Join us on Friday, September 19, 2025, at 6:00 PM.
Location: Wayne State University – General Lectures Hall, Aud. 150
5045 Anthony Wayne Drive, Detroit
LA DIVINA COMMEDIA
Manuele Morgese Reads Dante Alighieri (in Italian)
With Luke Pisani, violin, and Ami Matsushita, cello
Renowned actor Manuele Morgese performs a selection of five of the most famous and representative cantos from The Divine Comedy.
A cornerstone of world literature, The Divine Comedy has inspired generations of “readers”—often actors—who bring to life the spiritual journey of Dante, the Florentine poet.
Organizers: Consulate of Italy in Detroit, Dante Alighieri Society of Michigan, Circolo Italiano, Wayne State University, Detroit.
The project is supported by the Società Dante Alighieri – Dante Global in Rome.
Manuele Morgese is an acclaimed Italian actor, director, producer, and theater educator, as well as the founder and director of TEATROZETA in L’Aquila and the Zeta Actor Studio in Cagliari. He holds a degree in Modern Literature and a diploma from the Bellini Theater’s Academy of Dramatic Arts in Naples. He has directed major theaters in L’Aquila and Rome and co-founded the Teatri Possibili circuit in Milan. Since 2011, he has run a professional acting academy in Abruzzo, and in 2022, he opened a new performance space in Cagliari.
Internationally active since 2015, Morgese has performed and taught across Europe, the USA, and Canada, collaborating with institutions such as the Italian Cultural Institutes in New York, London, and Paris, as well as universities including those in Barcelona, Salerno, and Teramo. He has worked with renowned directors and actors and participated in prestigious events, including the inauguration of the Rome Auditorium, Expo Milano 2015, and the 2022 RAI 5 broadcast of Cronache della Shoah. In recent years, he has led major productions like Siddhartha and Novecento, the latter with the Fabrizio Bosso Jazz Quartet.
Luke Pisani
Luke Pisani (sophomore, University of Michigan) studies with Aaron Berofsky. Luke has been the recipient of numerous solo awards, including the Chicago Violin Competition (2nd Prize), New York All-State Orchestra (Concertmaster), Rochester Philharmonic League Grand Prize Winner, Rochester Hall of Fame Douglas Lowry Award, Detroit Irene Kinsey Stare Strings Award. Luke has also won competitions to perform concertos with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Genesee Symphony, and the Finger Lakes Symphony.
Luke was the 1st violinist in two ensembles that won the Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music Competition (Saturday Quartet, 2021; Sapphire Trio, 2023). The Saturday Quartet was a finalist in the national Coltman Chamber Music Competition. He has performed with the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, the Chautauqua Institution Festival Orchestra, and the Lansing Symphony.
Ami Matsushita
Ami Matsushita is a cellist from Rye, New York, currently a junior at the University of Michigan, where she studies with Professor Amir Eldan. She has performed with the New York Youth Symphony and attended prestigious summer programs including the Bowdoin International Music Festival and Orford Music Festival. In 2025, she was awarded an Emerging Artist Fellowship at the Garth Newell Music Center. Ami is passionate about chamber music, an accomplished cellist, and a rising artist.