The great tradition of Italian opera, with all its charm and elegance, returns to Kenya for a series of concerts celebrating this precious art form made in Italy. Thanks to Vinyasa, tenors Claudio Mattioli and Massimo Barbolini will be touring the Kenyan coast from Sunday.

Opera is a total art form: it combines the human voice, poetry, music, and staging in a unique experience that speaks directly to the heart. Born in Italy at the end of the 16th century as an experiment with “recitar cantando” (singing recitation), it soon acquired a complete form thanks to composers such as Monteverdi, Rossini, Verdi, and Puccini.

As highlighted by UNESCO in 2023 – the year in which the ‘Practice of Opera Singing in Italy’ was finally included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – Italian opera singing is a physiologically controlled way of singing that enhances the power of the voice in acoustic spaces such as auditoriums, amphitheatres, arenas and churches.

The link between Italian and melodrama is therefore unbreakable. According to the Accademia della Crusca, Italian “has been considered the musical language par excellence, the one most suited to music” because it has predominant vowels, open syllables, and flexible meter: ideal characteristics for opera librettos. Every word, every sung phrase sounds like a musical verse: from Va, pensiero to Nessun dorma, from La Traviata to La Bohème, singing becomes one with the text.

The combination of Italian food and opera is a fascinating union that celebrates two pillars of Italian culture: gastronomy and music. Both arts engage the senses, evoke emotions, and tell stories. This is why the dynamic Vinyasa, distributor of major Italian food brands in Malindi, sponsors annual musical events in Kenya with the participation of a duo of internationally renowned artists.

Bass/baritone Claudio Mattioli, from Modena, is a renowned Italian musician and composer. Trained as a pianist, he is a composer of musicals and opera, as well as the founder of the Italian group Gruppo Amarcord. With 27 leading roles performed worldwide, his performances have earned him widespread acclaim and appreciation over the last 20 years. An opera singer for Rossini, Donizetti, and Mozart, he has performed 27 leading roles in theaters around the world.

The tenor Massimiliano Barbolini, from Modena, perfected his studies with Luciano Pavarotti. He made his debut in November 1998 in G. Rossini's Il Signor Bruschino and subsequently performed the other four farces under the direction of Maestro Claudio Desideri in important theaters such as the Opéra Comique in Paris, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Teatro Ariosto in Reggio Emilia. In May 2000, he made his debut in W. A. Mozart's “Così fan tutte” and embarked on a brilliant career that has seen him sing in all the great theaters of the world, especially in the USA, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia.

This week, the two artists will perform in the best restaurants in Malindi, and on Monday, August 4, for the first time at the Hosteria Romana in Watamu and on Thursday, August 7, for the first time at the Cafesserie in Mombasa.