A conversation and a performance by Francesco Lotoro
Two less-known topics in Jewish history are among the most keen interests of Francesco Lotoro, a versatile Italian classical pianist and musicologist from Puglia. After having studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Lotoro became a specialized piano player, studying with Kornél Zempléni, Viktor Merzhanov, Tamás Vásáryand Aldo Ciccolini. In 1995 he founded the Orchestra Musica Judaica, and started collecting music – sometimes of astounding quality -from Jews who had been interned in concentration camps by the Nazis, and that will be performed at the Italian Institute for the first time in the US. He created the CD encyclopedia KZ Musik (48 CD volumes) containing all of the music composed in concentration camps during World War II in Europe, North Africa and Asia. As a composer he has written the opera Misha e i Lupi and Golà, a Jewish suite for male singer and orchestra. He is completing the Dizionario della Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria. Lotoro converted to Judaism in 2004. Lotoro will introduce his performance talking about the monuments and historical heritage of Trani, easily with Oria, the most important Jewish community of Puglia, Italy, in the Middle Ages.