A report from teacher of Italian and Director of Global Programs Prof. Dan Pieraccini...

On Wednesday, January 7, Prof. Michael Del Guercio '04 and Prof. Dan Pieraccini took their Italian IV and AP Italian classes to partake in a very special opportunity to deepen their appreciation of Italian culture.

That morning, about twenty Delbarton students, dressed in their Wednesday best, attended a dress rehearsal of Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera.

To help elucidate the mysterious workings of this classic art form, the group was joined by opera singer and music teacher Ms. Laura Zupa D'Avella P'27 who is pictured on left in the group photo above. Yes, the last names denote her relation to two Italian students here at Delbarton. Ms. D'Avella, mother of Ben D'Avella '27 and aunt to Frank Zupa '26, gave an excellent two-part lecture on the bus regarding not only the story of Madama Butterfly, but an important history of Puccini and an overview of the technical parts of singing opera.

She was even able to show us the portraits and costumes in the Met's basement!

But was it actually over when the fat lady sang? (Editor's note: the cliche "It ain't over till the fat lady sings" derives from opera and refers to the stereotypically large soprano who sings final, emotive arias, especially Brunnhilde's role in Wagner's opera Götterdämmerung, signaling the end of the long performance. The saying was popularized in American sports commentary as another way of signaling that sports scores aren't determined until the very end of the game.)

Not by a long shot. Afterwards, the group -- now plenty full of culture, but in all other ways absolutely famished -- headed downtown to Eataly, where our Italian students feasted on delicacies from all over the peninsula. In a moment of candor, one student told the Profs at the end of the day, "Opera's not really my thing, but I have to say -- that was really cool!"