What: La dolce vita -- Italian Opera Favourites

With: John Fanning, Sinead Sugrue, Jacqueline Woodley, Mia Lennox-Williams, John Tiranno, Boris Brott and the NAO

Where: Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W.

When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $25, senior $20, student $10. 905-525-7664

La dolce vita. The sweet life.

What do those words conjure up for you?

Visions of platinum blond bombshell Anita Ekberg frolicking in Rome's Trevi Fountain in Fellini's 1960 film La dolce vita?

For John Fanning, la dolce vita simply translates as fishin' with the guys.

Yup, the Dundas baritone returned home to his wife last Saturday after a week of the sweet life -- fishing with some of the lads from the Metropolitan Opera.

Fanning's fishing friends included Canadian singers Patrick Carfizzi and Bernie Fitch plus Fitch's cousin Herschel, Bob Paul, and Charlie Anthony, a 54-year Met veteran who holds the record for most performances at that house.

And what do opera singers in a boat do to pass the time while waiting for a nibble on their lines?

Why, sing, of course.

"It's mostly just for fun," said Fanning.

"You hear camp songs. You hear kind of everything. A lot of these guys have done Broadway. Somebody will start one line, and someone else picks it up."

But what about opera repertoire?

Mozart, Wagner, Verdi and Puccini?

"There's not much of that, actually," answered Fanning. "There's more humming to that stuff, and lots and lots of jokes."

Ah, yes.

La dolce vita.

For Boris Brott, la dolce vita means Italian opera favourites by Mozart, Rossini, Verdi and Puccini.

And that's precisely what you'll get next Wednesday night at Mohawk's McIntyre Theatre with Fanning, sopranos Sinead Sugrue and Jacqueline Woodley (the latter from Dundas), Hamilton mezzo Mia Lennox-Williams, and tenor John Tiranno accompanied by Brott and the National Academy Orchestra.

Brott has chosen highlights from Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni by Mozart, as well as Puccini's La boheme.

The second half will include the forceful overture from Verdi's La forza del destino, E lucevan le stelle from Puccini's Tosca and Sempre libera from Verdi's La traviata.

Fanning will let loose with Credo in un Dio crudel from Verdi's Otello prior to the Quartet from Verdi's Rigoletto.

If you applaud long enough, they'll do the Brindisi from Verdi's La traviata for you.

"It's nice to have a whole Italian evening," said Fanning.

"It does sort of have a Mediterranean flair when you're hearing Verdi and Puccini.

"For sure, there's a different feeling than if we were doing (Richard) Strauss and Wagner mixed in with some Massenet."

Fanning, whose '08-'09 season includes a role debut as the lead in Verdi's Macbeth with L'opera de Montreal plus dates covering the roles of Wotan in Wagner's Ring cycle and Count Tomsky in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame at the Met, is full of admiration for the Italian opera composers.

"I think these guys in particular really seem to understand the human condition."

Starting Tuesday, read Leonard Turnevicius's daily reviews from European music festivals at jamilton.ca.