WITH style and grace Svetlana Sharapa Zazo, wife of the Italian ambassador, Pier Francesco Zazo, hosted solo for long-planned the “Evening of Italian Opera and Song” that didn’t count on plane delays from the Solomon Islands where Mr Zazo was on a diplomatic visit.
But it was a team effort with opera lover and able organiser Teresa Zarlenga joining Svetlana and Anne-Sophie Hermann whose organisation, Buk bilong Pikinini, was the beneficiary of this fundraiser.
Buk bilong Pikinini was established in 2007 to provide dedicated libraries for children to help improve the estimated 50 per cent literacy rate in Papua New Guinea with targeted programs for early childhood learning. The latest library, number 16, was opened on Manus Island in June.
The evening’s musical menu was a delicious selection of favourites from Puccini, Rossini and Verdi with Alan Hicks at the piano, his lovely wife mezzo soprano Christina Wilson, soprano Karen Fitz-Gibbon and tenor Christopher Lincoln Bogg performing, and a perfect evening to enjoy supper in the courtyard of this beautiful embassy.
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