......The guys on stage, from left to right, (??Don't know the first one), but second is a veteran of the Opera Tent named Dominic, then Damon Lanza, Bob Dolfi, and Aaron Caruso. Saturday was the only day we were able to watch the wonderful "Round-Table" discussion they gave, but I heard they presented it at least 3 of the 4 days. On Saturday they talked a bit about the video, "The American Caruso", "Victor Lanza" and their efforts to stop frauds and false information, and other Mario related facts. The audience also listened to about 6 arias and songs (one of the songs was "Santa Lucia"), where afterwards, Mario's singing was compared to Enrico Caruso's on the same arias. They concluded with "Nessun Dorma" sung by both Mario Lanza and Franco Corelli, and then compared their versions & voices, getting the audience reactions too.

At this point, my husband, Settimio, asked a question and was asked to come to the microphone near the stage to be better heard. He made a little speech about why he likes Mario Lanza's voice and singing more than either Caruso or Corelli, and also mentioned Giuseppe di Stefano as one of his favorites, along with Mario. He said that Lanza and Di Stefano have the wonderful ability to communicate to the listener, not only what the song is all about but also with great emotion. He also said, as I believe too, that Mario and Di Stefano have much warmer and richer voices than Caruso, and an OPEN sound, (not "closed" like Caruso) giving their voices a more natural sound, and at the same time powerful and warm. I myself would add that for this reason, as well as their beautiful mezza voci and splendid nuances, I think Mario Lanza and Di Stefano are also among the most VERSATILE singers in the world.

ON A HUMOROUS NOTE: During the presentation when Dominic kept referring to Settimio in the audience as "the man from Pisa", afterwards, we kept meeting people at other concert stages at Festa who asked him, "AREN'T YOU THAT MAN FROM PISA??!" It was funny so many of them remembered him, so we all laughed.