CalPhil Presents “Viva Italia!”

Music lovers will cheer Viva Italia! At 8 p.m. on March 24 and 25 when Maestro Victor Vener and the California Philharmonic present 400 years of Italian music for the fourth “Cal Phil at the Ambassador” concert at the historic Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena.

Audience members will be transported from ancient Rome to glamorous Las Vegas by such selections as Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome,” Vivaldi’s “Guitar Concertos in D and C,” melodies from the soundtrack of “Cinema Paradiso,” a medley of hits made famous by Frank Sinatra, the rousing “Funiculì, Funiculà” and the haunting theme from “The Godfather.”

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) wrote about 350 concerti for solo instruments with string accompaniment. His “Guitar Concertos in D and C” show origins in his “Lute Concerto in D, RV 93 and Mandolin Concerto in C, RV 425.

Performing the “Guitar Concertos in D and C” is guest artist Jack Sanders, who will play the work on a Baroque guitar he crafted. Sanders’ performances have included the Sitka Summer Music Festival, Kapalua Music Festival of Hawaii, Arrowhead Bach Festival, and solo appearances with numerous orchestras. Sanders builds classical and flamenco guitars, as well as historic reproductions of 19th century instruments. A Pomona College faculty member since 1980, he has taught guitar-building courses at California Institute of the Arts and Pomona College.

Naples has inspired thousands of tunes, but the jaunty “Funiculì, Funiculà” (along with “O Sole Mio”) continues as the most popular of these Neapolitan songs. Written by composer Luigi Denza (1846-1922) and journalist Peppino Turco, the song celebrates the inauguration of the first funicular railway up Mount Vesuvius in 1880.

Nino Rota (1911-1979) began writing film music in the early 1940s, scoring more than 150 films in his career, including 16 Federico Fellini films and Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet.” His melancholy Sicilian theme for Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” remains his most memorable melody and the film score won Rota the Academy Award in 1972.

The Voice, Ol’ Blue Eyes, Chairman of the Board, Entertainer of the Century ? they were all nicknames for Frank Sinatra. His signature “My Way” was originally co-written by another pop singer of Italian heritage, Claude François. Released in 1967 as “Comme d’habitude,” it became a huge French hit before Paul Anka adapted it into English and Sinatra sang it in 1968. Martin Scorsese’s “New York, New York” was a major box-office flop, but its title song written by John Kander and Fred Ebb and recorded by Sinatra in 1979, proved one of Francis Albert’s most enduring hits.

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) is primarily known for his three large orchestral tone poems celebrating Rome. The “Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma)”, written in 1924, evokes four arboreal landscapes in the metropolis.

Italy’s premier living film composer, Ennio Morricone (b. 1928) scored his first big international hit with his music for Sergio Leone’s “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” (1965). Among his most popular scores are “Days of Heaven” (1978), “The Mission” (1986), “The Untouchables” (1987) and his music for a coming-of-age tale set in a small Sicilian town, “Cinema Paradiso” (1988).

“CalPhil at the ambassador” is presented by the Zeilstra Foundation at the Historic Ambassador Auditorium, 131 South St. John Ave., Pasadena. For tickets, call (626) 300-8200, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mon. through Fri. or visit www.calphil.org.