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Renard Press signs 'moving' memoir from Opera Holland Park founder Volpe
Renard Press has landed Do I Bark Like A Dog? the memoir from Michael Volpe, founder of Opera Holland Park.
Publisher Will Dady acquired world English rights directly from the author. The memoir will be published on 27th March 2024.
Pitched as a "timely exploration of Italian culture and its reach into Britain", Do I Bark Like A Dog? is a "beautifully written and frank memoir" which explores Volpe’s life in London, growing up in the city’s immigrant Italian community, and summers spent in Italy with his extended family.
Dady has described the memoir as a "deeply moving testimony to Volpe’s mother and her family, and an extraordinary journey into the heart of a life that has left an indelible mark on the world of opera".
In 2020 Volpe was awarded an OBE for services to opera after founding the Opera Holland Park in 1996 and becoming a specialist in late Italian opera.
He has previously written a memoir, published by Two Roads, Noisy at the Wrong Times, and retired from Opera Holland Park in 2020.
Dady commented: "I’m delighted to have acquired Michael Volpe’s memoir. Not only has he left an indelible mark on the world of opera, challenging expectations and completely upending its reputation for being a snooty, elitist art form, but he’s not afraid to talk about uncomfortable subjects.
"Beyond the basic economic and political fallout from Brexit, we hear more and more about the growing unease immigrant communities are facing in the UK. Michael’s unique insight into this, and his exploration of an identity that firmly straddles the European continent, is compelling and profoundly moving."
