With San Jose's latest Little Italy Museum and Cultural Center now open to the general public, people at Sunday's Little Italy Festival had their first probability to explore the restored home on West St. John Street.
Anyone who toured the old Beltramo House during its groundbreaking ceremony in 2020 can attest that architect Sal Caruso — and a team of builders — pulled off a miracle by bringing the early Twentieth-century home back to life woke up. The spaces have been converted into galleries with exhibits that pay tribute to the Santa Clara Valley's agricultural past and community leaders similar to Bank of America founder AP Giannini, in addition to showcasing the house regions of Italian immigrants who got here to the valley, similar to Sicily and Venice .
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An entire wall is devoted to a set of Venetian Carnival masks, and Joshua DeVincenzi Melander, executive director of Little Italy San Jose, made the smart move so as to add to the atmosphere by covering the windows within the Italy Room with protective film featuring images from the world has covered.
Of course, as in any good Italian home, the kitchen is the centerpiece, where cooking classes and demonstrations happen. (For last Friday's grand opening dinner and concert, Rollati and Eataly used the kitchen for dinner and appetizers.) The liveliest spot in the home, nonetheless, is the basement, home to the Italian Cellar speakeasy bar Little Italy members and their guests, open Wednesday through Sunday. Further information might be found at www.littleitalysj.com.
IMPRESSIVE IMPORTS: One of the large draws at Sunday's Little Italy Festival — besides the shade — was the “Supercars of Italy” exhibit, featuring greater than 100 Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Italian motorcycles at Guadalupe River Park. “Every driveway in Los Gatos must be empty today,” one passerby remarked.
SYMPHONY SUCCESS: Jon Nakamatsu, George Gershwin and air-con proved to be a winning combination for San Jose Symphony on the weekend. Acting artistic director Robert Massey said the “Jon Nakamatsu and the Jazz Age” program was the biggest opening weekend within the symphony’s 23-year history. It was so big that ushers within the packed California Theater on Sunday ran out of programs at hand out to patrons.
What a vigorous atmosphere, with a jazz band and dancers in flapper dresses entertaining the audience within the lobby before the concert. But Nakamatsu also had lots to do with it. The San Jose native and Van Cliburn Prize-winning pianist performed Aaron Copland's “Piano Concerto” and Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue” with the orchestra led by conductor Elinor Rufeizen. Observers noted that Nakamatsu played the complicated Gershwin piece, which celebrates its one centesimal anniversary this yr, without music in front of him.
These pieces were joined by Gershwin's “An American in Paris” and Maurice Ravel's “Bolero” for a program consisting entirely of music from the Nineteen Twenties. Next, Symphony San Jose will welcome you back Conductor Peter Jaffe for his “Symphonic Spooktacular” on October twenty sixth and twenty seventh with classical, atmospheric music that the audience will definitely know from movies and stages (including Alfred Hitchcock's “Psycho” and Andrew Lloyd Webber's “The Phantom of the Opera”).
SPECIAL DELIVERY: Sculptor Ken Matsumoto, who owns the Art Object Gallery in Japantown, knew for months that he would receive the City of San Jose's Cornerstone of the Arts Award, presented last Thursday on the Hammer Theater Center.
Matsumoto – who was honored alongside the late Rick Holden; Scott and Shannon Guggenheim of 3Below Theaters and muralist Paul J. Gonzalez – have a protracted history with the award itself, having designed a singular stone sculpture for every award presented for the reason that program began in 2013. That meant Matsumoto would receive an award of his own making, which is pretty cool (but not unprecedented: Cedric Gibbons, who designed the Oscar statuette, won 11 Oscars as art director).
But as Art Commission Chairman Shelby Takeda explained at Thursday's ceremony, the Art Commission felt Matsumoto should receive one other unique award, so it surprised him with a second award, a sculpture called “The Last Stone.” which was created by Santa Clara artist Terry Kreiter. Works have been shown at Matsumoto's gallery and other local venues similar to Works/San Jose.
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