POLLYWOOD | EMBASSY ROW
Arrivals and Departures – Cultural Diplomacy – Singing Maestro BY ROLAND FLAMINI
BOOK PROJECT: Most of us are content with
a cake with candles and maybe a bottle of Champagne, but arts patron Adrienne Arsht’s birthday bash this year included a concert and reception for several hundred guests at the Kennedy Center, with the elongated Tommy Tune as master of ceremonies, soloists and a full orchestra. The evening had an unintended sub-text in the shape of an unofficial welcome to newly arrived British Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch and his wife Vanessa, and a farewell to Italy’s departing envoy Claudio Bisogniero and his wife Laura Denise, all of whom were in the audience. Sir Kim comes straight from 10 Downing Street, where he was Prime Minister David Cameron’s foreign policy advisor. Claudio Bisogniero made cultural diplomacy and social media two of the embassy’s priorities, with a never-ending program of concerts, lectures, exhibitions and movies at the massive Italian chancellery on Whitehaven Street NW. “We tried to play the cultural card in this country with the launch of a huge event which was 2013: Italian Culture in the U.S. – more than 300 events in 60 cities to present the great Italian heritage,” Bisogniero says. “It was a huge effort and I really think it managed to improve the visibility of Italy, and to improve the image
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Maestro Philippe Auguin breaks into song at his 55th birthday celebration at the French Ambassador’s residence. (Photo by Tony Powell)
of the nation.” Part of that effort was the recent publication of a stunning, illustrated catalog of 520 major Italian masterpieces in the permanent collections of 41 museums across the United States. “Italian Treasures in the U.S.: An itinerary of Art” is believed to be the first such project by an embassy of a foreign country, and is available through the embassy and Italian consulates, or on the embassy app. Bisogniero described his time here as “the highlight of my career as a diplomat. Washington is the most important position an ambassador can strive for, and the actual posting has completely met my expectations.” But there is life after Washington for him. Unlike most of his predecessors, he is not retiring, but moving to Brussels to head the Italian mission to the North Atlantic Alliance, which, he says, remains “the only collective security arrangement that we have. There’s a lot of discussion about a [U.S.] strategic pivot to Asia, but when the going gets tough the U.S. turns to Europe because that’s where the collective organizations are – NATO and the European Union – and because we are connected by common values.” Ambassadors don’t generally give advice to their successors, but if they did, Bisogniero says he would point out that “Washington is very
different from other posts in that you need to be very present, very visible and to be in touch with all the different components in which the city actually works, and also to travel out of Washington as much as possible.” It’s a personal point of pride that he has visited every state in the Union. In that, as in other things, he will be a hard act to follow. BATON WAVERS: Still on the subject of birthdays, French Ambassador Gérard Araud opened his well-appointed residence to celebrate Maestro Philippe Auguin reaching 55. To the delight of guests, the Washington National Opera’s gifted musical director literally sang for his supper, delivering two well-known French songs, and even a snatch of Wagner in a warm baritone. The latter was a reminder that he faces the formidable challenge of conducting Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” in the coming season. Also in town in February was Hungarian conductor Ivan Fischer, known locally as “the one that got away” for having once refused an offer to head the National Symphony Orchestra. Fischer was feted by admirers on Valentine’s Day with a reception at the St. Regis Hotel in advance of a packed performance with his Budapest Festival Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.
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Italian Amb. Claudio Bisogniero readies for takeoff. (Courtesy of the Embassy of Italy)