Nick Virzi: "Linguaglossa" for Vocal Sextet, Narrator, Film (2018) | Ekmeles | Score Follow
Written for and performed by the Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble (May, 2018).
Full Video: youtu.be/stDb_me5B5o
Charlotte Mundy, Soprano
Elisa Sutherland, Mezzo-Soprano
Steven Bradshaw, Tenor
Timothy Parsons, Countertenor
Jeffrey Gavett, Baritone
Steven Hrycelak, Bass
Nick Virzi, Narration
Text adapted from the travel journals of John D. Virzi, my father, written during a pilgrimage to our ancestral home of Lercara Friddi, Sicilia, on Friday, September 19th, 1986.
Film adapted from the personal collection of Leonardo DiBella, my great uncle, recorded during the years 1965-1987 in both Italy and America – primarily, Sicilia and New York. Locations that can be seen in the selected scenes of Linguaglossa include Passopisciaro, Piedimonte Etneo, and Taormina, all in Sicilia, and Astoria, Queens in New York.
Program Note:
Linguaglossa is a small town at the base of Sicilia’s Mount Etna, formed at the divergent point of a volcanic lava stream in 1566 – and, along with Lercara Friddi, another place to which my family may claim ancestral lineage.
Literally translated, Linguaglossa means “tongue tongue”, with lingua as the modern Italian word for tongue, or language, and glossa as the ancient Sicilian word of the same meaning. As such, this town represents the meeting point of the new and the old, the past and the future, with the forked tongue of Etna’s fiery mouth singing outward from the eternal present. Nearby towns surrounding Etna include Randazzo, Passopisciaro, Piedimonte Etneo, and coastal Taormina, as seen and heard in Linguaglossa.
Throughout the text, there are several references to this mythical sense of time. For example, it is implied that Lercara Friddi was founded in the year 0, or perhaps 1 BC. A similar mythic ethos surrounds other aspects of my father’s experience – most notably, space, character, and image. The musical aura that envelops my narration of this story adds a third generation to my family’s continuing journey of artistic self- exploration and reflection through the dimensions of film, literature, and music.
www.nickvirzi.com