“Greatest Living Interpreter” of Madame Butterfly After receiving a Governor General scholarship, Maria Pellegrini, born 1945, Pescara, Italy, entered the Conservatory of Music, University of Toronto, and made her debut with the Canadian Opera Company as Gilda in Rigoletto. A year later she was chosen to audition for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and remained their “Principal Soprano” for eight years. Her debut role, 1967, Covent Garden, was Lui in Turandot, opposite the famed Birgit Nilsson and James McCracken. World renowned for her Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly, England’s leading critic, Lord Harwood, publicly declared “Maria Pellegrini is the greatest living interpreter of the role of her generation.” Her performances of Cio-Cio-San have earned the Puccini Medallion commemorating both her and the composer Giacomo Puccini. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation featured her in two films: Madame Butterfly and a biographical artist profile that has been aired on major networks worldwide. Miss Pellegrini’s fame includes royal performances for The Queen, the Pope, and the incarnations Violetta in La Traviata; Puccini’s Manon Lescaut; Desdemona in Othello; Nedda in Pagliacci; Luciain Lucia di Lammermoor; and Mimi in La Boheme in which a recording exists with tenor Luciano Pavarotti. She has worked with such distinguished conductors as Solti, Colin Davis, Mackerras, Downes, Sinopoli, Guadagno, and Barbini. Recordings include Covent Garden Anniversary, Passione Arias, and Madame Butterfly, 1996. Engagements in 2000 include many returns to her native Italy where she has already received the prestigious Caravella d’Oro, Puccini Medallion, and citations from the City of Rome. She also was honored with the 1995 Woman of The Year Award from the Canadian Ethnic Press Council. In this recent photograph, Maria Pellegrini plays the title role of Manon Lescant by Giacomo Puccini. [Photo, courtesy Remigio Pereira, Ottawa]

The Icewine Cometh The success of Inniskillin Wines is directly related to two co-founders: an Austrian Canadian vintner and a very successful entrepreneur. The latter, Donald J.P. Ziraldo, was born, St. Catharines, Ontario, 1948, receiving his B.Sc. in Agriculture, University of Guelph, 1971. Recognizing that wine makers in Canada faced extinction following the signing of the American Free Trade Agreement, late 1980s, Donald Ziraldo innovatively spear headed a drive to create Vintners’ Quality Alliance (VQA) assuring potential customers and consumers alike that Canadian wine came with the guarantee of a quality assurance program based on the French appellation of origin system. A dapper wine-making pioneer, Donald helped organize a tourist wine route that linked together and show cased vintners particularly in the Niagara region. He helped launch Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, Brock University, named Inniskillin Hall. By the late 1990s, Canadian wines, thanks largely to a relentless promoter, had shed the general perception that they were not worthy of comparison to European labels. The son of immigrant parents who came to Canada from Friuli, northern Italy, Donald Ziraldo, a man on a mission, tirelessly promotes, 24 hours a day, Inniskillin wines, in particular, and Canadian wines, in general. Capturing the coveted Grand Prix d’Honneur award at the 1991 Vin Expo, Bordeaux, France, the president and co-founder, Inniskillin Wines, has made icewine a North American household name. Voted as one of the 25 Canadian CEOs of the Century by National Post Business Magazine, 1999, Donald Ziraldo was made, 1998, Member, Order of Canada, and is rightly proud to have been a major part of a growth industry which has helped spotlight Canada on the world stage. In this view, Donald Ziraldo basks in the snow with bottles of award-winning Inniskillin icewine. [Photo, courtesy Dawn Grundy, Inniskillin Wines]