The ACDMAE Choir
The Women’s Choir of the Association of Diplomatic Spouses of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ACDMAE) is comprised of the spouses of Foreign Service officers. It was created to meet the challenges posed by performing early musical styles, notably Renaissance and Baroque. The ensemble is comprised entirely of non-professional singers. What makes it unique among similar institutions is that its members are constantly rotating to meet the professional demands of the personnel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This brings with it a richness as well as a unique set of challenges.
Choral Director and Founder Nancy Romano, professional musician and diplomatic spouse, created the ACDMAE Choir in September 2008.
The choir has collaborated on various occasions with the Scarlatti Orchestra of Naples and the Orchestra of Italian Cinema of Rome and has performed in prestigious locales and places of great cultural importance both nationally and internationally.
Italian highlights include: Villa d’Este in Tivoli; the Pavone Theater and the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter in Perugia; the Italian Mission to the Holy See and to the United Nations both in Rome; the Italian Latin-American Institute, the Churches of San Luigi dei Francesi and Navicella and the Rome Auditorium. In 2012, the ACDMAE Choir performed at Villa Madama, with a concert for the Pontifical Academy of Science and at Palazzo Farnese, Villa Wolkonsky for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and the San Giuseppe Artigiano Basilica in Aquila, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the earthquake that hit the city, yhe baroque music Festival in Cattania, in 2015, and Ravenna Festival in 2018.
Other international highlights include: the Italian Consulate in Madrid, 2011; the Diplomatic Academy in Kiev and St. Andrew’s Church, 2012; the Italian Embassy in Lisbon and the prestigious Foz Palace; the Sicilian Theater in the Italian Ambassador’s residence and at the church of Saint Pierre de Chaillot in Paris,the Italian Ambassador’s residence in Berlin, in 2013. The Italian Cultural Institute in Prague and the Italian Embassy and Holy Trinity Church Prince Consort Road in London, 2014; the Italian Embassy in Vienna, 2015, the Presidential Palace of the Gran Maestro in Malta, in 2016, Lyon and Stockholm in 2018, Moscow in 2019.
Another milestone came in December 2011 with the release of the choir’s first Christmas Carols CD. Its sacred and profane hymns span the medieval period to modern times.
Nancy Milesis Romano
Founder and Music Director of the Choir, a professional musician and diplomatic spouse herself, she graduated in piano and singing at the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires. In 1994 she moved to Italy, where she began an in-depth study of baroque music, that led her to dedicate herself with passion to this repertoire and to be part of several baroque ensembles in the Italian Capital City. In Kiev she studied direction of chamber music. She also studied and worked in the USA, Mexico, Germany, Georgia and Ukraine.