Rome-born Cecilia Bartoli famously sings in all the world except her for her home nation. Last year in Italy she sand just one performance of her “Sacrificium” programme in Turin as the closing concert of the Mi-To (Milan-Torino) Music Festival. Stop.
Now she has just won the Grammy award for Best Classical Vocal Performance (for the “Sacrificium” album), but Italy remains indifferent.
On Sky TV’s ‘entertainment’ news loop (repeating every fifteen minutes for 24 hours) the largest segment is reserved for the Grammy’s: Lady Gaga, Eminem, Mick Jagger. Proudly included is Italy’s own winner, Riccardo Muti with two Grammys for his recording of Verdi’s Requiem. And Bartoli. Nothing. A Prophet Hath No Honour in His Own Country.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.
