Cartolina 3 & 17 June 2015

Christian Leotta

3 June: an interview with pianist Christian Leotta, on the eve of his recital in Christchurch, a free event organized by the Italian Ambassador to celebrate Italy’s Republic Day, with the support of Societa` Dante Alighieri of Christchurch. Maestro Leotta is a native of Catania, and now lives in Como. He’s hailed as one of the major Beethoven soloists of our time, and has recorded the entire corpus of Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas.

17 June: Nutella! You can find it in every corner of the world. But do you know it’s an Italian invention? Possibly the most successful product of the Ferrero brand. We tell the story of the popular spread, and play some songs that you can’t miss, like “La Nutella di tua sorella” We also discuss how to make the perfect

Crostata di Nutellla

Cartolina 6 & 20 May 2015

Radio Cartolina 6 and 20 May

Radio Cartolina 6 and 20 May: two programmes on Pino Daniele, the Italian singer-song writer who died recently. Daniele Ronci ed Erica Bellettini discuss (in Italian) his unique style of Neapolitan rock, and introduce his best songs.

Cartonlina 8 & 22 April 2015

8 April: Simon Ogden and Enrica 
Sciarrino discuss Sicily, the inspiration
 of Ogden’s photographic travels. His
 photos are vignettes that defy the 
images of Sicily that one can find in
 postcards, travel guides and magazines, by erasing the
 picturesque and the monumental in order to make room for alternative forms of encounter, and capturing unmistakably Sicilian colours and textures (from E.S.’s introduction). His exhibition, “love, lust & life -hands, hearts & minds, opened in Wellington in February under the auspices of the Italian Embassy, and is coming to Christchurch at Papergraphica, 192 Bealey Av, on the 13^th of April. 

                     22 April: Cartolina producers Wilma Laryn and Denis Walker talk about their favourite songs.

Cartolina 11 & 25 March 2015

11 March: Francesco Ventriglia has taken up his appointment as the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Artistic Director in November. He talks about his career from dance to choreography and artistic direction, from La Scala to the Bolshoi and Maggio Danza in Florence. The NZRB is presenting its season of Don Quixote at the Isaac Theatre Royal, 11 to 14 March, with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. It’s a good occasion to check the dome canvas painting, restored by Carolina Izzo and her Italian team

25 March: Andrea di Robilant, a Rome-based writer and researcher who gave a talk in Christchurch on 25 February about the Venetian brothers and navigators Nicolo & Antonio Zen who discovered America before Columbus, tells about his life and his books, based on authentic documents, that take the readers from a love affair in Baroque Venice to the search for a mysterious rose, plus a musical spin-off.

Cartolina 14,28 January & 11,25 February 2015

Our traditional summer compilation is this year dedicated to Mina. The iconic Italian singer is 74, and going from strength to strength. She releases new compilations regularly, to great acclaim, so we are now catching up with her production. This 4-programme series is realized thanks to Mina-ologue extraordinaire Luca Manghi. Luca released a summer series on Mina almost 10 years ago, so there’s a lot to talk about on more recent events and songs. The programmes are aired on: 14 January, 28 January, 11 February and 25 February. For details on the single programmes check the Dante Christchurch Facebook page… or just listen and enjoy!

Cartolina 3, 12 & 30 December 2014

3 & 12 December: Francesco Melillo is an Italian musician, musicologist and historian. He plays guitar in a band called “Aut in Vertigo”, and their first CD has just been published. Francesco talks about their songs, and their attitude to music and to life in general. We’ll also learn what the name of the band stands for…

30 December: New Year’s resolutions. Who makes them? Who keeps them? We talk with some Kiwi and Italian friends, and play their favourite songs.

Vi Auguriamo un Buon Natale 
e 

un Felice Anno Nuovo