Taormina Opera Stars

Taormina 15 agosto si apre la prima edizione di TAORMINA OPERA STARS, con una straordinaria edizione della NONA SINFONIA di L.Van Beethoven. Direttore d’orchestra, il maestro Silvia Casarin Rizzolo, allieva eccellente di Kleiber e Abbado, e prima donna a dirigere, in Italia, la celebre sinfonia. Capolavoro sinfonico assoluto, la Nona rappresenta il monumento dell’Arte di Ludwig van Beethoven, con lo schieramento completo sul palco di Coro, Orchestra e quattro solisti: Francesca Tiburzi (soprano), Lisa Dunk (mezzosoprano), Young Min Oh (tenore), Dario Russo (basso). Una imperdibile occasione per chi voglia ascoltare questo “must” davanti allo scenario impagabile offerto dal palcoscenico del Teatro Antico.Il progetto Taormina Opera Stars – che porterà sul palco del Teatro Antico di Taormina le giovani voci più belle del mondo – è ideato e diretto da Enrico Stinchelli, in collaborazione con l’Associazione Aldebaran di Taormina.In questa prima edizione, Stinchelli sceglie, firmando anche la regia, tre titoli verdiani di grande impatto popolare, NABUCCO, LA TRAVIATA e AIDA, ma li propone in una veste tecnologica altamente innovativa, con effetti speciali e giochi fantasmagorici di luce, e un cast di giovani interpreti selezionati – dopo audizioni, stage e workshop preparatori – fra oltre 500 artisti provenienti da quasi 50 paesi del mondo: il meglio che possa offrire oggi il mercato in campo vocale. Anche la scenografia metterà in particolare risalto le performance vocali, esaltando l’acustica del Teatro Antico con l’idea di porre l’orchestra non nella cavea, ma sul palco, dietro ai cantanti (un’invenzione già proposta allo stesso Stinchelli nella Tosca del 2002, sempre a Taormina).Fra le giovani voci protagoniste del Festival segnaliamo, insieme a Francesca Tiburzi; Rebeka Lokar (che sarà Abigaille in Nabucco il 16 agosto) soprano drammatico di agilità e altissima levatura, i soprani Eva Corbetta, Carolina Varela, Tea Purtseladze e Natasha Dikanovich, che interpreteranno Violetta Valery il 18 agosto, in una Traviata che avrà 4 protagoniste (una per ogni atto dell’opera) e si aprirà con un nudo integrale della protagonista, evento senza precedenti nella storia degli allestimenti dell’opera verdiana. Mentre nel ruolo di Aida, il 20 agosto, ci sarà il soprano Francesca Capici. Accanto a loro, naturalmente, non mancheranno “big” già molto noti al pubblico e alla critica: il baritono Alberto Gazale (Nabucco), il basso Ernesto Morillo (Zaccaria nel Nabucco e Ramfis in Aida), il baritono Piero Terranova (Giorgio Gérmont – La Traviata) e il baritono Mauro Buda (Amonasro – Aida).A completare il programma, il Galà ITALIA INCANTA (17 agosto), dedicato alle più belle canzoni e romanze del repertorio italiano, che avrà come madrina della serata il famoso soprano Olga Romanko, e THE RITE OF ROCK (19 agosto), un viaggio nella musica del’900 da Stravinsky al rock progressive guidato dal celebre violoncellista Giovanni Sollima.
Autore e conduttore della “Barcaccia” dall’ottobre del 1988 su Radio Tre – ormai programma “cult” di riferimento per ogni appassionato d’opera – Enrico Stinchelli, come scrittore, critico, direttore e regista, svolge da anni un’intensa attività eclettica nel campo della divulgazione musicale e della produzione artistica. “Taormina Opera Stars” – dichiara Stinchelli – “sarà una vetrina internazionale con i talenti operistici migliori del mondo, ma non solo. Ho voluto proporre il grande melodramma italiano in una nuova veste, coniugando tradizione e tecnologia: la formula vincente per vivere un sogno.”

Why Real Time Marketing Automation? Drivers, Potentials, Challenges

The digitalisation has made the world for companies significantly more complex and more dynamic. For customers, digitalisation means maximum transparency and availability in the market. The barriers to switching between different providers are low, the competitive pressure is increasing. Traditional differentiation attributes such as price are losing significance when the most economical provider is only a click – or a line on the comparison portal – away. Even in the digital dialogue, the customer doesn’t lose sight of the best practice. “But Amazon makes individualised product recommendations, too?” Customers are becoming more emancipated, more self-determined and express higher demands on companies. Companies therefore have no choice but to orientate themselves on the best practice and focus radically on customer orientation. The large number of options do not only have a liberating effect on the customers, the information and offer density can also make decisions difficult and stressful. Companies should bear this in mind and simplify the customer’s life through individualised communication, adapted to his requirements, wishes and interactions.
The complexity of the customer journey is also increasing. The times when customers could be lead from A to B via fixed touchpoints, is over. Customers today use a continually growing number of company-own and third party touchpoints for contact via numerous terminal devices and in a variety of contexts. Website, newsletter, communities, blogs, transaction emails, apps, mobile messenger, SMS, twitter, facebook, POS terminals, geo-location services, service hotlines are only a small selection. Customers do not differentiate between these touchpoints but expect that the company is “available” everywhere and the required information and (digital) service is immediate, convenient and available in the right quality. They also expect that the company comes across with a consistent image at all these touchpoints. A company that approaches a female customer with individualised offers on ladies’ shoes via the e-commerce app, but tries to sell her the latest men’s collection in the newsletter, is likely to lose this customer. Which requirements must be met by companies in the digital dialogue in order to meet customer expectations? Companies need to offer the right content in the required quality, individualised for each customer, respond in real time, take into consideration every interaction of the user, analyse it and feed the results immediately back into the communication, consider all relevant touchpoints, consistently communicate at each of these touchpoints,
orientate ithemselves continuously on best practice. Real Time Marketing Automation as the Key to Customers
The key to meet the market requirements lies in the correct use of real time marketing automation technology. Real time marketing automation must be able to display four key features:
The automated running of granular communication measures, individually for each user, in real time, based on his response.
The dynamic adaptation to the relevant context at the time of use: individual content e.g. based on location, weather, position in the customer lifecycle or terminal device properties.
The integration of all relevant channels in a lifecycle, including – in addition to email – social media, WhatsApp or mobile push messages in geo-fencing contexts. The data protection-compliant collection, processing and storage of real-time response data.

Student debt reality check needed

For many young people in Britain today, the decision to go to university is one of the biggest choices they will ever make. This is without necessarily taking proper account of the debt that going into higher education could give them, as students and parents underestimate the costs of a university education.
In our latest study in partnership with the AIC, we found that parents seriously misjudge the total debt that university will leave many students in, believing that their child’s student debt will be £17,965 on average, well below the figure given by the Institute of Fiscal Studies last year that put the figure at £44,000. Although students in full-time education currently have a more realistic idea, their estimation of £30,348 worth of debt is still low. The students who gave an estimated figure of debt think it will take 15 years on average to pay back, and just over a third (35%) think it will take longer than 20 years. The financial effect on parents and students
The cost of a university education has had an effect on the lives of both students and their parents. Two thirds of parents plan to help their children financially through university, including the possibility of downsizing the family home (9%) or using their cash savings (22%). The effect on students has been no less considerable, with 37% of students that have considered dropping out of university altogether citing financial reasons for doing so. And despite the assumption that ‘uni life’ means living on or around campus, a fifth (21%) of students have lived or currently live with their parents during term time for financial reason, increasing to 36% amongst Londoners.

The Britain at work

The Britain at Work study, conducted by the Opinium Stakeholder Insight team in conjunction with Lansons, is a comprehensive in-depth look into the hearts and minds of the British Workforce. It explores their thoughts and attitudes, hopes and fears, in what is possibly the largest, and certainly the most timely attempt to understand every aspect of the working lives of Britons at work. The respondents for the study, over 2,000 of them, come from our large 40,000 UK consumer research panel and from all walks of life, size of organisation, public vs private, etc. and robustly represents the current British workforce.
Image The ‘Britain at Work’ study reveals a hard working British workforce that is willing to go the extra mile. Workers recognise their company’s ethos, where their company is going and what it wants to achieve. They have good relationships with their managers and, currently, they feel relatively secure in the job. However, workers also feel overworked and exhausted. They are under pressure and regularly work beyond their contracted hours, sacrificing valuable work life balance in the process. Additionally, workers are not entirely sure about their long term future, or indeed about their progression within the company. 51% of British workers told us that they would not recommend their organisation to others as a place to work. This is an extremely worrying piece of insight.

Migration

On migration, 60% said the EU has mishandled the arrival of refugees from Libya, against just 8% who were positive. Italians were almost twice as likely as Germans to be critical, at 84% versus 48% respectively.
Equally, 83% of Italians think it is unfair that they have to process all of the migrants coming from North Africa. A majority of all other countries surveyed agreed, although the UK was the least sympathetic with 55% believing this to be unfair and 13% thinking it is fair. Showing how relatively hardline the UK’s stance is, 41% of British adults think refugees from North Africa who reach their country should be returned to Italy. Whereas other respondents from outside Italy broadly disagreed with this approach. However, most of the respondents did agree that Italy is within its rights to prevent ships from offloading anymore refugees at its ports, with those aged 55+ most likely to agree with this and those aged 18-34 least likely (59% vs. 49% respectively). Brexit and repatriation of powers On another hot topic for Europeans, the poll showed divided opinions on the EU’s handling of the UK referendum on membership of the bloc. While 35% of respondents think the EU has dealt with this badly, a mere 15% were positive. Most critical were Italians (46%), the British (41%) and the French (40%), with the Germans (28%) and the Dutch (27%) taking a softer line. The southern EU states were the most likely to believe that EU countries should continue to progress towards “ever closer union”, with 56% of Spanish, 54% of Portuguese, and 47% of Italians backing this. However, 47% of British and 42% of Dutch adults said that “EU integration has gone too far and EU countries need to repatriate powers”. EU founding states France and Germany were evenly divided by comparison. Germans narrowly favour closer union (30% pro-integration vs 24% pro-repatriation), while the French are only just opposed to closer union (24% pro-integration vs 32% pro-repatriation).

Poll shows 2/3 Europeans critical of EU handling of ISIS and Greece

Brussels. Around two-thirds of Europeans believe the European Union is not responding effectively to two of its biggest current challenges, the rise of the Islamic State and the Greek debt crisis, according to research commissioned by Cambre Associates and carried out by Opinium.Some 7,000 adults in seven western EU countries polled between 29 June and 10 July 2015 were also largely unimpressed by Europe’s approach to its other big headache, the migrant crisis.”The results of this poll underscore that the EU is confronted with perhaps its most difficult period since its creation in 1957. Strong leadership and clear vision are needed urgently if the EU is to successfully ride out the current state of crisis and regain the confidence of its citizens,” said Tom Parker, managing director of Cambre Associates. “Particularly alarming is the resounding thumbs-down given to the EU’s handling of the Greek debt crisis.”James Endersby, managing director of Opinium, commented: “Citizens of Europe are concerned about a number of huge global and regional issues. The Greek crisis and rise of IS have obviously needed a swift and robust response but it’s clear from our study that not many of us are happy with how Brussels has dealt with either.“ In a breakdown of the survey results, 67% of respondents condemned the EU’s handling of the rise of Islamic State as bad, while only 5% thought this has been handled well. Italians were the most likely to rate this as bad (75%), followed by France (71%).The EU fared almost as badly for its handling of the Greek debt crisis, with 62% of survey participants critical, as opposed to 12% who were positive.Italians were the harshest, with 76% saying the EU dealt badly with the Greek debt crisis. By contrast, 17% of Germans gave the EU a positive rating as against 56% who were critical. The Dutch were similarly divided, with 19% favourable and 53% unimpressed. On migration, 60% said the EU has mishandled the arrival of refugees from Libya, against just 8% who were positive. Italians were almost twice as likely as Germans to be critical, at 84% versus 48% respectively.Equally, 83% of Italians think it is unfair that they have to process all of the migrants coming from North Africa. A majority of all other countries surveyed agreed, although the UK was the least sympathetic with 55% believing this to be unfair and 13% thinking it is fair.Showing how relatively hardline the UK’s stance is, 41% of British adults think refugees from North Africa who reach their country should be returned to Italy. Whereas other respondents from outside Italy broadly disagreed with this approach. However, most of the respondents did agree that Italy is within its rights to prevent ships from offloading anymore refugees at its ports, with those aged 55+ most likely to agree with this and those aged 18-34 least likely (59% vs. 49% respectively).
On another hot topic for Europeans, the poll showed divided opinions on the EU’s handling of the UK referendum on membership of the bloc. While 35% of respondents think the EU has dealt with this badly, a mere 15% were positive. Most critical were Italians (46%), the British (41%) and the French (40%), with the Germans (28%) and the Dutch (27%) taking a softer line.The southern EU states were the most likely to believe that EU countries should continue to progress towards “ever closer union”, with 56% of Spanish, 54% of Portuguese, and 47% of Italians backing this.However, 47% of British and 42% of Dutch adults said that “EU integration has gone too far and EU countries need to repatriate powers”. EU founding states France and Germany were evenly divided by comparison. Germans narrowly favour closer union (30% pro-integration vs 24% pro-repatriation), while the French are only just opposed to closer union (24% pro-integration vs 32% pro-repatriation).

Miami Median Sales Prices, Total Active Listings Rise in 2Q

MIAMI — The Miami real estate market continued its strong momentum in the second quarter as single-family home transactions increased year-over-year while all properties saw a rise in median sales prices, according to a new report by the 38,000-member MIAMI Association of REALTORS® (MIAMI) and the local Multiple Listing Service systems.The median price for single-family homes in Miami increased to $271,000 in the second quarter, a 10.6 percent jump from $245,000 in the same period last year. The median price for condominiums increased 6.8 percent year-over-year from $190,000 to $203,000. Miami-Dade County has now seen 14 consecutive quarters (42 months) of price growth for single-family homes and condominiums.“Home buyer and seller confidence in the Miami real estate market continues to result in more single-family home sales, higher median sales prices and active listings for all properties,” said Christopher Zoller, a 27-year Miami-based Realtor and the 2015 Residential President of MIAMI. “With mortgage rates at historic lows and Miami single-family home prices at 2004 levels, an increasing number of international and domestic home buyers are purchasing property in this world-class global city.”The interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.96 percent for 2Q 2015, according to Freddie Mac. That’s down from the 4.23 percent average in the same quarter a year earlier.Despite the increase in median prices, Miami’s residential properties remain more affordable than other global cities, according to the National Association of Realtors 2015 Profile of Home Buying Activity of International Clients. NAR analyzed the cost of a 120-square meter condo in a number of foreign cities based on prices reported in the Global Property Guide. A 120-square meter condo in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach cost $149,900 on average. The price for the same condo in London ($960,840), Hong Kong ($776,280), and New York ($1.6 million) were at least five times higher.Nationally, the median existing single-family home price in the second quarter was $229,400, up 8.2 percent from the second quarter of 2014 ($212,000), according to the National Association of Realtors. The national median existing-condo price was $217,400 in the second quarter, up 3.1 percent from the second quarter of 2014 ($210,800)Statewide, the median sales price for single-family existing homes in the second quarter was $200,000, up 11.1 percent from the same time a year ago, according to Florida Realtors. The Florida median price for condos during the quarter was $155,000, up 9.2 percent over the year-ago figure.
Sales of single-family homes increased 7.2 percent to 3,913 in the second quarter, while condominium transactions decreased 1.8 percent to 4,409 compared with the same period in 2014. The existing condominium market, which posted its second-most sales in Miami history last year, continues to perform well despite a rise in pre-construction condo sales east of Interstate 95.The Miami market had 8,322 total residential sales in the second quarter of 2015, a 2.2 percent increase compared to the 8,139 sales in the second quarter of 2014.Nationally, total existing-home sales for single-family and condominiums increased 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.30 million in the second quarter from 4.97 million in the first quarter, and are 8.5 percent higher than the 4.89 million pace during the second quarter of 2014.Statewide, closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 77,724 in 2Q 2015, up 15 percent over the 2Q 2014 figure. Florida’s townhome-condo market totaled 33,183 during 2Q 2015, up 7.3 percent compared to 2Q 2014.Seller confidence in Miami’s balanced housing market continued to expand in the second quarter. Miami saw a 0.1 percent increase in new listings for single-family homes, growing from 6,255 in the second quarter of 2014 to 6,264 in the second quarter of 2015. New listings for condominiums decreased by 1.2 percent year-over-year from 8,635 to 8,533.The Miami market had 17,740 active listings in the second quarter, a 3.8 percent increase from the 17,089 listings at the same time last year.At the current sales pace, the number of active listings represents 4.9 months of inventory for single-family homes and 8.9 for condominiums. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six and nine months of supply inventory. The inventory for single-family homes decreased 6.0 percent compared to the same period from last year. Compared to the second quarter of 2014, the months supply of inventory for condominiums increased 14.2 percent.The median days on the market for single-family home listings during the second quarter was 44 compared to 43 a year ago, an increase of 2.3 percent. The median days on the market for condominiums was 59 compared to 56 last year, an increase of 5.4 percent.Percentage of Cash Sales More than Double National AverageMiami has more than double the U.S. average of residential cash buyers. About 50.6 percent of closed sales in the second quarter of 2015 were all cash compared to 57.6 percent in the second quarter of 2014. In comparison, just 24 percent of U.S. home properties are made in cash, according to the most recent statistics from the National Association of Realtors.Statewide, cash sales represented 43.4 percent of all closed sales in the second quarter of 2015, down from 49.8 percent during the same period last year.Miami’s existing condo market has more cash-only deals with a whopping 64.7 percent of all transactions made in cash. In the single-family sector, about 34.7 percent of all deals are made in cash.The high percentage of cash buyers reflects Miami’s top position as the preeminent American real estate market for foreign buyers, who tend to purchase with all cash. About 81 percent of international buyers in South Florida pay all-cash, compared to 60 percent of international buyers purchasing across the U.S., according to the 2014 Survey of International Home Purchases conducted by NAR for MIAMI.

I Consigli di Visa Europe agli italiani

Secondo una recente ricerca di Visa Europe – “Cross Border Spending Report 2015” – il 71% degli italiani, pari a 38 milioni circa di nostri connazionali, ha fatto un viaggio all’estero negli ultimi tre anni. Ben 18 milioni ne hanno effettuato uno molto recentemente, mentre fanno un viaggio all’estero regolarmente una volta all’anno in media 28 milioni di italiani e 12 milioni due o più volte l’anno.
I risultati emersi dallo studio di Visa Europe hanno anche evidenziato che oltre 15 milioni di nostri connazionali in viaggio all’estero utilizzano le carte di credito per effettuare acquisti, mentre circa 11 milioni usano la carta di debito e 9 milioni la carta prepagata.
I dati emersi dalla ricerca hanno quindi stimolato Visa Europe a fornire delle chiare e semplici indicazioni per chi viaggia all’estero, affinché i titolari di carte Visa siano informati su quali sono i metodi di pagamento più convenienti quando si è in vacanza o in viaggio in un paese straniero oltre ai vantaggi di utilizzare i prodotti a marchio Visa una volta arrivati a destinazione.
– Se vi recate in un Paese extra-Euro, prima di partire cominciate a familiarizzare con la valuta straniera: Consultate le informazioni sulla valuta locale e fatevi un’idea di quanto possano costare, rispetto all’Italia, spese come un taxi dall’aeroporto, un caffè, il trasporto pubblico e così via.
– Portate con voi meno contante o valuta possibile: Usare una carta Visa durante le vacanze è il modo più intelligente di pagare le proprie spese all’estero, non solo in quanto vi tutela da eventuali frodi, ma anche perché spesso è richiesta a garanzia per le prenotazioni. Inoltre a volte non è neanche permesso il pagamento in contanti, come spesso accade presso alberghi o servizi di autonoleggio. Con le carte Visa, accettate presso 38 milioni di esercenti nel mondo, pagare le vostre spese all’estero sarà facile e comodo come in Italia. Infine usare la vostra carta Visa vi eviterà di accumulare contante straniero inutilizzato.
– Accedete al tasso di cambio migliore: Considerate che utilizzare la carta Visa all’estero per acquisti in valuta straniera vi offrirà comunque un tasso migliore rispetto agli uffici di cambio valuta dell’aeroporto e paragonabile, se non più conveniente, al costo della valuta corrente presso un ufficio di cambio in città.
– Selezionate la valuta locale: Se state utilizzando la vostra carta Visa per effettuare un pagamento o un prelievo in una nazione con valuta extra-Euro, potrebbe venirvi richiesto di scegliere di pagare in valuta locale o con la valuta del vostro paese d’origine. Selezionare l’opzione valuta locale vi permetterà di accedere a tariffe più competitive e di evitare commissioni nascoste.
– Utilizzate gli strumenti messi a disposizione per voi: Se vi servisse del contante solitamente è più conveniente prelevarlo una volta giunti a destinazione presso uno sportello automatico per i prelievi (ATM).
– Approfittate delle promozioni legate alla vostra carta Visa: Se questa estate siete in procinto di visitare Barcellona, Berlino, Parigi, Londra o Milano, pagando con carta Visa avrete diritto a una serie di sconti, promozioni esclusive e offerte grazie alle Visa City Offers consultabili al link http://www.visaitalia.com/visa-city-offers