FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact:   Elissa Ruffino (NIAF) 202/939-3106 or elissa@niaf.org

** National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) Participates as a Sponsor **

(WASHINGTON, DC — June 9, 2003), The famed international festival, “Festival dei Due Mondi” (Festival of Two Worlds), will celebrate its 46^th anniversary this summer beginning June 27 through July 13 in Spoleto, Italy in the region of Umbria. Festival founder, Maestro Gian Carlo Menotti, who will be 92 years old in July, will direct one of Richard Wagner’s best-known operas “Lohengrin,” at the festival. NIAF is proud to be a sponsor of the international event.

Created in 1958 by Maestro Menotti, “Festival dei Due Mondi” allows for a cultural exchange between Italians, Americans and Europeans. Performances in drama, opera, ballet and film are all featured. Maestro Menotti is joined by his son, Francis Menotti, who is president and artistic director of the event.

The festival opens on Friday, June 27 at the Teatro Nuovo with a symphonic concert by the Juilliard Orchestra from New York. The Juilliard Orchestra makes its European debut at the festival and serves as the permanent orchestra throughout the event. The festival continues its tradition of noontime concerts at the Caio Melisso Theater, where talented stars like Jessye Norman and Yo Yo Ma have been discovered and later became well known stars. This year “Festival dei Due Mondi” also dedicates a part of its cinema presentation to Grace Kelly, one of the silver screen’s most loved figures, with a selection of her American films of the 1950s.

Tickets to the festival can be purchased on-line at www.charta.it or www.amitonline.it . For more information about the festival, visit www.spoletofestival.it