Author Event

Healing Journeys With The Black Madonna
Concert and Book Launch

Click here for tickets!

Tuesday, March 19, 2019
7:00 pm
Tickets: $ 25.00

Singer, percussionist, author, and teacher Alessandra Belloni is pleased to launch her new book Healing Journeys With The Black Madonna with a concert performed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Building on her years of study and performance, Belloni’s book opens a portal into the mysterious Black Madonna and the figure’s cultural significance in Southern Italy, France, Spain, and Brazil. The book grew out of over 3 decade of academic research and fieldwork, which included writing and performing the opera, The Voyage of the Black Madonna, in 1991.

The concert will feature music from the CD accompanying the book, including healing chants, ritual drumming, and trance dance ceremonies that draw upon the legacy of the Black Madonna.  It will include the enchanting journey of discovery of the seven Black Madonnas, following the ancient Neapolitan legend, known as the "Seven Sisters" in Southern Italy. This trip into traditional legends, miracles and history, transports audiences to a time and place where an unbroken and ancient tradition continues today.

This program will take place as part of the The Value of Sanctuary: Building a House Without Walls, the latest in a series of Cathedral-wide initiatives focused on the intersections between spirituality, contemporary social issues, and human rights and dignity.With this exhibition, the Cathedral’s sacred space will be host to numerous perspectives on another essential element of human life: the right to shelter, and beyond that, an exploration of what shelter and sanctuary mean in a world divided by sectarian discord, cultural migration, and ongoing refugee crises.

Alessandra Belloni and her performing troupe, i Giullari di Piazza, were appointed as Artist in Residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the 1980s.

Artists & Musicians:

ALESSANDRA BELLONI - lead vocal, mezzo-soprano, southern Italian percussion

STEVE GORN - master of bansuri flutes, also on Saxophone and clarinet,

JOE DENINZON - violinist and arranger

WILSON MONTUORI - classical and acoustic guitar

GIUSEPPE DE FALCO - Neapolitan singer

MARA GERETY - violin & vocals

KEVIN NATHANIEL – vocals, mbira checkere

Venue:
The Cathedral of St. John The Divine
1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street
N.Y., NY 10021