Francesco Lotoro's lecture at New York University

Next April 24, at 6.30 PM, at 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 (𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐚 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨̀) M° 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐨 will hold the conference "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲. "Sounds from Captivity. Music of Italian Military Prisoners during the Second World War" (Sounds from Captivity. Music of Italian Military Prisoners during the Second World War). For the occasion, the composition "Elegia in morte di Vincenzo Romeo" by Arturo Coppola (1913-1998) will be performed: Francesco Lotoro (piano), Samuel Decaprio (cello). To participate, you must register at the following link: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/9xjja9v

The conference will explore the musical and artistic production of Italian World War II military prisoners held in Germany, Russia, and Western Allied camps between 1940 and 1947. Lotoro will speak for the first time about a surprisingly rich artistic production that, according to his research, involved more than 100,000 prisoners, thus underscoring the crucial role that music played in the traumatic experience of World War II military internment.

The lecture will include the first live American performance of Arturo Coppola's (1913-1998) "Elegia in morte di Vincenzo Romeo," a duo for piano and cello that Coppola composed in 1944 while interned in the German Stalag XA at Sandboster in memory of Lieutenant Vincenzo Romeo who was brutally murdered in that camp.

This event is part of a series on "Memory, Recollections, and Commemoration of Italian Prisoners of World War II," organized by Elena Bellina (New York University) and Giorgia Alù (University of Sydney), and co-sponsored by NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, the University of Sydney, the John D. Calandra Institute for Italian American Studies (CUNY), and the Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA). These events aim to explore how Italian prisoners of war of World War II recounted their long experiences of captivity, as well as how these narratives were collected and memorialized in Italy, the Americas, Australia, Asia, and Africa.

The dates of these events are particularly significant because they will take place shortly before April 25 in New York and Europe and on April 25 in Australia, a particularly significant date in Italy and Australia in relation to the end of World War II. In Italy, April 25, Liberation Day, commemorates the victory of the Italian Resistance Movement over Nazism. In Australia and New Zealand, April 25, or ANZAC Day, is a national day of remembrance commemorating all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars and peacekeeping operations, with particular reference to the First and Second World Wars.