Dialogues on events
that shape our world
Crossroads' Benefit Concert
BELOVED BEAUTY
The yearning for beauty expressed in songs and music from
around the world
Carnegie Hall, December 6, 2005 at 8:00 pm
Origines Trio:
Valentina Oriani-Patrick, Vocalist
Marco Squicciarini, Classical Guitar
Stefano Dall'Ora, Concert Bass
(All seats reserved - All seats $50)
Exploring our heritage
Testing our tradition
THE WORLD
Discovering the world
of arts: performances
and presentations
THE CROSSROADS
Face to face with...
MEET THE ARTISTS
Stefano Dall’Ora
Concert Bass
Born in Varese, Italy, double bass player
Stefano Dall’Ora, has had an intense career
covering the spectrum from classical music to
jazz. Mr. Dall’Ora graduated from the
Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi in Milan Italy,
where he studied under Giuseppe Rusotto. He
later studied with Franco Petracchi in Fiesole,
Italy.
Dall’Ora has collaborated with a number of
Symphonic and Chamber Orchestras such as
the Chamber Orchestra of Mantova, and the
Symphonic Orchestra Haydn of Bolzano and
Trento. In addition, he has had several recital
appearances in Milan. Since 1986, Stefano
has been the first chair
double bass player at chamber music festivals
in Brescia and Bergamo, Italy. He has traveled
to many countries playing chamber music with
esteemed soloists as M. Rostropovic, N.
Magaloff, U. Ughi, G. Kremer, A. Lonquich, K.
Zimermam, and others.
Known for his dexterity on his instrument, as
well as his sensitivity in small-group settings,
Stefano has been an in-demand player with
some of Italy’s best known jazz musicians, as
well as today’s finest known American and
international players. Some of the musicians
Stefano has played with include Trilok Gurtu,
Lee Konitz, Eric Marienthal (of the Chick Korea
Electric Band), Astor Piazzolla, Mal Waldron,
Rick Margitza, and Dusko Goikovich.
Stefano Dall’Ora’s recording credits include
Laura Fedele Song for my Brother, Les
Cultures Project with the pianist Achille Gajo,
Beyond the Desert, and Dreams ‘n’ Drums with
Eric Marienthal and Alex Acuna, Red Waves
with Dado Moroni and Michael Rose, and
Acquario with Arke String
Project, Stefano Bollani and Gabriele
Mirabassi.
In addition to concert and recording work,
Stefano Dall’Ora is presently teaching double
bass at the Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi in
Como and at the Civic Music School in Varese.
Stefano has been married for almost twenty
years, and is the father of two wonderful
daughters, Chiara, 15, and Irene, 13.
Valentina Oriani Patrick
Vocalist
Valentina Oriani Patrick studied music and
voice with a teacher of the Milan Conservatory
of Music in Italy, teaching and performing there
for many years. Her repertoire ranges from
classical to jazz, and she has toured Italy and
Europe both in chamber music recitals and in
educational shows for children.
In May 1998 she had the privilege to perform
for Pope John Paul II. In December of the same
year, she relocated to New York where she
continues her activities as a voice teacher and
as a singer,expanding her activities to include
sacred music with the choir of Communion and
Liberation, and television commercials for
Texaco, Cingular, Campbell’s Soup, and Crest.
She also taught music for the extended
education program sponsored by Kingsboro
College.
She performs regularly as a member of the
folk/jazz group the Bay Ridge Band, and she is
a principal actress of Blackfriars Repertory
Theatre. She currently directs the choir of St.
Peter’s Girls High School in Staten Island, and
teaches music and Italian at Sacred Heart/St.
Stepehen’s Elementary School in Brooklyn.
Mrs. Oriani Patrick has been performing
regularly with Marco Squicciarini since 1992. In
1998 they began collaborating with Stefano
Dall’Ora, and so the trio was born. Since then,
they have devoted themselves to researching
and bringing to the public’s attention the
beauty and richness of the music tradition of
many countries, particularly tradition as
generated by the life of peoples. The end
result of their passionate work is a repertoire
whose traditional soul is at the origin of the
beauty and humanity that characterizes them.
During a concert tour of Italy last May, they
recorded the live CD Infant Holy, recently
released in Europe as Niño Lindo. In
December 2004 they performed a concert -
also titled Infant Holy - in Carnegie Hall’s Weill
Recital Hall, to a sold-out house.
She has recorded CDs both in Italy (O Spes
Mea Cara, Christmas is Coming, Infant Holy)
and the USA (Spirituals & Songs from the
Stoop, In Transit, Noah’s Ark, Another
Morning, and Come la Rosa), and she has
performed for RAI (Italian National Television),
Canale 5 (a major Italian network), and for
Radio RAI (Italian National Radio), and Radio
Italia.
Ms. Oriani Patrick recently celebrated her fifth
anniversary of marriage to Casimir F. Patrick.
They live in Brooklyn.
Marco Squicciarini
Classical Guitar
Classical guitarist Marco Squicciarini was born
in 1972. He graduated from the Conservatory
F. dall’Abaco and went on to study at the
Academy of Imola, Italy, under classical guitar
maestro and Segovia student Piero Bonaguri.
Marco furthered his studies with Oscar Ghiglia
from the
Academy Chigiana in Siena, Italy, where he
distinguished himself for his masterful
interpretations of the repertoire of Segovia and
for his renditions of popular music for guitar.
Marco holds a degree in philosophy from the
Catholic University of Milan.
His repertoire includes long-standing music for
lute (Narvaez, Mudarra, Weiss, Bach) to the
works of the great composers for guitar
(Albeniz, de Falla, Tarrega, Sor, Castelnuovo-
Tedesco), to the contemporary composers
(Martin, Kleynjans, Molino, Andreoni). Marco
gives particular attention to music of popular
origin (Lauro, Sojo, Barrios, Llobet, Villa-lobos,
Albeniz, Tarrega).
In 1997, Marco was the accompanist for
singer, Valentina Oriani in a performance for
the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, in St. Peter’
s Square. Marco Squicciarini’s recording
credits include Christmas is Coming (1997), as
guitar player and arranger, with Christopher
Vath; Holy Night (2003) with Kate Kelly,
Lorenzo De Finti, and Stefano Dall’Ora.
Marco’s latest release is the CD Music for the
Sunrise, a duet with Devis Mariotti (first flute of
the Bologna Symphony), performing music by
A. Paizzola, A. Ramirez, and contemporary
musicians such as E. Bocciero, and G. D’
Aquila.
Marco presently lives and teaches music in
Lugano, Switzerland, where he directs the
municipal choir. Marco is married to Caterina
and is the father of three children: Pietro, 5
years old, Sofia, 4, and Giacomo, 1.
SPEECH
On behalf of Crossroads New York
Cultural Center, I would like to
welcome all of you to our annual
benefit concert. I also want to thank all
who have supported our work during
this last year. First of all, I would like
to thank the Origines Trio, and
especially Mrs. Valentina Oriani
Patrick, for their generous gift of
tonight's concert. It is rare to find
artists of their caliber who are
prepared to share their professional
talents at the service of a larger,
communal enterprise such as ours.
For the same reason, I would like to
thank all the other artists, speakers
and various guests who have
participated in Crossroads events
throughout the year, giving freely of
their time and talents. In particular,
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, and Mr.
Hugh Dugan, (present with us
tonight), who spoke at our opening
conference on the United Nations
reform; Mr. Tony Hendra, who told us
about his inspiring and moving long-
life friendship with Fr. Joe Warrilow. a
relationship that became the subject
of Mr. Hendra's best selling memoir
“Fr. Joe: the man who saved my
soul”. Fr. Richard Neuhaus, Supreme
Knight Carl Anderson of the Knights
of Columbus and His Eminence
Edward Cardinal Egan, who
participated in the public presentation
of John Paul II's last book in May.
Special thank to Mr. Eugene Stavis
(also present with us tonight) and Sal
Petrosino who discussed the effect of
the tragedy of 9/11 on the filmmaking
industry. That discussion was
introduced by the screening of the
movie "September 12”. We have with
us several member of the team that
produced the movie," (including
myself) as well as musicians Jonathan
Fields and Chris Vath, who introduced
us to the world of classical music.
Finally, a special mention must be
given to anchorwoman Paula Zahn,
who graciously accepted to talk to the
Crossroads audience about
journalism in the 21st century.
Last but not least, I want to warmly
thank all of you for supporting
Crossroads, not just for coming
tonight but also for your passionate
participation in our the events during
the year, for your encouragement, for
the feedback you have given us and,
above all, for your friendship. We
could not have done any of the things
we have done without you, and this
web of friendship that has surrounded
our cultural center since its beginning
in September of 2004.
Indeed, everything started one year
ago from a simple friendship among a
small group of people here in New
York who shared a passion for cultural
life and for all expressions of the
human quest for truth and beauty.
This passion was awakened in us by
the education to the Catholic faith that
we received in Communion and
Liberation, the international movement
in the Roman Catholic Church that
was founded 50 years ago by
Monsignor Luigi Giussani. He taught
us that the connection between
friendship, beauty and culture is not
coincidental. The deepest friendships
grow around a shared experience of
something beautiful, and are
nourished by the desire to follow it
and communicate it to others. In turn,
a community born from an event of
beauty generates culture. In the
words of Pope Benedict XVII, "True
knowledge is being struck by the
arrow of beauty that wounds man,
being moved by reality."
Consequently, culture is not primarily
an intellectual or academic endeavor;
rather, it is the shared awareness of a
people that has been brought together
by an ideal, by something beautiful
that has reawakened the deepest
desires of the heart. Thus,
Crossroads New York Cultural Center
is as much you who joined us tonight
as it is we who do the organization.
Before we move on to the concert, I
would like to remind you of a couple of
things. The next Crossroads' event
will be a conference on bioethics and
regenerative medicine that will be held
at St. Vincent's Hospital on January
28, with title "Medicine at the
Crossroads: between science and bio-
utopia”. You can find more information
about Crossroads and its next
activities in the card you have
received inside tonight's program, and
also at the information desk at the exit,
where you can register to be added to
the Crossroads' mailing list. Among
Crossroads' recent activities I would
like to highlight our new blog.
