“Everything started with that VOW” – Concert for Liberation

As it happened 81 years ago, when Liberation was the result of a plurality of actors and sensitivities, today too is a true and proper “concert” of institutions, associations, and third sector organizations that bring to life “It all began with that vote – Concert for Liberation”, an event that will officially open the celebrations of April 25th in Livorno. Promoted by ANPI, ANPPIA, ANEI, ANED, Livorno City Council, State Conservatory of Music Pietro Mascagni, and ISTORECO, the concert is conceived as a shared moment of reflection and participation, capable of intertwining different artistic languages.

The event’s title explicitly recalls a fundamental anniversary: the 80th anniversary of women’s suffrage and the institutional referendum that marked the birth of the Italian Republic.

As pointed out by Gino Niccolai (ANPI), this is “not only a historical but deeply current reminder. ANPI, every year, alongside institutional ceremonies, feels the responsibility to narrate what has been, not in a celebratory way but as a living tool for understanding the present, leveraging the values of the Resistance in face of today’s challenges. In this sense, the renewed democratic participation recorded during recent referendum consultations, with a broad and aware presence, especially of young people, is particularly significant.”

The new generations are at the center of the initiative, in line with the thoughts of the Youth Policy Councilor Michele Magnani, who emphasized how “Livorno City Council strongly wanted this event because it speaks to young people and involves them personally. It is not only about defending memory and the Constitution, but about fully realizing it: more than reforming it, the central theme is to make it alive and participatory, as it happens in an occasion like this concert.”

“Memory – reiterated Claudio Seriacopi (ISTORECO) – should not remain confined to institutional contexts but should be returned to the community through popular and shared moments, capable of speaking especially to the younger generations.”

An active participation that finds full expression in the involvement of the State Conservatory of Music Pietro Mascagni. “There is great satisfaction in being part of this commemoration again, one of the events we care about the most – stated Director Federico Rovini -. Many of our students will participate, engaged in the string ensemble directed by Prof. Chiara Morandi, in the saxophone ensemble curated by Prof. Marco Vanni, and in the Orchestral Laboratory directed by Maestro Giovanni Sbolci“. Alongside the Conservatory students, students from Niccolini Palli Music High School and first-grade secondary schools in Collesalvetti will also be involved.

Among the pieces on the program, stands out String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 by Dmitri Shostakovich, dedicated by the author “to the victims of fascism and war”, chosen as a symbolic piece for the evening. “The active participation of dozens and dozens of young people – highlighted Prof. Chiara Morandi – represents the deepest value of this event.”

The theatrical language will be joined with music, with interventions by Francesca Ricci, Alessia Cespuglio, and Marco Bruciati. “The words will narrate the first women’s suffrage vote – explained Francesca Ricci – through theatrical moments and video contributions that relate past and present. Ours is still a young democracy, which must look to the future with the awareness that, while much has been done, there is still much to do, starting from the full realization of gender equality, as the 21 female founders intended to establish in article 3 of the Constitution.”