Our Story
Our love affair with Spoleto started in June of 1983, as fledgling members of the world-renowned Westminster Choir, as we sat next to each other on the bus ride from the Rome airport to the magical medieval hilltown of Spoleto. We were exhausted and fallen victims to jetlag, yet our excitement of arriving in Italy to participate in the Festival dei Due Mondi as members of The Spoleto Festival Choir was exhilarating. "Don't fall asleep, we have to see the glorious view of the aqueduct as we approach Spoleto!" we would say to each other. On the right is a photo of Holly and Paulo performing with The Westminster Choir under the direction of Joseph Flummerfelt, a Palestrina mass, in Spoleto’s glorious “duomo” cathedral, July 1985.
Little did we know that we would experience life changing events that would transform us as singers, as artists, and as people, while working with world leading artists, directors, and conductors, in memorable concerts and operatic productions. On the left we have a photo of Holly performing as soloist alongside Italian soprano Katia Ricciarelli in Haydn’s Creation for the closing festival “Piazza Concert”, televised live all over Italy; an experience she will always treasure!
Now, over twenty years after our first summer in Spoleto, we are manifesting our common dream to bring together choral singers with whom we can share our "home away from home" and the rich cultural and artistic experiences we have enjoyed all these years. On the right, Paulo listens closely to the direction of Spoleto Festival founder and composer Gian Carlo Menotti, during a staging rehearsal of the maestro’s opera, The Saint of Bleecker Street, in July of 1986.