The music lives on
Music is beauty, an instrument of peace that surmounts any ideology. It is a world where I —an opera artist, a concert player, a soprano—belong. A world that was dramatically wounded by Covid-Sars 19 Pandemic.
The cadence of daily life on the streets of my city, Rome, was silenced. Yet, the emptiness of the surroundings did not forebode how devastating this would all be. I am the founder of the Accademia Musicale e Artistica Maria Rosa Coccia di Roma and as my academy closed desolation came in.
More and more became ill. Governments and laymen were at a loss of how to deal with this all. This virus was a powerful equalizer. Darkness set in and fear enveloped us. My opera music, disseminated primarily through concerts, with closed theaters and artists at home, suffered. Music was not on any persons’ priority list.
It grew worse. Reports of increased deaths. In spite of our grief and fear we learned coping skills. We resigned to the loss of the comfort of a hug, of gatherings of people with like interests. Our social existence was now frailly continued online.
I will never forget an image on tv of an infinite number of Italian Army trucks transporting the coffins of those fallen. Seemingly in slow motion they advanced stressing the fragility of men.
I am a woman of action. But what could I do? In one of our musings, a very good tenor, pupil of mine, Luigi Corrias suggested that we should do something among ourselves. Right after, happenstance would bring Eduardo Borges —a friend I had not seen in 30 years— and I together. We birthed a son: Classicotv, a streaming service through which my beloved music would stay alive. We were joined by Isabel Norniella and her television channel Olé TV which is broadcast through Roku, Atlantic Broadband and other media worldwide giving us an even wider audience. Isabel has been recognized by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History as an Advertising Pioneer.
We have produced three concerts following strict protocols and protecting all involved and have rejoiced in knowing this is a much needed outlet. We recognize and empathize with the people and families of the tragedy that befell the world and are in the midst of preparing a huge world event, In Memoriam, to honor those lost. From the heart of Rome, The Eternal City, we will pay them homage and remember with the universal language of the Requiem in Re Minore K 626 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. With all the solemnity that the drama we are living deserves, and the wonderful very descriptive and painful music that exudes suffering in tears, the heart of Europe unites itself with the pain of the whole world, praying at the same time for the end of the scourge and for the mercy of God.
Mine is a story of resilience. My pandemic story is populated by death and rebirth… the story of every human being. My dream expressed in a few lines because words count for so little. Actions are needed now more than ever.
“Where words die, music is born.” (H. Heine)
