NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Luciano Lamonarca, an acclaimed Italian Tenor, will perform at the closing of the United Nations Academic Impact global health event at the United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium on Tuesday, November 18, 2014
The event will be broadcast on UN Web TV from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) is a United Nations initiative to align institutions of higher education, scholarship and research with the United Nations and with each other. It was formally launched in 2010 by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at UN Headquarters in New York Today, it counts about 100 academic institutions in more than 110 countries around the world.
Tenor Lamonarca, born and raised in Puglia, Italy, will perform the world famous Italian song “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu”, or better known as “Volare”, composed and performed by the famous singer Domenico Modugno, also from Puglia.
“Volare” is still considered today one of the most recognizable songs in the world. It was the winner of the the 8th San Remo Music Festival, and it was chosen as the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958. It spent five non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in August and September 1958 and was Billboard’s number-one single for the year. Modugno’s recording subsequently became the first Grammy winner for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1958. The song was so popular that it was recorded by a wide range of very famous singer, including Dean Martin, Al Martino, Jerry Vale, David Bowie, Cliff Richard, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Dalida, Gipsy Kings, Deana Martin and Barry White.
“I am very grateful to the United States of America for giving me so many opportunities,” said Lamonarca. “But as an Italian artist, I cannot be more proud to represent Italy, my country of origin, and to sing this wonderful song at the United Nations, the most prestigious international stage, on this wonderful occasion.”
Lamonarca has performed in many countries around the world, with preponderance in the United States and Europe, and under the patronage of the highest national and international institutions, as The United Nations, The European Union, The Presidency of the Italian Republic and The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Particularly important were his concerts at the United Nations General Assembly, at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, at the Madison Square Garden, at the prestigious Palais Liechtenstein Museum, in Vienna and at the Teatro Politeama in Palermo. In March 2009 he released his first album entitled “Mamma”, and in January 2012, he released his new Album “The Impossible Dream”, an outstanding compilation of Italian operatic arias and American pop-operatic hits, made in partnership with The New York Choral Society.
In October of the same year, he realized, with the approval by the famous stage director Giancarlo Del Monaco, the online music project “Ricordando Mario Del Monaco”, as a tribute to the legendary Tenor Mario Del Monaco, on the thirtieth anniversary of his death. Luciano has given interviews on numerous television networks such as Rai Uno, Rai Tre, Rai International, Tele Norba and TGS. Articles about him were published in Daily News, New York Post, The ItalianTimes, The Italian Tribune, The Italia Magazine (in Russian), La Repubblica, America Oggi, Il Quotidiano.Net, Il Corriere del Mezzogiorno, La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno and Il Giornale di Sicilia.
Luciano Lamonarca received a Proclamation for artistic merit from the Westchester County Executive (NY), Hon. Robert Astorino, on October 7, 2013, and from the New York State Comptroller, Hon. Thomas DiNapoli, on October 24, 2013.