At the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, the cultural centre of New York University dedicated to the promotion of Italian culture in the United States, continues the program of events with another appointment, this time at 9 April 2026, which marks the last seasonal meeting of “Opera to the People”, an initiative aimed not only to NYU students but also to participants of other academic institutions, with the aim of making the work more accessible and understandable to a young audience.
Before the event, an introductory evening is planned, from 19:00 to 21:45, during which participants will be able to listen and analyze recordings of the chosen work, deepening its plot, musical structure and historical context. The next day, the group attends the representation at the Metropolitan Opera, one of the world’s leading opera houses.
The final appointment of the 2025-2026 season is dedicated to La Traviata, the central title of the nineteenth-century Italian repertoire, composed by Giuseppe Verdi and represented for the first time in 1853 at La Fenice Theatre in Venice. The work, based on the novel “La dame aux camélias” by Alexandre Dumas son, is one of the most performed in the world and addresses themes such as individual sacrifice, social conventions and marginality.
The project is coordinated by Julian Sachs, who guides meetings with a didactic but informal approach, designed to facilitate understanding also by those who are not familiar with operatic language. More generally, the initiative is part of today’s wide and widespread attempt to reduce the distance between the younger audience and opera, often considered an elitist genre, at times vetusto, definitely difficult to decode at first glance.
The first 25 NYU students who register and participate in the introductory meeting receive a free ticket for the performance of April 10, while the remaining places are assigned according to the order of registration. The cost of tickets is covered by the Italian House, which hosts the initiative but does not intervene in the artistic choices of the group.
The evening of 9 April remains open and free for all interested students and also provides a moment of refreshment based on pizza and soft drinks. To participate it is necessary to book on the website of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò
L’articolo The project by Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò to bring students closer to opera proviene da IlNewyorkese.
