Hers is certainly not an unfamiliar name, nor is she an unfamiliar face to the Australian public at large.  However, the release of her first album, in which she sings four songs solo, is for Silvia Colloca, the realisation of a dream.

It’s a dream she’s held on to since she was a young girl, playing in the eclectic rock bands of the Milan of her youth ― a style entirely different from classical music, or opera, which Silvia only ventured into later on in life.

Her album, Sing Like an Italian, is due out on October 14 and will be released by Decca, a label that has represented some of the greatest classical voices of all time.

Known to many as a food-loving television personality who has co-produced, co-created and co-written Italian cooking programs, Silvia, an Australian citizen since 2017, is one of the most successful Italians of recent years.

She is an eclectic artist, a multi-hyphenate performer whose talents have been divided between acting, singing and the authoring of several books, mainly about cooking, and inspired of course by Italian food - the traditional, home-made kind because, as she herself says:

“The training received from my mother and grandmother since I was born must count for something.”

A professional opera singer, Colloca trained at the Scuola Musicale di Milano, and has performed in some of Europe's finest theatres, including the London Palladium, Berlin's Tempodrom and Milan's Teatro Nazionale. Her most recent film appearance was as Maria in Little Tornadoes (2022). Silvia also appeared, in a recurring role, in a Foxtel drama series - The Twelve - which aired last August.

After signing her contract with Decca, Silvia made her first ever recordings.

Appropriately titled Sing Like an Italian, Silvia sings four songs solo on the album. These include an opera aria by Gluck, a Neapolitan song (Non ti scordar di me), a Christmas lullaby that Silvia translated into Italian (Tranquillo, bambino, with harpist Marshall McGuire) and the evergreen Con te partirò (Time to Say Goodbye). Her accompanying pianist is Van-Anh Nguyen, also a Decca Australia artist. The remainder of the album comprises Silvia's selection of some of her favourite opera arias, and interpretations of songs by artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Cecilia Bartoli, Patrizio Buanne, Vittorio Grigolo and Freddie De Tomasso.

Singing has always been one of Silvia’s passions. However, her love for the classical voice developed later in her youth, at around the age of 21. Abandoning both a degree in Education and singing in rock bands, she turned to classical music and honed this skill over more than two decades. Now, she finally has the chance to share her passion with the public with an album of her own.

“It took me more than 20 years to commit my voice to recordings,” says Silvia.

“It’s nerve-racking and exhilarating at the same time. I hope this will lead everyone to believe that it’s never too late to achieve your goals.”