Beppe Vessicchio, 68 years old, popular conductor and arranger, arrives at Vinitaly to present Ditirambo, a grappa «harmonized” limited edition on which he worked starting from the so-called Mozart effect of music. In the aftermath of Amadeus’ decision to leave Rai, Vessicchio questions the popular host and on the Sanremo Festival.
Maestro Vessicchio, Amadeus left Rai and moved to Nove. What if he was expecting it?
«Rai has become the place where the internal government is subjected to so much pressure, the artist has an identity and his own sensitivity. I don’t know what a man who was Rai can do with well-identified formats. Will he take them with him or create new ones? It will be interesting to understand.”
Five performances in a row at Sanremo, what mark has Amadeus left on the Italian Song Festival?
«Amadeus demonstrated his abilities when he took over the Sanremo Festival, remember that during Covid he did it without an audience at the Ariston. He has shown an ability to manage the festival phenomenon without prosecution. He never repeated himself, he had the courage to follow his own direction. He seemed too unbalanced to current music and less attentive to tradition but I think he also denied my observations between the covers evening on Friday and the relaunch by the young people.”
You have won four festivals as a conductor, they had also launched an appeal to have you return to Sanremo when it became known that you would not participate. How do you remember her return with Jalisse?
«Fiorello did it all, he called me the same day and was preparing a surprise for the Dopofestival, the return of Jalisse. At a certain point, however, word got out, so to leave the surprise effect he proposed that I be found when he discovered the Jalisse hardback. I don’t feel like saying no to Fiorello, he always manages to convince you. From the Dopofestival I found myself ending the evening directly on stage.”
If Amadeus called you for a project on Canale Nove, what would you say?
«I always say yes because he is someone I respect. Then of course it depends on the contents. Now I have my goals on the world of music in general, on the relationship between music and biology, on the Mozart effect in wine, grappa or milk and I’m happy about it. We see”.
In addition to Sanremo, you have also participated in multiple editions of the talent shows. At a certain point, even with the televoting formula, the Italian Song Festival was won by the talent stars. Is this season over?
«I don’t think so, Angelina Mango comes from “Amici”. A force was created, when I worked on “Amici” talent talents were prevented from attending the festival, there was ostracism. Through Marco Carta it was seen that these young people could bring something important to the Festival in terms of audience, Carta had a frightening result in the televoting in his edition.”
If a Rai manager called you, what formula would you suggest for the first post-Amadeus Sanremo?
«The difficulty in working at Rai is the power you can have in such a complex structure. Amadeus at Nove will ask for guarantees of autonomy, following in the wake of those who left Rai for a different network. In Rai it is complicated because the structures that govern it are powerful: network directors, deputy directors, programming managers, the structure managers belong to an already consolidated network that will tend to pull the strings on their own side. Amadeus has done well in recent years because he understood that he had to centralize everything and take responsibility for everything.”
