Verdi Interesting Books

Howard Jay Smith has just published his latest musical work Viva Violetta & Verdi following two years of diligent research and 18 months of writing.

Howard’s research also included many interviews with the late local Metropolitan Opera tenor Eduardo Villa, who shared a lifetime of working in opera and performed 18 of Verdi’s operas in his successful career, as well as assistance from Santa Barbara Symphony maestro Nir Kabaretti and his wife Gaja.

It is Smith’s third work in his series on great composers, including Beethoven in Love and Meeting Mozart.

In due course he is winging to Paris with his wife Tricia to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and marking their tenth anniversary of living together.

While there, they will attend five concerts in five classic theaters while researching two new book projects on Beethoven and Puccini.

Howard will be reading from his new work at the Santa Barbara Yacht Club forum on March 3, as well as the University Club in due course.