Marco Polo, Turandot and China Night at the Stranieri

China Night at the Stranieri.

The Stranieri

One of the enormous benefits of life in Perugia is the diversity of the student population.  My class at L’Universita per Stranieri has students from Belgium, Sweden, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Holland, Turkey, Palestine, Senegal, Korea, Libya, one guy from Canada and two guys including me from USA.  And Italian is the lingua franca of our class.

my class

Earlier this week I attended what I thought would be a simple concert by student at the Stranieri (short for Universita di Stranieri, University for Foreigners.)  We were urged to attend by our Italian teacher, Bianca, because one of our classmates, Anna, was in the chorus.  I had been copying Anna’s homework for about a week and thought I’d show my gratitude by attending and filming the concert.  What I found as I entered the Aula Magna of the Palazzo Galenga was a packed house of mostly Chinese students.  I soon learned that it was not just a concert, but a welcome to the many Chinese students enrolled in the MarcoPolo/Turandot program, which sets aside so many seats for students from China who wish to study here.  The Turandot part of the program was especially for students who wished to study music, art, dance etc.

. . .

Marco Polo?

I’m sure you a familiar with Marco Polo, the famous 13^th Century merchant-explorer who visited and stayed at the court of Kubla Khan, and whose account of the many wonders (pasta?) he found in this relatively advanced civilization was widely published to a skeptical yet curious Europe.  Later it inspired Cristoforo Columbo, claimed by Italians as a native son, but possibly a Catalan converso Ebraio. 







“Turandot” is set in medieval China with its popular aria,  Nessun Dorma, sung by Prince Calaf who awaits his fate as he courts  the icy Princess Turandot, Interestingly, the opera, with its characters Ping, Pang and Pong,  was banned in China for  72 years after its 1926 premiere in Milan.

 After an hour of the usual series of long-winded speeches by everyone from il magnico Rettore of the Stanieri to the Perugia chief of police, the concert began.   I’ve posted a few videos: two of the chorus: “Va pensiero, https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5uyDBSlijU  the chorus of the Hebrew slaves from Verdi’s opera, Nabuco, and another number from China called the “Bed of Chrysanthemum flowers.” https://youtu.be/ZKBbnuJWUM0 The third, by a remarkable pair of students, is an American pop song “Perfect”  by  the“boy  band” One Direction.  https://youtu.be/7HiguvSvhJc There were several other knock-out numbers, particularly “Non piu andrai, Farfallone”  from Rossini’s Barber of Seville sung by student Geng Zihao in a booming baritone voice.  I couldn’t get a video, oto.

Geng Zihao

The evening was unlike anything I’d ever seen.  I gave “Bravos” to some of the students after the show and  now I enjoy their courteous greetings when I see them around town.  Like so many of the foreign students at the Stranieri, I’ve come to love these kids, their openness, and passion for Iphones and learning!