The Volterra-Detroit Foundation’s partnership with the Italian-American community in Michigan has resulted in an extraordinary event that nearly filled the Fox Theater on Oct. 16. It was a concert of the IL VOLO, the popular trio of young Italian tenors. Their performance was followed by an encore dinner to benefit the Foundation, together with two other outstanding charities.

Anthony Rugiero with Il Volo

“It was a great pleasure to see the great Detroit stage buzz with excitement before and after the show,” said Associate Professor Wladek Fuchs, who is the president of the Volterra-Detroit Foundation. “A huge event for the Italian-American community, it was attended equally by the senior leaders and the fans from younger generation.  The repertoire of the Il Volo is a mixture of the traditional Italian songs, with the biggest one of all, the “O Sole Mio”, and some new compositions; all of them performed with incredible skill and energy.”

Wladek Fuchs, associate professor of Architecture and president of the Volterra-Detroit Foundation, spoke at the dinner.

The benefit banquet took place at the Detroit Opera House and gathered over 230 people. Major sponsors of the dinner included Fiat USA, Celani Family Vineyards, Soave Enterprises in Detroit, Antonio’s Cucina Italiana, Roman Village in Dearborn, and Rugiero Promise Foundation. Fiat hosted also the pre-reception called Cafe Cinquecento. The Volterra-Detroit Foundation was one of the three charities benefiting from the event; the other two were the Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance (ILICA), and the Boy’s Towns of Italy.

“Altogether, it was a fantastic evening. And, most importantly, it showed a strong interest and support for our project from the Italian-American community,” said Fuchs.