A Wonderful Musical Night in Italy...

On Saturday evening, May 15th, Lincoln City was treated to an amazing evening of Italian Music and Food!

It was an evening like no other that I have ever participated in -- in my entire life! It was an evening to taste not only some amazing, authentic Italian Cuisine, but also to fill ones senses with a taste of some fun, Italian Music. Our local Community Chorus put on a gala affair in the new Assembly Hall of the local Presbyterian Church. The food was out of this world, catered by an amazing chef, Barbara Beard from the Inn at Spanish Head, who donated all of her time for the event. The menu included a 7-course meal, including some amazing Antipasto (Appetizers) delicacies such as Imported Italian Olives, Marinated Red Peppers, Artichoke Hearts and Toasted Sliced Italian Bread to dip in a wonderful olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip.

The Primo Course included Ragu Tomato sauce with Mushrooms and Sauteed Zuccini over Vermicelli al Dente. More of that delicious bread was also served with this course. All were topped with freshly grated Parmesan Cheese. Next (Course III) was a delicious serving of Sliced Rosemary Roasted Pork Loin in Tomato Sauce. Yumm, was that ever great! Number IV to be served was a wonderful plate of Fresh Garden Vegetales, including Parboiled Asparagus lightly basted with Olive Oil and rolled in Sea Salt and sliced Fresh Eggplant lightly sauteed in Olive Oil.

Our Number V Course consisted of a wonderful Caesar Salad with Homemade Garlic Seasoned Croutons, Fresh Ground Pepper and freshly grated Parmesan Cheese. On to Number VI -- a wonderful Formaggio o Frutti Fresca -- a variety of Sliced Cheeses with Seasonal Fresh fFruit. The cheeses included Smoked Gouda (very delicious and a personal favorite) Cheddar and Dill. The fruit consisted of Strawberries, Pineapple, Red Grapes and Watermelon. And lastly the delicious Spumoni Ice Cream (what Italian meal could be complete without it!) served with Homemade Italian Rolled Cookies. They also served an authentic Espresso Coffee (which I did not sample) with Sugar and Cream. I am told that it was a very strong Italian blend and only a very little sufficed any pallatte.


Interspersed through the evening were carefully selected musical numbers -- some whimisical -- some serious Italian Opera performed by our very own Opera trained tenor and conductor, Dr. Robert Herman; or beautifully performed by our beautiful Colorosa Soprano, Nancy McCall. The Chorus sang some wonderful Italian songs and everyone was treated by a miriad of solo, duet, and quartet numbers. All were accompanied by our own talented Paul Beard and/or Dr. Nita Arant. Dean and I performed with a quartet doing a comical rendition of the "Quartet from Rigoletto!" Dean sang two different solo numbers, one accompanied by Dr. Arant and Billy Mickelson on the Cello; and together we sent our guests home with "The Prayer" (as performed by Josh Groban and Charlotte Church several years ago). Billy also joined us in this number. I am working on getting a video/DVD made of the performance, and will get copies for everyone.

Dean's brass quintet played some wonderful Italian music, including some selections from the Italian composer, Henry Mancini! Loved it all!

All in all, we had a fun time, and the audience enjoyed every minute of the 3 hour program. It was a lot of work and all of the proceeds went to help put food on the shelves of our local Care and Share. All of our time and energies were donated. Our local High School provided a wonderful staff of students to do the serving -- and they did an awesome job -- very professional. Their "tips" went entirely to the High School Choral Group. We look forward to our next concert in the spring! It will be interesting to see what Dr. Herman comes up with that might top this one.