La Festa – Food & Wine

Entertainers

Don’t miss Michelle’s powerhouse performance at Cairns Italian Festival where she will feature live on stage with Siesta Cartel.

Michelle’s powerful and captivating voice has featured on numerous Australian TV Shows including Dancing With The Stars, The Voice, AFL Grand Final, Hey Hey It’s Saturday and numerous others. Michelle has performed alongside world class artists including Ray Charles, Hugh Jackman, Simply Red, Billy Ocean, Kylie Minogue, John Farnham, Olivia Newton, Tina Arena and many more. A career highlight was a feature performance at The World Tourism Awards in Abu Dhabi for guests including US President Bill Clinton.

Michelle’s album ‘Should I Be’ gained her both local and international recognition, and features Michelle’s own compositions along with classic songs recorded in Italian, French & Spanish, available on all streaming platforms.

After Sell Out Shows, pre COVID, we are back and can’t wait to be a part of the 1st ever Cairns Italian Festival.

‘Made in Italy’ The Show is a new sleek Production that will take you down memory lane. This Show will have you reminiscing, taking you as far back as the 50’s as we celebrate timeless Italian music from each decade.

Crossing over generations, Made in Italy The Show appeals to all ages as we pay tribute to artists that include Dean Martin, Jimmy Fontana, Umberto Tozzi, Pupo, Ricchie e Poveri and Marcella Bella.

This professional accomplished 7-piece line up will not disappoint. Featuring Tony Mazell, Marianna Gallifuoco and Sara Mazell on vocals, it doesn’t get much better than this.

‘Made in Italy The Show’ is the ultimate Celebration of Italian Music. Not to be missed!

Youssef comes from a multicultural family of restaurateurs; An Italian mother and a French Tunisian father led Youssef to explore food and ethnic cuisine from all around the world.

Youssef approached the kitchen for the very first time when he was only a young teenager. His family owned a restaurant in Tuscany, in the beautiful Argentario peninsula where he used to spend his summer holidays. After finishing school, Youssef decided to start his first working experience at his uncle’s restaurant “La Casetta”, in Perugia.

After a few months, he realized his job would develop into something serious. Youssef loved working in the restaurant kitchen and never felt tired of cooking.

After this first experience at his uncles’ restaurant, he had the occasion to approach some real master of Neapolitan pizza. And this is when his passion for the pizza industry began. After just a short period of time, Youssef realized he had the right skills to train together with the Italian National Team of Pizzaioli, at that time guided by Danilo Pagano. Youssef competed in several national and international contests around Italy, winning regional, national and international prizes; He obtained the first place for FreeStyle pizza and a bronze medal for Gourmet pizza at the International Pizza Championship in Rimini in 2013.

He is also a member of the Acrobatic Pizza Italian Team even if he always likes to remember that acrobatic pizza is something playful that has nothing to do with the art of making pizza and all the elaborate techniques involved in dough making.

After having traveled all around Europe together with the Italian National Team, he decided to take a new challenge by moving to Australia. 4 years ago, Youssef took a chance and reached Brisbane when at that time, he could barely speak English. In the beginning, his experience in Australia was a sort of adventure and did not have high expectations. He then decided to stay in Australia when some good work opportunities gave him the chance to grow professionally and share his skills with the Australian pizza industry.

In 1995 he was awarded the MO AWARD for Best Variety Instrumentalist (first solo Accordionist to win this award). He was awarded the Australian Club Entertainment Award for Instrumental Act Of The Year in 1998,2004 and 2007. In July 2008 Ross was asked to feature on accordion with a 65-piece orchestra at Sydney’s State Theatre to premier the Godfather Symphony.

Ross Maio’s birthplace is the beautiful island of Sicily. At the age of 5 his family migrated to Australia (Innisfail.QLD), then by age 10 he commenced accordion studies. As a teenager, already armed with a wide repertoire, Ross was playing regularly at a popular Sydney restaurant. His numerous television appearances range from children’s shows through to Channel 9 Midday Shows, Mornings With Kerri-Anne and SBS International Cabaret.

His career has kept him constantly on the move, captivating audiences not only in the Australian club circuit, but also in leading hotels in Hong Kong, Singapore, The United Arab Emirates, New Caledonia, and Mauritius. He has worked on Cunard Line’s QE2, P&O Cruises, Sagafjord, Princess Cruises in the Mediterranean, Sagarose, Crown Odyssey, Holland America Cruise Line and the Japanese Cruise Ship Asuka.

Ross has performed for the Variety Club’s, Royal Command Performance at the Sydney Opera House in the presence of Royal Guests, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. In 1996 Ross toured Australia and New Zealand supporting the famous Scottish tenor, Kenneth McKellar.

The fictional characters played by local actors are led by mamma Angelina are modern day comedic characters who love everything Italian; they share their stories, hand gestures and love for food.

This year they will be making a special visit to the 2023 Cairns Italian Festa.

You can’t have an Italian Festa without a Spaghetti Eating Competition Challenge.

When it comes to pasta, Italy is unrivalled beyond doubt.
As the world’s biggest producers and consumers – approximately twenty-five kilos per person every year, unexpectedly followed by Tunisians – Italians are probably the only people happy to eat pasta more than once every day.

And you? How much pasta can you handle?

During the competition, each participants will get a large bowl of spaghetti weight to be identical. Players must eat the spaghetti without silverware and with their hands behind their backs. The first person to eat all their spaghetti is the winner.
Make sure to enter the competition first prize for each category is $500!!

Competition Categories:
Senior category – open to any one aged 16 years or older.
Junior category – open to any one from 12 to 15 years old.

Kids Entertainment

All day kids entertainment provided by qualified teachers with Blue Card. Lots of activities, including pasta necklaces, Venetian masks decoration, kinetic sand boxes, bubble painting, Monna Lisa re-imaging, Cairns Italian Festival canvas bags colouring, face painting, Italian games and reading and relax corner.

Opera Singers

In 1990, Mr Mould returned to Europe and was engaged as a conductor and musical assistant by opera houses and festivals in Germany, Belgium, Norway and Italy. In 1990, he was engaged as an assistant at the Théatre de la Monnaie, Brussels and in 1992 was appointed to the staff of Opera Frankfurt as assistant to the Music Director. During this time, he was also engaged as a teacher at the music conservatorium in Frankfurt. In 1996, he joined the music staff of Opera Australia.

Subsequently, Mr Mould has undertaken engagements for the Sydney Festival, the Melbourne Festival, Symphony Australia and the Sydney Philharmonic Choirs. He was also engaged for State Opera of South Australia’s productions of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (1998 and 2004) and Parsifal (2002). Stephen Mould was Head of Music at Opera Australia between 2004 and 2008 and, since 1998, has regularly appeared as conductor for the Company. His repertoire has included: La bohème, Simon Boccanegra, Die Zauberflöte, Le nozze di Figaro, La Voix Humaine, Rusalka, Carmen and The Makropulos Secret.

In addition, he has appeared with the Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the SBS Youth Orchestra, and is a regular guest with Willoughby Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, he conducted Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci for the Macau International Music Festival and, in 2008, made his American debut for Baltimore Opera conducting Madama Butterfly. He also appeared in New Zealand with the Auckland Philharmonia.

Stephen Mould is Senior Lecturer in Conducting and Operatic Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney. Recent operatic engagements have included The Mikado and Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Australia, Così fan tutte for Opera Queensland, Messiah for New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and The Puccini Gala and The Verdi Spectacular for State Opera of South Australia.

Further roles in Adrian’s repertoire include, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Lysander in Sommernachtstraum Britten, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Jupiter in Semele by Händel, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, Agenore in Il re Pastore by Mozart, Pylades in Händels’ Oreste and Der Junge Graf in Die Soldaten by Zimmerman.

Adrian has performed in a guest capacity at the Semperoper Dresden, Oper Leipzig, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Theater Bremen, Toulon Opera, New Zealand Opera and Australian Opera. His concert repertoire includes the works of Haydn, Händel, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and arias in the St Matthews Passion and the arias and Evangelist in the Johannes Passion. Adrian has sung with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Noord Nederlandse Orchestra, Latvijas Concerti in Riga and Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 2012 Adrian performed at the Innsbruck Festspiel Der Alte Musik, as Armidoro in La Stellidaura Vendicante by Provenzale with conductor Allesandro de Marchi, whereby a live recording was made and subsequently released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.

Between 2010 and 2012 Adrian performed Tamino in Peter Brooks critically acclaimed and award winning Une Flute Enchentée, subsequently embarking on a world tour where he performed at some of the largest music and arts festivals, including the Lincoln Centre Festival in New York, Les Nuits in Lyon, The Barbican in London, Piccolo Teatro Milan, Buenos Aires Festival, Sao Paolo Festival and The Music Festival Bremen.

In 2009 Adrian was a member of the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festspiele receiving master classes with Thomas Quasthof, Christa Ludwig and Michael Schade and studying the roles of Rinaldo in Armida by Haydn and Septimius in Theodora by Händel. He was subsequently invited to return in 2010 for the role of Benvolio in Gounods’ Romeo et Juliette with Yannick Nezet-Seguin. Adrian was engaged by the Festival D’aix en Provence in 2006 as Pastore/Spirito 1 in L’Orfeo conducted by Rene Jacobs.

Rachael then moved down to Sydney where she landed a professional contract as a performer on Fred Olsen Cruises, which made her versatile, utilising all her singing, dancing and acting experience.

Upon returning to Sydney, she joined the Rockdale Opera Company and work with a few community groups. Rachael has played many diverse roles, including Phyllis in Iolanthe, Cupid in Orpheus and the Underworld, Sarah in Guys and Dolls, Lily in The Secret Garden and Aldonza in Man of La Mancha.

She returned to Cairns 4 years ago and performed in A Night at The Opera, Spamalot and featured in many events around the region. Rachael is excited to embark on a new adventure with Caro voices and looks forward to the upcoming opportunities this company brings to Cairns.

Chris currently teaches Music and Religious Education at St. Monica’s College, Cairns, Queensland, where he also conducts HarMonica, the 16 voice choir. He co-conducts the Cairns Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir with Lyn Williams and has co-conducted Gondwana Singers at the Gondwana National Choral School in Sydney since January 2014.

Before a brief stint teaching Music at Edge Hill State School he was HOD Music & Performing Arts at Waimea College for 10 years from 2002. He taught Year 9-13 Music and conducted Belle a Cappella, the college’s national award-winning chamber choir. He has conducted the concert orchestra, was musical director for the school production “Jesus Christ Superstar”, and established the school’s first Theatre Sports team.

Chris has conducted choirs of all ages– from the 90-strong Year 6 Choir at Kingston Elementary School (Plymouth, U.S.A., 1997-98) to Opera North (Whangarei, 2001–guest conductor) to Polyhymnos Chamber Choir at the Nelson School of Music (2002-05).

He was Associate Conductor of the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir 2007-08.