Not so long ago, Silvia Colloca had stopped dreaming about recording an album. While she is best known for writing cookbooks and presenting television shows such as Silvia’s Italian Table and Cook like an Italian, she is also an opera singer and actor.

Then a year ago, out of the blue, Cyrus Meher-Homji, the Senior Vice President, Classics & Jazz /Arts & Entertainment at Universal Music Group, approached Colloca with what she describes as “this mad idea” of signing her to Decca Australia.

Silvia_Colloca. Photo courtesy of Decca Australia.

“I couldn’t believe it, because I came close to getting signed by a record label twice in my life: once, when I was really young – it was probably good that it didn’t happen then, because I probably was not ready – and then again 10 or 12 years later, when I probably was ready,” Colloca tells Limelight.

“I got so close I could touch it, and then it didn’t happen. It broke my heart, really, and I parked that dream away. I continued to sing and do live performances and shows, but I just never thought that I’d be releasing music. And then,...