Honouring Nana in Elder Hall
Loretta with her daughter and Mum at the Elder Hall donor thank you
Classical violinist, passionate educator, and Elder Conservatorium alum Loretta De Palma has honoured her Nana with a seat dedication through the Take a Seat campaign.
“My Nana was born in Sicily in 1922 with this incredible gift of music. Any instrument she touched, she could play.”
“She grew up in Sydney, singing at all the Italian festivals and clubs – even singing with Dame Joan Sutherland – before she met my grandfather and they settled in Grange.”
“They lived a very humble, simple life, but it was so full of beautiful music and food – and that was our upbringing as their grandchildren. We were so blessed.”
Loretta inherited her Nana’s talent and passion for music and studied classical violin at the Elder Conservatorium.
I just loved every bit of my time with the University. I was a very shy girl in school, and being studious wasn’t really my thing. But when I found this passion for music… Well, I just felt very lucky to have found my niche.Loretta
Loretta's Nana, Josephine Amato
Since graduating, Loretta has worked in music and performing arts education around South Australia. When she came across the Take a Seat campaign, she knew it was the perfect opportunity to preserve her Nana’s legacy and celebrate their connection through music.
“I know she would just love this. It’s such a beautiful way of preserving the essence of her and what she shared and gave to so many people.”
Donations through the Take a Seat campaign supported the refurbishment of the Elder Conservatorium, including replacing the seating to be more complimentary to the heritage structure of the building. The engraved plaques were placed on the backs of the new seats and will remain in place for at least 10 years.
“I’d most definitely recommend this to others, it feels like such a beautiful celebration of my Nana’s life,” said Loretta.
More than 100 seats have been “taken” and bear dedicatory plaques featuring donor names or those of their loved ones. There is still an opportunity to be included in ‘Take a Seat’ and be acknowledged with an engraved plaque placed on the back of a seat.