Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation remembers soprano, honors Stephen De Maio at 40th anniversary dinner concert
A performance held on Oct. 26 at Rose Hall-Jazz at Lincoln Center was dedicated to the memory of the beloved Metropolitan Opera soprano Licia Albanese (1909-2014), who passed away on Aug. 15 at the age of 105. Albanese had headed the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation for four decades.
Albanese was born in Bari, Italy, and was a U.S. citizen since the 1940s. She received an award from former-President Bill Clinton and the NYC Handel Medallion from former-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Albanese, who sang for the San Francisco Opera for 20 years, is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her singing of the “Otello” duet (Verdi) with Mario Lanza in the 1956 film “Serenade.”
Other supporters of the Foundation mentioned were longtime state Sen. Roy M. Goodman, whose daughter spoke of his philanthropic largess, legendary operetta soprano Martha Eggerth Kiepura (The Merry Widow) and esteemed Brooklynite Rev. Vincent J. Termine, 93.