18 years: Parma in the company of Verdi, Barezzi, Battiato, and the Festival

I don’t like looking back, and those close to me know this well. But the 18th anniversary of the Barezzi Festival deserves to be honoured and recalled in the right way. Everything started in 2001, six years before the Festival, when I entered the Teatro Regio in Parma for the first time to participate in Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi as an extra. It was the celebration of 100 years since the death of the Swan of Busseto, with many operas in the city featuring very extravagant and innovative productions. Almost all of them were booed resoundingly, including Il Trovatore, in which I took part. Only La Traviata directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci was spared, the one with the red armchairs! Many afternoons were spent in the rehearsal room, which even today is practically located in the attic of the theatre. Many singers, dressed in jeans and sweaters, rehearsed the same aria over and over for hours. Among them, I was struck by Il balen del suo sorriso performed by baritone Vittorio Vitelli, a very young Count Luna: “Ma l’amor, l’amore è un dardo!” And it was overwhelming love. For months, actually for years, I did nothing but listen to those melodies, attending dozens and dozens of operas at the Regio and all over Italy. That world had taken hold of me.

Naturally, in Parma, with its warm colours, fogs, and silences, I was catapulted into the music and life of Giuseppe Verdi. A life that touched myth and legend, intertwining with the history of our country. A great man who was the architect of his own destiny. But what immediately struck me was the figure of Antonio Barezzi, who, in a small village like Busseto (even today far from everything), had the foresight and determination to support that young boy, welcoming him into his home from the very beginning to ensure he could study. Yet, Barezzi was not a musician, but a great enthusiast and self-taught in several instruments. He was a very curious and visionary grocer, a highly respected figure, and at the same time opposed by part of the town, the more conservative side that didn’t like change. This small yet great man supported the one who would become the most performed opera composer in the world. He supported him even when Verdi was rejected by the Conservatory of Milan, which today bears his name. When the maestro composed Macbeth, he dedicated it to his patron. Before the performance, Verdi played parts of that opera on the piano at Casa Barezzi for his second father, who, lying on his deathbed, managed to say his last words: “El mè Verdi… el mè Verdi.” A few years later, the composer wrote: “To Antonio Barezzi. I owe everything to him, and to HIM alone!”

But let’s get back to us. As you can understand, this character, Barezzi, struck me even more than the star, Mr. Giuseppe Verdi. Indeed, without him, Peppino would have surely remained a complete unknown. Ever since my early days in Parma as a student, I’ve always wondered, and been amazed, why such a figure had never been properly celebrated. So, in 2006/2007, at the Gran Caffè dei Marchesi, we decided to create something in the name of Antonio Barezzi, something beautiful for young talented musicians: a competition without barriers of genres and styles, where musicians would confront the music of Giuseppe Verdi “in their own way.” We immediately got busy in a very artisanal way to create the rules; at that time, there were no social networks, only MySpace, we had nothing but a lot of strength and hope: thus, Barezzi Live was born. I vividly remember the excitement when the postman arrived with the application and a CD with the songs! It didn’t seem real to us—over 60 entries arrived that year. The first selections were held at the café, and I remember we even built an awful wooden stage placed outside the venue. The final was held in Busseto, in front of Casa Barezzi. The mayor at the time, Luca Laurini, financed a stage and the service. The Parmesans Djangos Fingers won. Almost no one came, or close to it. I remember my father’s worried look and my mother’s reassuring one.

But I wasn’t too discouraged by the event’s outcome; on the contrary, I seriously thought (with all the youthful recklessness of the time) about creating a festival linked to artists who, in their careers, had engaged with classical music. A big event had to be added to the competition. Thanks to the great support of my friend and mentor Alessandro Nidi, we wrote an email to Franco Battiato, asking him to participate the following year in 2008, with a tribute to Giuni Russo, who had recently passed away and whose patron was Battiato. Battiato immediately responded, and we were beside ourselves with excitement. With Laura Fantastico and Alessandro, we were invited to his home in Milo on June 4, 2008. I won’t dwell on this visit, which would deserve an article of its own. Battiato welcomed us with great hospitality and agreed to come to Barezzi for free! He warned us about one thing: “Be careful, between Parma and Milan, there’s a stalker who’s been bothering me. I kindly ask you to ensure a minimum of security.” We were new to these kinds of events and, of course, I didn’t organise any security, thinking, “As if she’ll follow him all the way to Busseto.” Well, when we arrived in Piazza Verdi and got out of my Multipla, from behind a column, she appeared—the stalker, who pounced on poor Battiato and kissed him on the mouth! “Damn it,” he exclaimed, “I only asked you for one thing! I’m leaving!!!” That gentle lamb we had left in Milo had turned into an angry tiger in the lowlands of Busseto. I didn’t know how to handle the situation, which worsened hour by hour until his performance. Not because he wanted to act like a star, but because we were absolutely unprepared for that kind of event. When I think about it now, I realise that he was a true gentleman; anyone else would have left after ten minutes.

Battiato’s “yes” to Barezzi marked the real turning point, right from the start. Without him, we would have continued organising small concerts on a broken wooden platform. From that year onwards, institutions and sponsors began to support us more and more, allowing us to write the history that many know today and that has brought us to where we are. We were able to refine and modify the competition, and Barezzi Lab was born, integrated into a richer and more complex offering like the Barezzi Festival. Over these 18 years, we’ve hosted great legends of music like Franco Battiato, Herbie Hancock, Paolo Conte, Philip Glass, and icons like Rufus Wainwright, Echo and the Bunnymen, Jesus and Mary Chain, Vinicio Capossela, Anna Calvi, Nils Frahm, Blonde Redhead, Wim Mertens, Kula Shaker, and young artists who would later rise to fame like Brunori Sas, Calcutta, Raphael Gualazzi, Thegiornalisti, Levante, and many others. We’re proud to have hosted, for the first time in Italy, giants like Benjamin Clementine, Michael Kiwanuka, and Fontaines D.C. A true miracle was also the 2020 edition, when, perhaps the only one in Italy, we managed to organise the Festival during the pandemic, with the artists present at Teatro Regio (empty) and over 40 countries connected worldwide through streaming, generating thousands of euros in revenue.

Now we’re growing up, approaching this important moment, which we want to celebrate properly. We’ve planned a three-year project that will make us stronger and more rooted by the time of the 20th anniversary. We face this new challenge with a renewed look, a new graphic design, new resources, and new tools that will take us further. On that note, the most important novelty is the creation of Barezzi Way, a series of concerts in other cities aimed at offering the “Barezzi experience” firsthand. And new energy will also be poured into the already established path of Barezzi Snug and its gastronomy in Parma’s historic centre. But I won’t reveal everything now. There will be time to go into detail calmly and passionately, in the “Barezzi way.”

To conclude, with this reflection, we inaugurate the newsletter, a space where we can delve into nuances and details, continuing in the spirit of the Festival, pursuing cultural explorations through musical geographies and personal and intimate reflections. Welcome.

Finally, I can only thank Laura Fantastico, Alessandro Nidi, and the late Vincenzo Raffaele Segreto, who always supported us with ideas and dreams over dinners that never ended. Thanks to the entire Barezzi Festival family, which has grown bigger and more mature. A special thanks to all the institutions and sponsors that have supported us, and to the large, affectionate audience that has accompanied us with so much love. Without their support, we wouldn’t be here. Thank you!”

Giovanni Sparano – Artistic Director