The composer Giovanni Allevi this evening on the Ariston stage – ANSA
When the delicate notes of the song Tomorrow ends on the last key of the piano, there is a standing ovation for Giovanni Allevi, who returned to play after two years of long battle against myeloma, leaving his message of strength and hope from the Ariston stage. The song was written while hospitalized. An exciting and emotional return, because, as Allevi explains, «the illness affected my ability to play the piano». The highest moment of the second evening of the Sanremo Festival which saw the competition continue with 15 singers until Amadeus introduces the maestro while a very long applause starts from the audience in the room with shouts of “bravo”.
Allevi’s monologue at the Festival in which he talks about the harshness of the disease strikes a chord. «Suddenly everything collapsed for me. I haven’t played the piano in front of an audience for almost two years – she says in front of the cameras before approaching the piano -. In my last concert, at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the pain in my back was so bad that during the final applause I couldn’t get up from the stool. And I didn’t know I was sick yet. Then came the very serious diagnosis.” Allevi says he lost a lot, his job, his hair, his certainties “but not his hope and the desire to imagine”.
But Allevi then also talks about the unexpected “gifts” that the disease brought him: the newfound awareness of the value of the uniqueness of the individual, the gratitude for the affection one receives from other patients, “I call them warriors” ( and is moved by thinking of sick children and their parents) the gratitude towards doctors and nurses and scientific research, the closeness of the family. And then “gratitude towards the beauty of Creation” and then, quoting Kant, the soul is “something that persists and it is reasonable to think that it will remain forever”. Finally the last gift: “When everything collapses and only the essential, the judgment we receive from the outside no longer counts. How liberating it is to be yourself” says Allevi while making the symbolic gesture of taking off his hat live. He who has always made his dark, curly hair a distinctive feature, shows off his silver hair without fear. At this point the curtain rises and Allevi goes towards the piano and – after two years – returns to playing the piano performing Tomorrow. But first he warns: “No longer being able to rely on my body, I will play with all my soul”.
An exciting and emotional return, because, as Allevi explains, «the illness affected my ability to play the piano». Before a memorable evening, equally memorable was his entry into the press room in the afternoon to say hello, excited and smiling, and to tell his story.
The fight against the disease is far from over for the world-loved maestro, but Giovanni is here. «When there is no longer certainty about the future, we must live the present more intensely. It’s as if I’ve snatched a handful of years from my end and I want to live them as intensely as possible.” Emotion spreads among those present, he himself will eventually be overwhelmed by hugs and a few tears. But in the middle there is all the wisdom of the philosopher-musician who returned to composing, and a lot, during the long months in hospital. «I’m not here to celebrate anything – he says in a calm but not resigned voice -. Unfortunately, myeloma is a chronic neoplasm, so it is a battle that is never won. My presence here means the immense joy of living in the present. And then, if I can, to give some strength and hope to other patients because they give it to me.”
After two years of absence due to treatment, Allevi will launch a message from the Ariston stage, «a reflection on the very delicate topic of the disease, a topic that unfortunately directly or indirectly involves many of us» he anticipates to the press. First of all, she thanks BigMama, the 23-year-old singer in the competition who suffered from a tumor similar to hers, winning her battle and who said she was happy to see him on stage as a symbol of hope. «I thank you because you gave me strength by reading your words – adds the maestro -. This experience of illness puts you in contact with the deepest core of human fragility. Which is terrible to go through, but at the same time you discover authentic life there.” Because Allevi highlights “how illness and suffering represented for me the opportunity to discover a new vision of the world and things”.
Music helped him on this difficult path. «During the long hospital stays I didn’t have the instrument at hand, but above all I was able to compose music in my mind – reveals he-him. I realized that this music was totally free and gave meaning to my suffering. I transformed my fear, my anxiety, the fear for the future, that the therapies wouldn’t work, my back pain, everything into notes. How beautiful that music and art are an opportunity to transform human fragility into a strength, an enveloping force.”
What does tomorrow mean for Giovanni Allevi? «I became stoic in this period, I approached the stoicism of the philosopher emperor Marcus Aurelius, and I made my own the thought that when there is no longer certainty about the future one must live the present intensely – he explains -. By Tomorrow I don’t mean a very distant future, but an expanded present that starts from today and reaches tomorrow. But there is hope that tomorrow there will be a more beautiful day for all of us.”
The future also includes new projects. There is a tour scheduled for Giovanni Allevi starting on February 12th from the Teatro Regio in Parma. «I know I have a solo piano tour waiting for me, my staff was very good because they made it small so as not to make me too tired. We have developed a short tour with spaced out dates, but the public’s affection is so great that I already know that it has sold out and other dates have been added.” Will it be an opportunity to listen to his new compositions? «During the tour I would like to slowly include those new songs that I wrote during my illness and which are many. But since I need certainties during the tour I will perform my so-called “great hits” – he adds, shielding himself -. Not because I want to play only the known pieces, but because they are in my hands. And if back pain or a sudden tremor arises, my fingers know what they have to do.”