Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2011 - Episode 6: The origins of the ‘ndrangheta of Calabria: Italy’s most powerful mafia On 15 August 2007, six young men with origins in the Italian region of Calabria were ambushed and murdered in the German steel town of Duisburg. This was northern Europe’s St Valentine’s Day massacre, the worst ever mafia bloodbath outside Italy and the United States. Suddenly, journalists across the globe were struggling with what the New York Times called an ‘unpronounceable name’: ‘ndrangheta (en-drang-get-ah.) In the 1990s, the ‘ndrangheta placed itself in a leading position in the European wholesale cocaine market by dealing direct with South American producers. It is now thought to be the wealthiest and most powerful of Italy’s major criminal brotherhoods. But how, when, and why did it first emerge? Vintage Podcasts - Lunch Hour Lectures

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9/20/2023

A concert of music by Giulio Caccini, Francesca Caccini, Claudio Monteverdi, Marc'Antonio Pasqualini and Barbara Strozzi Sopranos: Christina Birchall-Sampson, Amy Brosius Theorbo/Spanish guitar: Richard MacKenzie Early violoncelli: Tabitha Tuckett UCL Presentations: Amy Brosius University of Birmingham, Lisa Sampson UCL One of the outstanding features of Italian music and theatre culture in the late 16th and 17th centuries was the rise of the female virtuosa, or skilled singer, actress and performer. In some cases virtuose became stars on the public or court stage, but they equally attracted intense criticism and bans. This event presents music by some of the early virtuose singers, poets and composers, and explores contexts, protagonists and musical features. It brings new research perspectives by focusing on private, intellectual circles like academies, which were characteristic of this period and the setting of often less documented, but experimental performances and voices

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10/11/2018