When music sows hope in the face of deathAllevi is a musician who, when he ends up exhausted on stage after having given his all in a piano concert, while listening to the applause of the audience, he pats the instrument with his thanks, as if not taking credit for what happened on stage.
I happened to run into him on a flight. I had him in front of my seat and I recognized him because his curly black lion's mane was sticking out of the back of his seat (he's a very tall guy). I couldn't resist my curiosity and I don't know how I did it, but I found myself chatting with him. I told him that I admired his talent and listened to his music. At the time, he would have been about 50 years old, but he seemed much younger in dress and dynamism.
A special sensitivity
The feeling he gave me was that of a normal guy, active, nervous, creative, charming, kind, an artist. Giovanni Allevi was coming back from MadridHe told me he was fascinated by the city, to record for a television program. It did not escape my notice that he was carrying one of those cell phones that were no longer in use (the ones that only serve to call and receive calls). I could not resist asking him the reason for this choice and his answer was beautiful: "I am a musician and I compose, I need inner silence. The electronic sound and the images on the screen distract me from my goal: inspiration. The music. I was shocked, but I understood the answer perfectly. I remember that he communicated with me with words, but also with his soul, I could understand very well what he wanted to say even though he didn't speak much.
When we arrived at Malpensa airport in Milan, everyone went their own way to pick up their bags. I was with my three young children and I was making sure that none of them got lost in the crowd. Suddenly, I saw a tall man with curly black hair approaching me to say goodbye: Allevi. He told me that I had beautiful children, I think he, at that moment, was missing his own. I was shocked, because I thought that celebrities rushed through airports so as not to be recognized by the masses. When, for professional reasons, he was away from his family, he felt a slight sense of guilt, like any good father. He compensated by living intensely the moments he spent with his children and dedicating some of his compositions to them.
Famous people -I also believed before that meeting with the musician- did not say goodbye to people they met casually an hour ago on an airplane trip. I noticed in him a great sensitivity that must be consubstantial to being a composer. I understood that he listens to silence and fills the space with melody.
Diagnosis
About two years after this meeting I learned from the media that in the summer of 2022, Giovanni Allevi announced that he was suffering from a tough disease: multiple myeloma. It is an incurable disease and his survival is between 3 and 4 years. The disease he suffers from has a serious prognosis because only 3 percent of patients are still alive after 10 years. He has a cancer that has led him to be admitted to the Milan Tumor Institute to receive the appropriate therapy. The musician recognizes that he is "heroically getting out of hell". This is a very expressive way of communicating what he is going through: multiple myeloma cells are abnormal plasma cells that accumulate in the bone marrow and form tumors in many bones of the body. He must be in a lot of pain: he has trouble maintaining the correct posture while playing the piano and his hands are shaking.
Giving up music
Giovanni Allevi is 55 years old, married to a pianist who is also his manager, Nada Bernardo, and they have two children: Giorgio and Leonardo. Of his private life not much more than this is known. Despite his fame, he has always kept well away from selling his intimacy. As a musician he only offers his gift, music.
Now, tormented, with wounds and nightmares, his hands tremble... and, in his low hours, he also has to give up the greatest thing he has inside: music. When he feels a little better, he offers a concert to his audience. Life has hit him in body and soul, but he is happy when the piano is waiting for him.
She has an instagram account (you can tell she has been advised she should have one) and recently wrote to her followers, "My condition confirms to me that there is a world made of humanity, gentleness, authenticity and courage."
Fragility and music
A very special being, to whom life had prepared a hard test that he is bearing with courage. In addition to the gift of music, we now discover his great ability to show pain without fear. Allevi thinks that, as a composer, it is his music that he can offer us. He is aware of having received a gift, a gift: music. The same gift that now gives him hope and encouragement to LIVE. It seems to me that this Italian musician is an example that the gifts received are to serve and relieve others.
Fortunately, in music there are no winners or losers, only the desire to share emotions and experiences. For the pianist, emotion is the language through which we communicate with sincerity, undressing ourselves without fear of showing ourselves fragile and defenseless, because it is in fragility where our strength lies in a world dragged by reason towards extreme competitiveness.
