CREMPONA – «Cremona is a truly special city for me: the air you breathe here on a musical level is unique in its kind in the world. And every time I pass through these parts, I can’t help but stop to say hello to a friend of mine, a great friend of mine: Evelino Abeni». Word of Leo Nucci (Castiglione dei Pepoli, 1942), internationally renowned baritone, yesterday in Cremona for a private audition for a young singer, the soprano Ksenia Overko, which was held at Adafa. And just before heading towards Casa Sperlari, Nucci stopped by to visit his dear friend Evelino’s house, in life a great lover of politics and opera music, as well as the author of several publications dedicated to the great Cremonese singers. A hint of inevitable emotion, but also the warmth of meeting again and reconnecting the threads of friendship.
Nucci at Adafa
One afternoon, yesterday, in which Nucci and Abeni, immersed among the countless books of a historical and literary nature present in the latter’s house, they indulged in memoriesrecalling together with their respective wives – Adriana Anelli and Alma Orefice – the good moments they lived together and “that fantastic concert in Soresina in ’94” which effectively began their friendship.
«It all started from there – says Abeni -. Once the musical performance was over, I took pen and paper to immediately write an article that was to be published in the newspaper the next day. ‘We are faced not only with a great artist, but with a star,’ I wrote. And I saw it for a long time. Nucci later read the article and called me. When I realized that Leo Nucci was on the other end of the phone, I couldn’t believe my ears.”
From Soresina to the whole world: «My musical career also started from concerts held in these areas – says the famous baritone -. That’s why I’m very attached to these lands. Today, with my wife Adrianawhose parents, among other things, are originally from Pizzighettonelet’s travel the world: we have just been to Catania, Japan, Oman (at the Royal Opera House in Muscat) and now we have a trip to China, more precisely to Shanghai. Tonight (yesterday for those reading, ed.) we are guests here at Adafa, and it is truly a great honor and source of pride for us. We are in Cremona by golly! – he exclaims -. In the homeland of melodrama, in the city of Monteverdi. A place that I am truly attached to.”
And this indissoluble thread that unites Cremona to Leo Nucci was further sealed a few years ago, first in 2002, when the most famous interpreter of Rigoletto of our times received the Monteverdi prize and later in 2019, the year in which he became an honorary citizen of the city thanks to an initiative promoted by his dear friend Evelino.
The practice of opera singing in Italy was inscribed in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2023, at the end of last year. Yet it could be further valorised, paradoxically especially in Italy, where it is perhaps taken a little for granted. Those who are fascinated by it are above all Eastern and Eastern Europe. “Yes, absolutely. The Chinese population, in particular, is very interested in this musical genre. Suffice it to say that the string quartet that I had created here in Cremona, inaugurated among other things in a room of the Violin Museum, is now there.”
