Giovanni Allevi and the regret of not having embraced Pope Francis: “I was young, I did not understand that sometimes it is good to follow the heart”

Giovanni Allevi It doesn’t turn around us. If he thinks of Pope Francis he has a great regret: «I would have liked to embrace him and I didn’t do it». A regret that arises from the memory of their encounter, of which she still has in mind “the strong close of the hands, the sense of familiarity, its clear smile”. And that missed embrace: “I was young, I did not understand that sometimes it is good to follow the heart to the end”, reveals in an interview with the Corriere della Serto.

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The pianist has a lot in common with the pontiff who died on April 21st. “In his story I humbly review mine. Francesco had the courage to renew the Church institution by bringing it close to people, not only through its surprising theological thought, but also with the sincere smile, the tone of the voice, the vulnerable posture. His pontificate subverted the hierarchies certainly causing strong internal oppositions, yet people loved him immediately. Perhaps, towards classical music, in my story, I recognize the same dynamics” explains.

But, in common with Bergoglio, Giovanni Allevi also has the suffering for the disease. Not surprisingly, one of his memories on the Pope is linked to certain words spoken by Francesco. “When he said “The walls of the hospitals have listened to more sincere prayers than many churches” I was unable to not return with my mind to my long and suffered oncological hospitalization, “he says.

The pianist, in fact, has been fighting against multiple myeloma for years. He shared the suffering and the fight against illness with fans and followers. And it fully includes the Pope’s words. “I have been in the balance for months between life and death. I also remember what had been theto my sincere prayer among those walls. Not to make me heal. It would not have been right towards other patients. I asked God to give me the strength to accept pain and fear, of welcoming what fate would have reserved for me ».

Giovanni Allevi: «My mission, now, is to give dignity to pain, which is the thing that unites us. The hope that one day a report will come, that tells me that I have nothing more, remains in the heart “

A suffering not to do it anymore. On June 2, 2022 everything blocked. Then the recovery. And now the new tour in the most magical places in Italy, during which the composer and philosopher will perform the concert he had written in the hospital for the first time. Warning: if your cell phone rings in it, he is happy

And, for this reason, if today he had the opportunity to play something for Bergoglio, Allevi would have no doubts: “I would dedicate an unpublished composition to him: the Adagio from the MM22 concert for cello and orchestra that I composed in the hospital, On the notes of the name “myeloma”, my illness». A song that no one has yet heard, “poignant” and “full of humanity”. And the pianist manages to imagine even the Pope’s reaction. “I am sure that from up there Francesco would welcome the notes with his beloved smile».

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