Verdi's legacy sees old and young musicians live together

Описание: (9 Feb 2020) LEAD IN:
In life, the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi gifted the world of opera the likes of La Traviata and Rigoletto.
But long after his death, Verdi continues to lend a hand to music in the form of Casa Verdi - a home where young and old live classical music like there's no tomorrow.

STORY-LINE:
It's just a normal day at Casa Verdi and a few of the residents have gathered to sing 'Coro degli Schiavi Ebrei', a song from the opera "Nabucco" by Giuseppe Verdi.
95-year-old Bissy Roman is part of this improvised choir. She has been living here at Casa Verdi in Milan for three years.
The Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi built the home to allow musicians with little means to finish their lives in an environment filled with music.
"As I am all alone in this world, I do not have a family, I found a family here once again, and this is what is most precious, beyond the pride I have in being here in Casa Verdi, a place that is so renowned and famous. One can't help feeling proud living here and breathing the air of the most important genius in Italian music, Giuseppe Verdi," she says.
Roman is a musicologist. She taught at New York University (NYU) for many years before returning to Italy.
She officially stopped teaching at 92 years of age but continues to give lessons to the students who live at Casa Verdi.
Indeed, after seeing 25-year-old Corrado Neri play the piano, she introduced him to some of her connections and helped launch his career.
Neri graduated in piano studies at the Milan Conservatory of Music and is pursuing further studies in composing. He has played in a series of concerts thanks to Roman and will be giving a guest lecture at NYU in the coming weeks.
"Their experience that is shared with us is very important, this is not just a place where you share music and your experiences, but it is also a place where you share friendships," says Neri.
"Here a lot of deep friendships are born and it is even more beautiful when this happens between a young student and one of the more elderly residents and that happens quite often here. That is one of the spirits that makes life at Casa Verdi sizzling. It is a life full of incentives, both for us and the older residents and it often brings the possibility to obtain new contacts, for new concerts and new experiences and what we have just done, there are plenty of moments when we share our music together."
Casa Verdi was opened a year after Giuseppe Verdi's death in January 1901.
The home - originally just for the elderly - was ready beforehand, but Verdi did not want anyone to thank him and asked for the home to open only after his death.
Today it hosts 25 residents in need of care, 40 self-sufficient residents and about 20 music students who attend prestigious schools such as La Scala Academy or the Milan Conservatory.
Tenor Beniamino Trevisi moved here with his wife a year ago.
In 1953, after taking part in many concerts in the salons of Parma, the Marquise Lina Pal-lavicino, her son Pierluigi and her cousin Elena introduced Trevisi to Mercedes Carrara Verdi - a descendant of Verdi's cousin Maria Filomena Verdi.
Trevisi started singing at Villa Verdi - the home that Verdi owned until his death in 1901 that is now owned by his descendants.
After winning numerous competitions, he began a long career that included hundreds of concerts all over Italy and abroad, especially in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Switzerland.
In his small apartment, the tenor recalls his career and the encounters that changed his life.  He remembers asking Mercedes Carrara Verdi if he would one day be accepted in Casa Verdi.

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