WASHINGTON, DC - - The President and Mrs. Clinton are hosting Prime Minister and Mrs. Prodi at a White House Official Dinner on Wednesday, May 6, 1998. Prime Minister and Mrs. Prodi will arrive at the North Portico at 7:15 p.m..

Guests will be received by the President and Mrs. Clinton, and Prime Minister and Mrs. Prodi, in the Cross Hall of the White House. Following the receiving line, the President and Mrs. Clinton will escort Prime Minister and Mrs. Prodi into the East Room for dinner.

The tables in the East Room will be set with Eisenhower gold base plates; the Franklin Delano Roosevelt china will be used for service. Kennedy Morgantown crystal and gold flatware from the vermeil service will be set on antique green tablecloths. The gold candlestick centerpieces will be surrounded by cream timeless roses, cream lisiantus and fresh green grapes.

The after-dinner entertainment in the East Room will spotlight the next generation of American opera singers, as a tribute to the influence the enduring Italian opera has had on opera around the world.

OFFICIAL DINNER ENTERTAINMENT
Tonight, guests at the Official Dinner in honor of the Honorable Professor Romano Prodi, President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Italy and Mrs. Prodi, will be entertained by a group of gifted, young American opera singers. The singers hail from across the country, and provide a wonderful representation of the talented, rising opera singers being trained in the United States today.

These soloists were recommended by Placido Domingo, who serves as the Artistic Director of the Washington Opera, and have performed at the Washington Opera. The four soloists will be singing with members of the Washington Opera Chorus. The Washington Opera, the resident opera company of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is celebrating its 42nd season and is considered one of the foremost opera companies in the United States.

BIOGRAPHIES OF SOLOISTS
David Miller
Tenor David Miller, age 25, has performed with opera companies in Pittsburgh, Portland, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.. Upcoming engagements include Berlin and Israel. Born in Colorado, Mr. Miller planned to follow in his father and grandfather ,s footsteps and make a career in the military. He dreamt of attending the Air Force Academy and becoming an astronaut until a friend suggested he audition for his high school ,s musical. He didn ,t get the lead, but he joined the choir, sang in the jazz band, and caught the theater bug.

Marcus Haddock
Tenor Marcus Haddock has spent hundreds of hours on a tractor in Texas, singing at the top of his lungs as he plowed cotton. This son of a Baptist preacher only knew gospel music until a college teacher loaned him a recording of "Boheme" at Christmas break. He immediately knew he had to sing opera, which he has since performed admirably in Paris, Milan, Berlin, Amsterdam, Geneva, and Washington, D.C..

Angela Turner Wilson
Soprano Angela Turner Wilson, age 27, first performed opera at the age of twelve. She married her high school sweetheart, sang in musicals throughout college, and has since performed with the Glimmerglass, Connecticut, Eugene, and Washington operas. On film, Ms. Wilson portrayed Coline Jefferson in "Miss Firecracker" starring Holly Hunter, Mary Steenbergen, and Tim Robbins.

Maria Spacagna
Soprano Maria Spacagna's grandparents were born in Italy. Her father took her to hear Licia Albanese sing "Boheme" in their hometown of Providence when she was 10, and she was hooked. Since then, Ms. Spacagna has sung in nearly every major opera house in the world, from Munich and Berlin, to New York and Washington D.C..