Sophia Rossi

Alessandro Grandi (born in Venice in 1590), regarded by scholars as “the greatest motet composer of his time”, was a prominent figure of the new Venetian style in the first half of the seventeenth century. An extremely precocious talent, he was considered by his contemporaries equal to Claudio Monteverdi.

New York-Parigi, 1929. A bordo di un transatlantico che la riporta verso l'Europa, Sophia, giovane e talentuosa chimica, ripensa alla catena di eventi che ha fatto crollare le sue illusioni: l'inatteso rifiuto di Darren, l'uomo che amava, e la perdita del lavoro dei sogni nell'azienda cosmetica di Helena Rubinstein, che ha deciso di cedere l'attività. Ma proprio quando tutto sembrava perduto, una misteriosa lettera ha risvegliato un barlume di speranza: il figlio che credeva morto potrebbe essere ancora in vita. Chi è l'ignoto mittente? E che fine ha fatto il bambino che ha perso il giorno del parto? Giunta a Parigi in cerca di conferme, Sophia si scontra inesorabilmente con un muro di silenzi e porte chiuse. Sperando di ottenere un posto nella filiale parigina, la ragazza decide di accettare la proposta di lavoro di Elizabeth Arden, che da tempo tentava di strappare alla rivale Helena Rubinstein la sua preziosa collaboratrice..

The years between the advent of rock and roll and the coming of the Beatles, 1955 to 1962, were some of the most glorious in the history of popular music, and, in America, major stars were created and everlasting songs written. It is fascinating to play 100 Italian Hits and hear what was happening in Italy at the same time. This collection contains 100 romantic singles, all of which made the Italian charts and many of which also became international successes, sometimes in the original Italian, but other times with English lyrics. The contents are likely to be very familiar to you.

Ever since the sixteenth century, Italy has been a major tourist destination with its wonderful countryside and beautiful cities like Rome, Venice and Florence. There is a great love of music throughout the nation and, despite the language barrier, Italy has made a significant and important contribution to both British and American popular music. Many of the major American stars - Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, Mario Lanza - came from immigrant families and several pop hits of the 1950s started life as Italian hits. This wonderful collection features 60 tracks by Italian girls singing pop, and even if you do not recognise the Italian titles, you will surely know many of the tunes.

Empire is the 2010 albm by Scott Colley. This was released by Italian label C.A.M. Jazz.