Eighteen years ago the Monastero family–owners of Monastero’s Ristorante at 3935 W. Devon–decided to hold a contest in their restaurant to give young singers a chance to perform before an audience. To fund the prize–an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy to study opera–they charged their dining clientele a fee to watch the contest. The event proved to be so popular that the family founded the Bel Canto Foundation, a separate organization to run the contest, in 1976.
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A few years later a drop in the exchange rate almost brought things to a halt. That’s when the Rouse Company–a developer that operates more than 70 malls throughout the U.S. and Canada–stepped in. They started sponsoring the contest, holding it in 14 new locations at different shopping centers across the country as well as at the restaurant. Ever since, 15 singers a year have gone abroad to study under such greats as Tito Gobbi, Carlo Bergonzi, and Renata Tebaldi.
Now that the competition is national, 600 to 700 applications and demo tapes have to be scrutinized, mostly by Salvy and his wife, sometimes by the foundation’s 20-member board of directors. Board members also function as judges, along with other local celebrities like Channel 11’s Marty Robinson and former music critic Tom Willis. Most of the entrants come from the midwest, but the contest is open to anyone; queries come from as far away as Japan, China, France, and Germany.
