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Week of Italian Language at UNE

October 26, 2004

circu[1].jpgThe University of New England, Australia’s largest provider of university-level Italian courses by distance education, took part in an international celebration of the Italian language last week.

The fourth annual “Week of the Italian Language in the World”, marked by special events in 87 countries, opened in Armidale on Saturday 16 October with a concert of 20th century Italian songs performed by the visiting Duo Alterno from Turin. The Italian Institute of Culture in Sydney sponsored the visit of the Duo (Tiziana Scandaletti, soprano, and Riccardo Piacentini, pianist/composer) to Armidale, and the Italian Section at UNE hosted the two performers. The Italian Consul General, Dr Antonio Verde, attended the concert, which was held in the C.B. Newling Centre (Old Teachers’ College).

Duo Alterno have performed to great acclaim on four continents. Their focus on the human voice provided an appropriate introduction to the week’s activities at UNE, the theme of which was “Poetry”. These activities included the screening of an Italian film on Wednesday and, on Thursday, the performance of an Italian farce called “The Bicycle Shop” (incorporating a theatrical circus show) presented by Circus 4 and UNE students of Italian. Children from UNE’s Yarm Gwanga Child Care Centre were among the audience and, ultimately, joined in the fun on stage.

Also on Thursday the Italian Section presented its second annual contribution to that part of the Italian Language Week known as “Italian Lecturers’ Day”. A special guest at this event was Ms Luciana De Leon, Education Adviser at the Italian Consulate in Sydney. Brennan Wales, Senior Lecturer in Italian, welcomed an audience comprising UNE students and students of Italian from Armidale High School, and Silvia Ferrari (a Lecturer in Italian at UNE sponsored by the Italian Government) introduced and presented poems written by UNE students of Italian, and announced the prize-winners in an essay competition sponsored by the Italian Institute of Culture. Mr Wales gave a talk titled “Italian, Language of Poetry”, and Annamaria Cavallaro, also from UNE’s Italian Section, talked on the subject of “Italian Women Poets”.

Ms De Leon visited Armidale High School and the Armidale Waldorf School (which also teaches Italian), as well as UNE, during the week. At UNE she met the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Michael Macklin, and the Head of the School of Languages, Cultures and Lingusistics, Associate Professor Herman Beyersdorf, as well as members of the Italian Section.


Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 26, 2004 05:52 PM