Italy’s Stresa Festival to Honor Claudio Abbado

The festival is dedicating its 2024 edition to the memory of the Italian conductor Claudio Abbado

Founded in 1961, the annual Stresa Festival has worked with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and Staatskapelle Dresden, among many other ensembles and esteemed conductors. 

The festival’s artistic director role was held by Gianandrea Noseda for 20 years before he was succeeded by Mario Brunello in the position as of October 2020.

This year’s Stresa Festival will honor the memory of the GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Claudio Abbado, who died 10 years ago in January 2014.

“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,” said Brunello in a statement. “Abbado managed to combine the figure of the artist 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.

According to Brunello, Abbado announced 25 years ago that he would return to La Scala theater if 90,000 trees were planted in Milan. In turn, the Stresa Festival is honoring Abbado’s vision and will be planting a forest of trees in the Campo dei Fiori Regional Park. 

The festival has already obtained the first trees toward this venture and is inviting audiences to join the initiative by adopting a tree with WOWnature, and contribute more to the natural surroundings.

“Today, this is a very topical subject,” Brunello explained. “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.

“I am telling you about this initiative [WOWnature] 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!”