Upon the publication of the book Lionello Perera: An Italian Banker and Patron in New York (Vernon Press 2022) La Fenice hosts a conversation to rediscover the remarkable life of Lionello and Carolyn Perera, Venetian patrons in New York in the first half of the 20th century. In the 1930s the sitting room in their Upper East Side home became the center of the Manhattan music elite, hosting celebrities of the Metropolitan Opera, as well as premieres of Bela Bartók and Ildebrando Pizzetti. Marking the Venetian character of its landlords, the room was filled with a refined collection of Pietro Longhi genre scenes. Lionello Perera was born in Venice in 1871, where he graduated at Ca’ Foscari and then emigrated to the States. Besides his entrepreneurial success that led him to be the first Vice President of Bank of America, he gave generously to philanthropic and artistic activities with his wife Carolyn Allen, who like him was of Jewish origins.
Although avoiding the limelight, they were among New York’s mayor music patrons, as well as trusted friends of Arturo Toscanini, mentors to Giancarlo Menotti and supporters of Fiorello La Guardia. Together with playwright Chiara Clini and Jewish Studies scholar Gabriele Mancuso, hosted by the book author Diego Mantoan, the conversation will retrace the life and deeds of the Pereras, unveiling the discretion and passion that led them to connect with celebrities of the cultural and musical world in the USA. The event is enriched by exclusive materials from the Perera Archive, readings from the Perera-Toscanini correspondence and audios from Toscanini e l’amico di New York (2017) produced for “Il Teatro di Radio3”, on Rai Radio3, performed by Giulia Alberti (soprano), Ilaria Torresan (piano) and Chiara Clini (narrator).
