Tarantata Performance and Dinner Fundraiser 2022
December 4th 5pm
Local 92 Restaurant
Second Avenue & 6th Street NYC
courtesy of restaurant owner Marcello Assante
This will be such a special celebration of over four decades of work for I Giullari di Piazza, who are artists in residence at the Cathedral of St. John Divine and who have also performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Symphony Space, to name but a few.
This will be our first in-person fundraiser since the pandemic, and we are so looking forward to being together again for this beautiful celebration.
During the fundraiser, we will present a special performance featuring excerpts from the production TARANTELLA SPIDER DANCE, South Italian Tarantella trance dances, ritual drumming and healing chants for the Black Madonna, and I Giullari’s favorite upbeat repertoire!
The concert will feature:
Alessandra Belloni - Artistic Director, Percussions and Vocals
John La Barbera - Music Director, Composer, Guitar, Mandolin, Chitarra Battente
Wilson Montuori - Guitar
Mara Gerety - Violin
Steve Gorn - Bansuri Flutes, Saxophones, Clarinet
Dancers - Francesca Silvano, Peter De Geronimo, Greta Campo
Mark Mindek - Stilt Dancer
About the performance: TARANTATA
The show is rich with songs, tarantellas, and magic rituals used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula, along with healing chants and ritual drumming in honor of the Black Madonna and the healing trance dance called the Pizzica Tarantata. With its authentic music, costumes, and instrumentation, Belloni and company here bring together the fascinating and very similar legends, traditions and musical rhythms of Southern Italy and Brazil. And, as always, the show concludes with audience members being invited to join the cast for a joyous tarantella on stage
(NY Times Critics Pick , Ben Brantley) Tarantella - Spider Dance
The "Spider Dance" or Tarantella, is an erotic trance dance ritual from Southern Italy, which has been used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula. This new 'Spider Dance' production infuses the ancient melodies and instrumentation of the authentic tarantella with modern electronic dance beats”
About the Honored Guests
For this momentous 42nd anniversary, we will be honoring esteemed actor Armand Assante, as well as accomplished actress-model Eleonora Pieroni and long-term Supporter of I Giullari, philanthropist and counder of Soul De Cuba Cafe, Jesus Puerto.
Armond Anthony Assante is an Actor, Writer and Director.
Armand Anthony Assante (born October 4, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as mobster John Gotti in the 1996 HBO television film Gotti, Nietzsche in When Nietzsche Wept and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer in 1982's I, the Jury.
In September of 1997 his performance in Gotti earned him a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for the Golden Globe Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Special for his portrayal of notorious crime boss, John Gotti, in HBO Pictures biographical drama Gotti. Assante as well received the Capri Hollywood Award in Capri, Italy in December 1997, for the same performance.
Dropping the fifty pounds he donned for Gotti he followed in 1997 with Andre Konchalovsky’s The Odyssey. In September of that same year during their premiere of The Odyssey, Assante was honored at the Acropolis and in January of 1998 was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for this starring role. At the time it aired in the USA, The Odyssey was the highest watched miniseries on any network since 1994 (and NBC’s highest since 1991) attracting 50 million viewers. He is a four time Golden Globe Nominee.
In a career that has spanned over five decades internationally he is sought in the film sector as much as he has been the guest of leading industrialists and leaders around the world.
Eleonora Pieroni is an Italian actress, presenter and recording artist living in New York.
Eleonora started her international career as model when she won the title of Miss Blue Mare Italia and was finalist of Miss World Italy. She is a presenter of events and festivals in Italy and United States. In 2016 Ele recorded the cover of one of the most popular song ‘Volare’ by Domenico Modugno. Ele is part of the cast of the just released movie ‘Dante’ directed by the maestro Pupi Avati, and soon she will be out in movie theaters around the world with ‘State of Consciousness’ with the Hollywood actor Emile Hirsch.
Eleonora is a philanthropist committed to promoting culture and made in Italy around the world, Eleonora was nominated by the Major of New York Eric Leroy Adams as ‘Ambassador of Made in Italy and Italian culture in New York’. Eleonora is Goodwill Ambassador for several organizations to support children in need and empowering women against violence.
Jesus Puerto is a philanthropist and entrepreneur.
Since 1998, Jesus Puerto has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, a United Nations Volunteer and as a Charter Board Member and Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity in Western Samoa. He has also worked int he Peace Corps headquarters in Wahsington, D.C. where he served as country officer for the Peace Corps programs in the Caribbean and Central America.
Before opening the first Soul de Cuba Cafe, he was recruited to work in New Haven, CT by Paul Newman's Association of Hole in the Wall Camps to develop and support programs and activities in Thailand, Southern Africa, and Japan.