Giuseppe Verdi composed some of the greatest operas ever – La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Aida, Otello and many others. But he regarded his finest accomplishment not as a particular opera but another great project: the building of a retirement home for singers and musicians.
Casa Verdi stands to this day on the Piazza Michelangelo Buonarroti in Milan, having welcomed more than 1,500 retirees since it opened more than a century ago. The Oscar-contending documentary Viva Verdi! enters this remarkable dwelling where violinists, harpists, percussionists, pianists and singers from soprano to basso live their golden years in a splendidly music-filled environment.
“When I walked in for the first time, I could hear almost like sonic colors that were floating through the hallways,” writer-director-producer Yvonne Russo recalled as she took part in a panel discussion at Deadline’s Contenders Documentary virtual event. “I just knew, wow, this place is pretty magical. … Giuseppe Verdi willed his fortune to create this home, and there’s no other place like it in the world.”
The film from La Monte Productions, SimonSays Entertainment and Wanbli introduces us to Claudio Giombi, Lina Vasta, Anthony Kaplen, Chitose Matsumoto and other Casa Verdi residents. Matsumoto, a singer and pianist from Japan who made her career in Italy, told the filmmakers she would be homeless were in not for Casa Verdi. Writer-producer-EP Christine La Monte discovered what the Casa di Riposo means to its guests.
“First of all, you see these little Verdi altars in every room,” La Monte noted. “All of [the guests] say, ‘My dreams have come true here. I don’t have to think about work. I can work with other artists.’ It’s a dream come true for all of them.”
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Emmy-winning British composer Nicholas Pike composed the score for Viva Verdi!, including an aria, “Sweet Dreams of Joy,” for the end of the film performed by soprano Ana María Martinez. Pike said that writing the aria, which is in contention for Best Original Song at the Oscars, came easily for him – perhaps channeling the genius of Verdi.
“Christine … gave me this 12-minute clip [of the film] … It was just so full of life,” Pike recalled. “It was so inspiring that I literally walked over to the piano behind me and wrote that piece. It doesn’t happen like that all the time. Many projects you’re on, you’re like, ‘OK, I’ve got to find something to inspire me to write here.’ That was not the case here. It was just full-on right from the beginning.”
Check back Tuesday for the panel video.