LONDON'S HIDDEN GEM. Dr Xavier Bray is the Director of the Wallace Collection, an internationally outstanding museum in central London which contains unsurpassed masterpieces of paintings, sculpture, furniture, arms and armour and porcelain.Dr Bray, you are a renowned...
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THE ARTISTS' HOTEL IN ROME. I meet with Caterina Valente at the Hotel Locarno, a five-star hotel in the historic centre of Rome. She is the owner and the soul of this hotel, which has a very strong bond with the world of art and culture; over the years it has offered...
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REINVENTING LONDON'S LEGENDARY LUXURY HOSPITALITY. International entrepreneur Paddy McKillen has a passion for the hospitality business and property development. In 2004 he was part of a group that bought four of London’s 5 star hotels: Claridge’s, The Berkeley, The...
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AN ENDLESS SEARCH FOR BEAUTY. Axel Vervoordt is a Belgian designer, collector and curator with a global clientele. He has a deep respect for everything that is authentic. His two sons head five distinctive family businesses: Boris leads arts and antiques, the...
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SHAPING HIS UNIVERSITY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF TOMORROW’S WORLD. Joseph Klafter has been the President of Tel Aviv University (TAU) since 2009, and he is also the Chair of the Committee of University Heads in Israel. He is a professor of chemical physics and served as...
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FOLLOWING THE GYPSY FAERIE QUEENE. My interview with Marianne took place in her flat on the Boulevard du Montparnasse in Paris on a lovely autumn day. Can you tell me something about your new record, Negative Capability? I always write about what’s going at the time,...
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THE VERTIGO OF FREEDOM. The multi-cultural artist Arielle Dombasle was born in America and raised in Mexico. Arielle moves easily between comedy, directing, acting and singing, her true passion. Most of her acting work has been in French, while her albums are...
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Loyd Grossman is chairman of The Royal Parks of London. The Royal Parks charity supports and manages London’s eight Royal parks, and other important open spaces. Loyd has a long association with the arts and heritage sectors, and is also known for his work on...
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SHARING EXCEPTIONAL MOMENTS. Thierry Boutemy is a florist based in Brussels, whose ingenious, innocent and precise work derives from a spontaneous creativity inspired by his childhood. Thierry Boutemy is known for the naturalistic craft and beauty of his seasonal...
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Dame Vivien Duffield continues the philanthropic legacy of her father Sir Charles Clore, who was one of Britain’s most successful post-war businessmen. After Sir Charles’ death in 1979, Dame Vivien assumed the Chairmanship of the Clore Foundations in the UK and in...
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Bill Sherman is the new Director of the Warburg Institute. Displaced from Hamburg to London in the 1930s under the pressure of Nazism, the Warburg is a gift to London in perpetuity. In 1944 it became part of the University of London, and since 1994 the Warburg has...
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We go to see Achim Borchardt-Hume at Tate Modern where he is the Director of Exhibitions and Programmes. On this date in 1881, 25th October, Pablo Picasso was born. Achim Borchardt-Hume is the curator of Tate Modern’s forthcoming EY EXHIBITION: PICASSO 1932 - LOVE,...
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You are the curator of the show “Picasso. Between Cubism and Classicism: 1915-1925” that will open in Rome on September 20th at the Scuderie del Quirinale and at Palazzo Barberini. What is so special about this exhibition? Just to give you some...
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The producer Jean Doumanian is the founder of Jean Doumanian Productions, an Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated, and Tony Award winning, film, television and theatrical production company. You recently produced the film “Una”. The premiere will be in London in...
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Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni is the author of Sam Spiegel, Tino Zervudachi, Loulou de la Falaise, Monsieur Dior, BiYan and Vogue on Yves Saint Laurent. Fraser-Cavassoni was the European Editor for Harper’s Bazaar from 1999-2004 after serving as a staff member and...
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We have scrambled eggs with the conductor Gianandrea Noseda in the Lincoln Center restaurant. Noseda is a tall man with an athletic look and he has very polite manners. Live from the Met. “I am in New York to conduct the new production of Prince Igor by Borodin and I...
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Anita Pallenberg is an actress, model, and fashion designer. Born in Italy in 1944 she was the partner of the Rolling Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones and then the partner of Keith Richards. Anita, you have worked in the worlds of cinema, music and fashion. Would you...
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Jon Taplin wrote the book Move Fast and Break Things: How Google, Facebook and Amazon Have Cornered Culture and What It Means For All Of Us. The Guardian newspaper review described the book’s central argument as being that “the titans of the digital age frequently...
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Combatting stress, the global epidemic of the 21st Century. Dr. Amit Sood was born and raised in Bhopal, India. He is a Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, and he is committed to decreasing suffering and increasing happiness. Dr. Sood is the author of The Mayo...
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“...a rare thing, a true renaissance man.” Anna Wintour, Vogue Italia Patrick Kinmonth is an Anglo-Irish opera director and designer, filmmaker, writer, painter, interior designer, art editor, creative director and exhibition curator. He is widely known for his many...
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"Dantino, what did you dream last night?" Dante Ferretti is an Italian production designer, art director and costume designer. Throughout his career he has worked with many great directors, both American and Italian, including Pier Paolo Pasolini, Federico Fellini,...
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The Improbability of Love You are quite eclectic and your work has ranged from documentary films, to banking, to philanthropy, to biography, and now to a novel. Why do you think you have many different facets? I have that kind of restless, inquisitive mind. It’s...
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The Italian Cultural Institute of New York is an office of the Italian government, dedicated to the promotion of Italian language and culture in the United States through the organisation of cultural events. You have now been Director of the Italian Cultural Institute...
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The Englishman from Paris. A rising star. Benjamin Clementine is a Mercury Prize-winning pianist, poet, singer and songwriter. He was recently featured on the cover of T, The New York Times Style Magazine. Benjamin, when did you discover that you were a poet and a...
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Sir Norman Rosenthal is an independent curator and art historian. How long have you been living in London’s Soho for? First I lived in St. James’s, and then I moved here in 1989 when I got married. Did you know Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud? They came to the Colony...
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Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in London. Since July you are the new Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in London. How come you made this role your choice when you are a well-known and active photographer? Photography was and is something too...
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Nicky Haslam is founder of the London based interior design firm NH Design. A Lucky Life How would you describe yourself? I suppose I am stupidly fearless about doing things. I don’t panic if somebody says to me, “Do you sing?” I wasn’t panicked about going on stage....
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Your tour started in the gardens of the Royal Palace in Turin. How was this for you? I am doing some gala evenings along with Alessandra Ferri with pas de deux selections from classic and modern pieces. This allows the audience to better see the talents of the lead...
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We are at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, in the Music Director Sir Antonio "Tony" Pappano’s office. There is a desk, a couch and many photographs of stage and operas, and on the upper wall four photographs of Puccini. Maestro, is Puccini your favourite...
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I decided to publish again a short interview with Luciano Pavarotti, because many readers, especially the ones who enjoyed my recent interview with Maestro Gianandrea Noseda, will see that Pavarotti was a man of very clear ideas. Like all Italians, he was an Italian...
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Money Must Stay in the Family
The plot of Money Must Stay in the Family, unfolds around the family matriarch’s last will and traces the story of an upper class Jewish family from Turin, the fictional Ottolenghis. The multigenerational saga begins with the flight from Mussolini’s Racial Laws of 1938 and continues with the arrival in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and the dispersion from New York to Rome, Paris, Tuscany, South America, and Jerusalem.
// PUBLICATIONS
