Gettin' Some Cultcha

Or cultura, as one would say in Italian, with a charming accent and a well-rolled "r".

I came across a couple of brochures the first minutes in my Taormina hotel lobby. I took them to my room. They looked interesting, and became even more so after a couple of days in Taormina. There's only so much window shopping and eating I can manage per day.

Thus, on Thursday night, I walked the short distance to one of Taormina's main claims to fame, the Teatro Greco. I hadn't gone to see it during the day, knowing that the concert I wanted to attend began at 6 in the evening, well before sunset, leaving plenty of time to look around and photograph. The theater is the second largest in Sicily, after the one in Syracuse which I also saw, but this time I was going for a performance, the Secondo Festival Internazionale Orchestre a Plettro.

I'm sure you can understand most or all of those Italian words. But what's "a Plettro"? You might know. I didn't. Turns out the word in English is "plectrum", which designates musical instruments which are plucked or strummed with what we would call a pick. Even as I began to figure that out, I had no idea what to expect.

I was in for all kinds of surprises.

High on the hill to which Taormina clings, the Teatro Greco stands in its glory. It is larger than a football field. Much of the original Greek construction exists twenty-seven hundred years later; the Roman 2nd century remodel, which added the bricks, is sturdy still. Vistas reach the Mediterranean below and Mt. Etna at one's fingertips.

The music was a marvel. This night's performance was by the Orchestra a Plettro of Milan, with Vivaldi, Silvestri, and H. Arlen on the program. That "H. Arlen" is Harold...and the orchestra's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow toward the end of the concert had some of the audience moving with nostalgic pleasure and the rest in tears. An impromptu soft singalong had us all smiling.

It's quite amazing to hear the sounds that can come from mostly mandolins and guitars. Did you know there was a tenor mandolin? How about (ha!) a bass mandolin? Isn't that just excellent? The only bowed instrument was the double bass (contrabasso), the only wind instruments a single clarinet and a flute. The effects, combined with the setting of the Teatro and the setting of the sun, were dazzling.

I tiptoed out just before the final piece--none were long--to catch a photo through a weathered hole I'd spotted in the wall behind the orchestra. I'm going back Sunday, when a quintet will perform with the Orchestra a Plettro Citta di Taormina. On the program are Bartok, Verdi, and Scott Joplin. I can hardly wait.

The following night, I had a ticket to the opera. Sort of. This was to be a performance of arias and duets from Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti and others. I picked up my ticket when the box office opened--earlier than advertised--and had a leisurely dinner at a restaurant strategically located halfway up the many stairs to the small theater, which is in the back of the Church of San Giuseppe.

When the show began, Eduardo Hurtado Rampoldi came out on stage to welcome us. He is proud of these presentations by Italian Opera Taormina. Eduardo introduced the soprano, Silvia Di Falco; the pianist, Antonio Gennaro; and the tenor -- himself.

At intermission, Eduardo invited us all out to the terrace for a glass of Prosecco, which was included in our tickets. The terrace is the roof of the old church. It was dark, but the views over the city and down to the piazza below were heavenly.

Silvia and Eduardo sang arias from La Boheme, Don Giovanni, Pagliacci, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Traviata and Madame Butterfly. Eduardo is a cheerful and humorous man who found ways to make his world more accessible to the audience. Interestingly, he spoke to us in English. The programs are in English. The little theater was nearly full, but the following night's performance had been cancelled. Maybe lack of interest, we don't know. I'm glad I made my reservation for Friday.

I have no way to describe the performance. I don't even know what adjectives and verbs one uses for operatic music. Except to say that it was delicious, and that I am astonished at the beautiful sounds the human voice can make.

Maggie and Colin, my neighbors here at the hotel who I met yesterday when we were all out on our terraces, came to the performance too. I was glad to have Maggie there. She's a warm and enthusiastic soul and it was good to be able to share our appreciation of the arias. They were at the concert in the Teatro Greco, too, and enjoyed it hugely. We didn't know each other then, but we do now, and these moments of cultura Italiana have created a fine bond.

We also had a good laugh at the end. The performers' first encore was a passionate duet of "O Sole Mio". Their second was the theme from The Godfather.

Sicily. How do people know it? What do people think of it? I'm learning more about the real Sicilia daily. I've decided to stay in Sicily until I go to Rome a few days before my flight home.

From Taormina I will go out to the countryside again and will visit the town where my grandmother was born. I'm looking forward to that, and to whatever else there is to discover, to unearth, to appreciate, to absorb. To notice.