I began violin lessons at nine – my father was my first teacher – and became proficient at piano by age fourteen. I started tinkling the piano keys at age five, at which age I plunged into the study of ballet. Purportedly, or at least according to my mom (who was known to exaggerate, but oh well – she was Russian), I first sang when I was six months old. I have always had very deep feelings about music it has fed my soul since childhood. From the very first moment I had touched down on Italian soil, I felt I had ‘come home.’ Now I knew why. As an opera musician, a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, I certainly lived opera eight days a week – and I loved every minute. Italy’s the birthplace of opera – and in Italy, everything’s an opera!” I asked my friend what it was like to live amongst such cacophony. My friend’s living room overlooked the courtyard, and in the warm summer evenings you could hear the details of every conversation, discussion and angst-filled argument that took place in the entire building. The neighborhood there was very working-class and family-oriented, and the multi-storied apartment building wrapped around a courtyard. The first time I stayed in Rome for an extended visit, I had the opportunity to hang out with an American expat who had an apartment in Trastevere. Italy: A Music Lover’s Paradise The Scala of Milan Opera House
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