Bosco Claudio Abbado

Dear Public,

I am honoured and happy to see you all here at Stresa Festival 2024!
This year’s Festival is dedicated to Claudio Abbado, who died ten years ago. Claudio was a true visionary, a rare Maestro, always looking ahead. He trod many paths, but left just as many open to the music to come.   Abbado managed to combine the figure of the artiste with that of a socially committed person, and one of the paths he indicated – which Stresa Festival is taking – leads to Nature, to respect for the planet, and he was convinced music has, and must have, a role.
Twenty-five years ago – well ahead of his times, Abbado said he would return to conduct at La Scala theater if 90,000 trees were planted in Milan. Today this is a very topical subject. A study in 2019 in Science demonstrated that “planting a billion trees” would at least to some extent contribute to solving the climate crisis. Since in the last two centuries humans have cut down two billion trees, planting one billion now should not really be complicated.
Stresa Festival has followed Abbado’s vision, and will plant a whole new wood, dedicated to the Maestro, in the Campo dei Fiori park, on the other side of Lake Maggiore. We already have the first trees, and all of us together can make a really big wood.
You can join us by adopting a tree with WOWnature, and make the natural surroundings even more beautiful.
I am telling you about this initiative because I would like the whole Festival – its organization, public, and performers, all together, to draw on the amplifying power of music to give voice to Claudio Abbado’s message and render it significant.
I look forward to meeting you all at Stresa!

Mario Brunello