International Music & Culture
ALL TRADITIONS
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Cultural survival is very important to Sophia; she has dedicated specific efforts to cultural music, religion and traditions as a way to encourage societal growth & awareness. Learning multi-cultural music has opened communication and awareness to the positive effects that music brings to everyone.
Religion & Humanity
Sophia plays piano, organ and sings for year round religious and cultural services. She is currently employed for Catholic Church music under the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Sophia often performs for international and diverse conventions, festivals, celebrations, weddings and ceremonials. Sophia respects religious and human diversity and the rights, dignity and inclusion of all people.
America
Sophia sings the National Anthem for sporting events, parish and local government events, for civic agencies, military veterans, and various non-profits that benefit the poor, sick, elderly and children in the community.
The article by the American Italian Digest, highlights Sophia as a top pick as a someone who will make a historical mark with cultural issues in the city of New Orleans.06/2018
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New Orleans
Sophia has a deep love for her birth city of New Orleans and the musical influences of jazz music that date back centuries and still reach current day guardians. New Orleans culture and music are sprinkled throughout schools, venues, celebrations and in the city street. Second line music and parades find a way to unify the people of New Orleans magically. For visitors, conventions and events, it allows people from around the world to really experience and tell stories back home about New Orleans traditions. Sophia co-founded and is director of music and a marching member of New Orleans Brass Band (NOBrassBand.com)
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Italian
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Sophia's paternal grandfather, Narciso Parigi, prevailed as a grand success in Italy for over 70 years in music and in film. Narciso Parigi earned international recognition as the "Voice of Florence" for his work on Rai Radio and Rai1Television and for his quintessential performance of the anthem for the official soccer team of Firenze, ACF Fiorentina. "Oh, Fiorentina" has played in Italian stadiums and media stations in Italy for three-quarters of a century. As an active professional musician, she shares in her PARIGI family devotion to the city of Firenze and ACF Fiorentina, the official soccer team for Firenze. Sophia's commitment to preserving the generational music of Italy and her love for Fiorentina has a deep personal meaning.
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Sophia celebrates her Italian culture by singing Italian folk songs and is committed to the love and longevity of Italian folk and Italian classical music by working closely with the Italian Renaissance Foundation, supporting the work of the American Italian Cultural Center and AWE News for their internet series of "Little Palermo" in New Orleans. Sophia includes Italian folk songs in her regular repertoire while performing publicly for events. Sophia has performed in several foreign language opera productions by the New Orleans Opera. Besides English as her first language, Sophia is well versed in the languages of French and Italian and can sing in others as well. Music communicates the same in every language.
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French
Sophia is involved with preserving French language traditions in Louisiana. Sophia contributed to research related to her French heritage that was used for the recent book published in 2021 by Editions Tintamarre and Centenary College of Louisiana. Sophia's maternal grandfather, Marion Marcotte, Jr was a musician and French humorist who left behind a legacy of French songs and stories from 1950-1970 that contributed to the survival of French language in Louisiana. Marion's works uniquely captured the French Louisiana accent and dialect in its original spoken form along with his stories of country living, and family life in south and in central Louisiana.
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Marion married an American-Italian born from Sicilian immigrants who came to the US during the Great Depression through Ellis Island then settled in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna where Marion raised his own family which included Sophia's mom.
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