Cartolina Christmas programme 24 & 31 December

Cari amici, in the next programme (24 & 31 December 2008), Cartolina brings an Italian Christmas with songs, interviews and a traditional recipe.

We talk about the typical instrument of the Italian Christmas: zampogna. Song: Zampognari in paradiso. Three little girls talk and sing their Christmas songs.

A great Italian tradition is the Nativity Scene, the Presepe. It seems that the first one was made by St Francis of Assisi, at the beginning of the 1200s. This tradition is still alive, as Ester Monti-Reid can testify, on the phone from Auckland, while little Emma provides some background music of her own….
More songs played in this programme are: Piva Piva, Caro Gesù bambino, Bianco Natale, Pasquella di Natale.

Our recipe: porcedduzzi al miele (honeyed piglets). In spite of its name, this is a dessert, traditionally prepared at Christmas time in Apulia. It’s basically small pieces of dough, fried and honey-dipped. Find the full recipe here.

Christmas Festival in the Arts Centre 11 am – 4 pm

Sunday 14 Dicembre : Christmas Festival in the Arts Centre 11 am – 4 pm

The sights and sounds of Christmas will come early to the South Quad at the Arts Centre. The Dante Society and other Christchurch's ethnic communities will present Christmas traditions from Italy and around the world. Learn to say ''Happy Christmas'' in ten different languages, sample seasonal food with a difference and buy from a range of unique Christmas decorations and gifts

November meeting - AGM & Absolutely Abruzzo tours

We finish our activities for this year with an evening at the Linwood Community Arts Centre on Tuesday 11 November (please note change of day!)
 
7.30 pm Annual General Meeting

8 pm Absolutely Abruzzo 

A mixed extravaganza of sound & image will bring Italy to life with some photos and some wonderful singing.

International operatic tenor Michael Howard will sing Italian songs and Luciana Masci will present a short video and photos to illustrate their Absolutely Abruzzo Tours.
 
Both Luciana and Michael have deep family ties to this beautiful region, and lead small groups through carefully crafted itineraries; they stay in restored villas and farmhouses, and everything is included even down to the selected wines, menus, cooking class and recipes as well as many unexpected and thoughtful extras along the way, not to mention Michael’s private concerts, accompanied by local musicians.

 Supper to follow the meeting.

No new updates for a wee while

Hi all,
This is your ex-newsletter editor Jerry. Thank you for reading this blog. I’m sorry but there will be no more updates on this site until a new newsletter editor taking over my place. I quit this job for several personal reasons and I won’t get into details to be kind. Let’s just say now is the time for me to step away.

Per ogni cosa c'è il suo momento, il suo tempo per ogni faccenda sotto il cielo. C’è un tempo per cercare e un tempo per perdere,un tempo per serbare e un tempo per buttar via.

Thanks again, and I hope you continue to enjoy what the Dante Society brings you.

September Meeting - John Doogan's Italian Photo Journey

7:30pm, Wed. 10 September, Linwood Community Arts Centre
Photographer John Doogan will give us a presentation for our September meeting about a brief overview of the tours he takes to Le Marche during the New Year and Epiphany period including La Befana and Pasquella. He will also show images from all over Italy taken during his trips there since 2002. Photographer John Doogan is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Photography with one bar and the Adobe Ambassador for New Zealand. He has won several awards in New Zealand and overseas. See more of John's work at www.digitalcactus.co.nz
John also organises photography tour every December and January in Italy, if you are interested in joining, please visit www.italyphototour.co.nz/

Everyone is welcome to come to our meeting! The usual refreshments and coffee will be provided.

Cartolina programmes 3 Sept.- 1 Oct. 2008

Cartolina radio programs “for those who remember Italy and who dream of it”.

3 September at 7.30 pm & 8 September at 10.30 am:

"Engineered Wood Structures: Building a sustainable future" with Massimo Fragiacomo and Stefano Pampanin. The latest massive timber engineering project in the Civil Engineering dept. of University of Canterbury, in collaboration with University of Sassari and Politecnico of Milano, indirectly brings Christchurch closer to Italy. Stefano and Massimo, two of the key researchers of this project, unravel the search for sustainable, earthquake-proof engineered timber structures of the future, structures especially in relation to earthquake safety.

This should be of particular interest to the engineers, but their talk is very comprehensible and educational to also anyone who is not in this field.

17 September at 7.30 pm & 22 September at 10.30 am:

Director Elric Hooper and USA tenor Carlo Scibelli (Manrico) talk about the coming Southern Opera season of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore, at the Isaac Theatre Royal from 30 September. They tell about challenges and rewards of staging such a big classic, and more about opera in New Zealand and the USA, including the Metropolitan’s controversial program of offering cinemas across the world high-definition “simulcasts” of the Met’s live performances.

1 October at 7.30 pm & 6 October at 10.30 am:

From Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, Major Stefano Fusi has come to New Zealand to revive an episode of WWII: a battle for the way to Firenze, that New Zealand soldiers fought there in 1944. Mr Fusi was in Christchurch recently with Jack Cummins, chairman of Christchurch Italy Star Association. Valerie Mayer interviewed them.

How to listen.

* Radio on demand through the internet: just visit: http://www.plainsfm.org.nz/Podcasts/programmes

Select “Cartolina” and you’ll get the list of all available programs.

* For the actual radio broadcast, tune in on PLAINS FM 96.9 on alternate Wednesdays at 7.30 pm, or listen to the repeat program on the following Monday, at 10.30 am.