For 15 years, Italo Taranta served as the choral director and chairman of the Central music department.
His immense talent, passion and quirky sense of humor made him a beloved and memorable character.
Mr. Taranta died from complications of Alzheimer’s on Nov. 4 at home in Drexel Hill. Pa., but he leaves a vast legacy of creativity, volunteerism, mentoring and inspiration.
Below, read what Eric Owens (247), now a world-renowned opera tenor and 2015 Alumni Hall of Fame inductee, had to say about Mr. Taranta’s influence on him in this article from the fall 2012 Alumni Journal.
Meanwhile, friends are invited to a memorial service for Mr. Taranta on Saturday Nov. 22 at 11 a.m., at Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, Media, Pa. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Settlement Music School (where Mr. Taranta was choral director for 30 years), P.O. Box 63966, Philadelphia, Pa., 19147, Attn: Italo Taranta Memorial Financial Aid Fund, P.O. Box 63966, Philadelphia, PA 19147, Attn: The Italo Taranta Memorial Financial Aid Fund.
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