By Evelyn Cairns
Arias and duets by Giuseppe Verdi, along with favorite Neapolitan songs, will be featured Oct. 6 in Wyandotte at a Bellini Opera Theatre performance saluting 2013 as the Year of Italian Culture in the United States.
A benefit for the Downriver Council for the Arts, the concert is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the James R. DeSana Center for Arts & Culture, 81 Chestnut.
The vocalists will be Eva Evola and Elena Rep-nikova, sopranos; Lisa Agazzi, mezzo soprano; Car-los Seise, tenor; and Dino Valle, baritone. Neil Eisenstein, pianist, will accompany the singers.
Tickets, $20, include a wine and cheese after-glow with the performers.
The program will include selections from the Verdi operas “La Traviata,” “La Forza del Destino,” “Un Ballo in Maschera” and “Nabucco.” In addition, Agazzi and Valle will perform two selections form Rossini’s “Barber of Seville.”
Among the Neapolitan songs to be sung are “Ciribiribin,” “Santa Lucia” and “O Sole Mio.” The audience will be invited to join the singers in one of the latter.
Bellini, one of the most influential composers of the 19th century, developed with his contemporaries Donizetti and Rossini, the bel canto style of singing, which greatly influenced composers including Chopin, Schumann and Liszt.
The Bellini Opera Theatre was founded by Ro-solino Lo Duca of Lincoln Park. Valle, a Dearborn resident who hosts a program on classical radio station WCAR-AM 1090, is the theater’s artistic director.
A Bellini Theatre concert last fall at the DeSana Center was attended by approximately 200 people.
For additional information, tickets or reservations, call the DCA office at 734-720-0671 or go to www.downriverarts.com.
Scarecrow fest offers contests
A scarecrow contest with cash prizes again will be the highlight of the Trenton Scarecrow Festival, scheduled for Friday through Sunday in downtown Trenton along Jefferson Avenue.
The 12th annual event will include additional competitions, a carnival, an art show, a petting farm and food vendors. Proceeds are earmarked for charities and non-profit organizations.
Carnival wristbands will cost $15 on Friday and Sunday, and $17 on Saturday.
Friday events will include a Scarecrow Idol singing contest with Bill LeFevre as host. The We3andshe will perform during idol intermissions.
On Saturday, activities will include pumpkin-toss and pizza-eating contests, Scottish Highland games, a performance by the Trenton School of Dance and a Battle of the Bands.
Among attractions on Sunday will be a classic hearse display, a dog-costume competition, a tribute to the Blues Brothers by the Detroit Soulmen, and a performance by the Sarah Sherrard band.
Recipients of proceeds from the festival over the last 11 years have included animal rescue organizations, the Downriver Youth Performing Arts Center, Riverview Firefighters charities, Trenton Girl Scout troops and the Trenton Blades Hockey Mites.
The event is presented by a coalition of Trenton business owners. For additional information, go to www.scarecrowfestival.net.
Coming up . . .
Oct. 3 — Southgate-based Guidance Center fundraiser, “Grape Expectations for Kids,” wine-tasting event for the Kids-Talk Children’s Advocacy Center; 5:30 p.m. patron party; 6:30 wine tasting; at the Rattlesnake Club, 300 River Place Drive, Detroit; for additional information, go to www.guidance-center.org/events/wine
Oct. 4 — Opening reception for “The Things I See,” an art exhibit inspired by American artist, sculptor and print maker Ellsworth Kelly, one of the major practitioners of abstract art after World War II; presented by the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Downriver Council for the Arts; 6 to 8 p.m. at the James R. DeSana Center for Arts & Culture; 81 Chestnut, Wyandotte; no charge; the exhibit is slated for Oct. 3 through 16.
Oct. 10 — The Information Center of Taylor’s 38th Anniversary Gala Experience and Silent Auction; 6:15 p.m. at Crystal Gardens, 16703 Fort St., South-gate; tickets are $75, including dinner and dancing to the Sin Hielo Brazilian jazz trio; for reservations or more information, call 734-282-7171.