Fifth Avenue is used to seeing everything; it’s famous for films, high fashion, and luxury hotels. But perhaps it did not expect to be enveloped by the notes of ‘Va Pensiero.’ Instead, the International Friends of Festival Verdi amazed those present at the Gala by involving them in an unexpected opera performance initiated by a ‘plainclothes’ choir that had infiltrated the audience. Music, food, and spectacle amazed the many Americans who attended the event and offered them a taste of what Parma has to offer.
“I am delighted and honored to be here one year after my election,” said Mayor Michele Guerra in his introductory speech. “I had the opportunity to get to know the Friends of the Verdi Festival during my time as a councilor. Your passion and commitment are really important to us because they allow us to be present and recognizable at an international level. We are opening up new perspectives for the Teatro Regio. Giuseppe Verdi is one of the most beloved Parmigiani in the world, and we are strongly committed to promoting him.”
In the United States, Verdi is a symbol of Italian excellence. Opera fans know the acts of ‘La Traviata,’ ‘Rigoletto,’ ‘Aida,’ and ‘Nabucco’ by heart. Those who study opera dream of doing so in Parma, as the opera singers present at the event recounted. Some succeed and never forget their experience in the city. “Parma has remained in my heart,” explains Manami Aoki, a Japanese soprano living in New York who spent a training period at the Conservatorio Arrigo Boito. “Living there was a dream, not only because of the quality of the teaching I received but also because of the food, culture, and atmosphere of the city that I have grown to love over time.”
These qualities were also noted by the president of the Friends of Festival Verdi, James E. Miller, who invited everyone to visit the city. “If you have never done it,” he said, “you must go. I have seen the best operas and eaten the best food of my life there.”
The Festival, scheduled from September 16th to October 16th, expects to welcome hundreds of American music lovers. “The positive value of initiatives like these,” explains Luciano Messi, Superintendent of the Teatro Regio, “is that they attract quality tourism. During the Festival, people arrive from America who stay in the city for up to ten days and, in addition to attending the operas, have time to discover Parma and its province.” They often end up falling in love with it.
In New York, everyone has fond memories of Parma, describing it as a little pearl of Italy, a historic city where culture and elegance are in the air. For New Yorkers, accustomed to vast spaces and buildings whose tops are often difficult to see, the cobblestones of the center, the countryside, and the frescoed palaces are sights that are hard to forget.
“If you come to Parma for Verdi,” Guerra concluded, “you will discover traces of him in everything you encounter. From the Duomo and the Baptistery to the fields of our plain, you will see what characterized and inspired his work. By visiting us, you will come back with a more complete idea of Parma. And you will not regret it.”
