has created a variety of musical projects, ranging from a voice-and-bass duo to unique sextet combinations. Passionate about language as a musical sound form, and a deep expression of both the inner self and cultural roots, she writes original songs in English, Italian and Sicilian, and sings in Italian, English, Spanish, Punjabi, Portuguese, French, Sicilian and Neapolitan. While in New York, Laura has performed at many prestigious venues, including Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, The Kitano Jazz Club, Zinc Bar, Bar Next Door, APUS at NYU, as well as at the Westchester Italian Cultural Center and the Italian American Museum, among others. Laura has received awards as both a songwriter and a jazz performer, and she has worked extensively between Europe and the U.S. She is currently working on a project titled Sicily Revisited.

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