protest in Rome
Maestro John Nelson’s attack on the orchestra for the famous “Allelujah” chorus of Handel’s “Messiah” also involuntarily gave way to the raid on the stage of the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome by 3 activists of the Last Generation, while one remained in the audience to film the scene. The four, 2 boys and 2 girls wearing t-shirts with different writings, had entered the Santa Cecilia hall of Renzo Piano’s building, regularly paying for the ticket as spectators to attend the concert on the bill of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.
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The 3 activists who went on stage sat in silence at the foot of the podium, next to the 4 soloists, the soprano Sara Blanch, the mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, the tenor Krystian Adam and the bass Anthony Robin Schneider, and remained there until at the end of the chorus that closes the second part of Handel’s oratorio. Then one of them tried to speak but was interrupted by the arrival of the police who took them away to identify them. Two photos appeared on the Ultima Generazione Instagram profile with the young people sitting during the concert, accompanied by the reasons for the gesture. Showing knowledge of the “Messiah” we read that «Haendel five minutes before the “Allelujah” uses a bass aria with this text “‘Why do the Nations so furiously rage together and why do the People imagine a vain thing?’ We consider it – the activists write – an invitation to intervene for the peace and serenity of the people, so that the hallelujah at the end of the second act is truly a message of joy for the whole world”. And again: “We interrupted this concert to ask you to stop and really observe. We must all reflect on the absurdity of continuing our daily lives in the face of wars, inequalities and disasters caused by the eco-climatic emergency. We ask the public to take courage and look at the current emergency. To take responsibility all together against yet another government that is indifferent to the problems of the population”, concludes the message.
