News Release

For Immediate Release October 16, 2006

Contact: Susan McGourty

Mission San Miguel

Ph: (805) 467-2131

Fx: (805) 467-2141

Palermo Italy’s Opera Company Comes to Aid of Mission San Miguel

Mission San Miguel, San Miguel, CA. – For one afternoon only, October 22^nd at

2 p.m., Ensemble Teatro Massimo di Palermo, comes to Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in San Luis Obispo, California for a gala performance of contemporary Italian Classical music to benefit Mission San Miguel’s Restoration. The teatro Massimo is Sicily’s most famous opera house –and the second largest in Europe. This Ensemble is composed of some of the first instruments of the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, and will feature guest Californians, Soprano Teressa Byrne and Tenor Peter Giradot.

The Massimo has over 125 years of history of presenting outstanding performances and is considered to be one of the top four of Europe. This is a rare opportunity for the Central Coast to hear Classical Italian music at its best!

The Massimo Opera House has an interesting connection to the United States.—In fact, it is due to the kindness shown by the U.S.Army to Palermo in 1943 that this Opera House is saying “thank you” with this five- city U.S. tour.

In 1943, when the German Army retreated from Palermo, General Patton met with the mayor of the city and asked what he could do to help restore the city. General Eisenhower had recommended rebuilding hospitals, schools, civic buildings, roads and port facilities. The mayor answered, “General, we can do all those things with our city employees and volunteers, but all of our city engineers are with the Italian Army up in Northern Italy. We need help from your engineers to restore our beloved opera house.”

General Patton returned to headquarters, met with a young artillery captain, Captain Robert Coffin and said, “Coffin, I just left the mayor, he was in tears, he needs help in restoring the Opera House. He wants to open with Puccini’s La Boheme on Christmas Eve. Call him and see what you can do.”

The Army engineers with Captain Coffin discovered the Opera House covered with sandbags, inside from the floor to the ceiling and outside from foundation to roof top to protect it from the concussions caused from the bombing of the city. Coffin’s crew designed some simple wooden chutes that would go from the top of the Opera House to the floor. The sand was then loaded onto trucks and hauled to repair the roads damaged by the Germans. Within weeks, using local volunteers, all the sand was removed, many roads were repaired and the rebuilding of the Opera House was underway.

To get the Opera House ready for a Christmas Eve performance was a major undertaking! Ushers, musicians, artists, singers, stagehands and publicity people needed to be in place, in order to meet the deadline. Captain Coffin, not fluent in Italian, needed an interpreter. He went to the Italian prisoner of War Enclosure to recruit English speaking Italian POW’s.

The Opera House restoration was completed by Christmas Eve. The U.S. Special Services officer provided five professional musicians from the Seventh Army Band. The rest of the orchestra was made up of local women, youngsters, and old men from the villages. The City of Palermo had taken care of pre-event publicity, printing the programs and ticket sales. The Opera House was on schedule.

With a full house, Mayor Lucia and General Patton in the King’s Box, and hundreds of people outside the Opera House listening on loudspeakers, the people of Palermo received their beloved Opera House back again, and the city came back to life with the production of La Boheme on Christmas Eve of 1943.

This is a rare opportunity for the Central Coast to hear Classical Italian music at its best by such famous composers as Verdi, Puccini, Donizzetti, Bellini, Ranzato, Arditi and Di Chiara, with selections from La Boheme, Don Paszuale, Rigoletto, Gianni Schicchi, La Sonnambula and more.

Tickets are $35.00 and $50. Students and Military are $20.00. For an additional $35.00, there will be a reception to meet the performers and enjoy wine pourings and hor d’ourves. For tickets and more information, please call: 800 305-9913 or visit www.sunsetcenter.org Be sure to mention that you want the concert at San Luis Obispo.

It is fitting that a restored Italian Opera House that was restored with the help of the California’s native son General George S. Patton, now comes to California to aid the damaged Mission San Miguel Restoration.

Be a part of it and enjoy some of the Italy’s best music!