Viva Verdi!

Viva Verdi! is a warm, moving documentary that opens the doors of Milan’s Casa Verdi, a retirement home founded by legendary composer Giuseppe Verdi for elderly musicians fallen on hard times. Rather than focusing on tragedy, the film celebrates resilience, humor, and the enduring power of music.

Residents reminisce, rehearse, bicker, and perform, revealing lives shaped by passion and sacrifice in this love letter to every artist who never stopped believing, even as fame and fortune fade away.

Now an Oscar-nominated documentary – receiving an original song nod for composer Nicholas Pike – SENIOR PLANET talks to filmmaking duo Christine La Monte and Yvonne Russo for whom this has been a 15-year labor of love:

Q: Talk about your friendship leading up to making Viva Verdi together?

CHRISTINE LA MONTE: We’ve been friends almost 30 years now. I was head of the film division at Rogers and Cowan and Yvonne came to me with a film.

YVONNE RUSSO: I was producing Naturally Native, funded by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut and directed by Valerie Red-Horse – the first feature film created by and about Native American women, and the first entirely financed by a tribe. It was my first producing project, and we needed the best publicist – so I cold-called Christine and she was like: Oh my God, come on in.

CHRISTINE: I never pick up the phone – but I did that day. It was kismet.

 

Q: And your friendship continued long after Naturally Native was released?

YVONNE: We have a deep spiritual connection and really connected in such a meaningful way, other than film industry stuff. We enjoy many of the same things and both believe in a certain philosophy and living life in a good way. We believe in spirit, and being aligned with spirit. Creatively we see things in the same way. Sometimes we even say we could be sisters.

 

Q: When did you first learn about Casa Verdi?

YVONNE: I was a staff producer for six years at National Geographic, and worked on a 2010 TV episode about Milan’s hidden treasures and the photographer David Yoder took me to Casa Verdi. I was just blown away by the beautiful Neo Gothic building, every detail embellished with musical notes. The essence of the place is magnetic. And then I saw this amazing woman in her 80s who’s singing a beautiful aria and teaching a young Japanese student. I was brought to tears when I witnessed all these beautiful, aging musicians and really want to tell this story larger – but I couldn’t because I was still contracted with Nat Geo. So once my series ended, it was time for me to go back to Casa Verdi.

 

Q: How did you end up collaborating on Viva Verdi?

YVONNE: It was 2012 when I said: I need a producer, somebody who is Italian, but also who would be amazing and just get this – Christine La Monte! I practice buddhism, and in my morning meditation, her name just kept popping up – it was like this inner voice saying: You have to contact Christine La Monte. I kept hearing her name in my head, non stop, all day. We’d lost touch after Naturally Native but I was able to connect with her on Facebook.

CHRISTINE: I was living in Rome at the time with my husband when I got this email from Yvonne saying how she had a great project involving Verdi, Milan, and an older generation. And, for me, growing up Italian, all those things resonated. I was already living in Italy – but to work in Italy had been a dream of mine for a long time. So in May 2013 we used our own money, and went to Casa Verde to get permission to film. And then we raised some money to return using Indiegogo [crowd-funding film site]. That’s how it all began.

 

Q: I just fell in love with all these delightful older musicians at Casa Verdi. Did you have any favorites?

YVONNE: Oh yes. Christine had a crush on [opera singer] Claudio Giombi!

CHRISTINE: For sure! He was very spiritual like Yvonne and me, and he read Carlos Castaneda and the i ching.

YVONNE: And there was another man named Mario who spent his time doing decoupage and creating artistic expressions of Verdi and handing them to people. Whenever we arrived, everybody would come around us and open their doors and say: I have a story! Let me share with you. We fell in love with all of these wonderful people.

Q: And, interestingly, you are both part Italian?

CHRISTINE: I am. Yvonne is a Native American Lakota [South Dakota] and also Italian. So I think it was also a little personal search for Yvonne because they could have been any of her relatives,

YVONNE: Yes. My mother is full blood Lakota and she married my Italian father in Los Angeles, but they divorced when I was two years old so I never grew up with him or knew anything about my Italian side. So in the process of journeying to Casa Verdi, I was always questioning how they all live with so much expression and joy, and how can we learn from them – and how can I learn? Then I realized that I was actually searching for that part of myself where there’s a void – which I didn’t realize until the end of making this film.

 

Q: And the older generation can teach us so much?

CHRISTINE: When I meet older Italians, I always feel I’m related and I just embrace them. I also want to know the secrets of how they enjoy life and stay active and happy. And we found that being with kindred spirits and with the younger generation was a big part of it, being engaged and active and having something to get up for in the morning. So, to watch the younger and older generations walking arm in arm, talking about music that they’re both obsessed with, was such a joy. I was so excited to be there. I didn’t want to leave.

 

Q:. What do you think the American retirement home system can learn from Casa Verdi?

YVONNE: One of our goals is to have this be a blueprint for senior living centers and retirement homes here in the US. I believe that aging with dignity and purpose is important. And I think that once elderly people transition to a home, then community building is really important – because at Casa Verdi, they really found their tribe within each other, building community through music which is the common thread that they all share – and that’s also what saved their lives. And that’s the universal language that they speak when their words are not there anymore, but they can sing.

CHRISTINE: We’ve been called by many senior living centers, actually, to use it to show their residents. And it’s been wonderful to see that. It’s a blueprint for what they could potentially do in starting to bring in some younger folk to mentor and share their lives with.

Q: Casa Verdi is home to many retired opera singers. Are you both opera lovers?

YVONNE: I appreciate opera very much, and I love Verdi and his dimension and storytelling. It’s enchanting and romantic.

CHRISTINE: Opera is in my DNA. I grew up with opera with my grandmother, making her sauce while we ran around her home as kids. And so all those senses come alive for me when I hear opera. I was lucky to work with Franco Zeffirelli on La Traviata so I got a really good education. I also lived in New York City and went to the Met a lot, and then my husband and I lived in many different countries, and ended up at these great little opera houses around the world. So opera has been a constant in my life – but Verdi and Puccini are my favorites. I think opera is a metaphor for life.

Q: Is there something else that you would like to do together?

CHRISTINE: Yes. I often think about extending Viva Verdi into a TV series because there’s so many rich stories there. Every time we return, there’s new residents – and more stories to be told. Music and grandparents are such a universal language and people can relate to an older generation passing on the torch to a younger generation. These relationships are so tender and important.

Q: What’s your secret to aging with attitude?

CHRISTINE: For me, it’s just saying yes and showing up. I’m all for being active – but I say yes to whatever I can. It’s very important. It’s come here, do this or try that. One of my mantras is: Look for and expect miracles. And I think that really helps as you get older – anything’s possible, you can do anything.

YVONNE: I don’t really think about aging – for me, it’s about energy. So I focus on elevating my energy to its highest life condition possible. And, in doing that, I balance my life. I eat right. I exercise. I’m in tune with nature and I take my time and enjoy life. We’re here for a short time, so I think that it’s important to really live presently and in the moment. I try not to think too far in advance, and I never dwell on the past. It’s always about this moment forward. I like to say my life is in color all the time.

 

Gill Pringle began her career as a rock columnist for popular British newspapers, traveling the world with Madonna, U2 and Michael Jackson. Moving to Los Angeles 27 years ago, she interviews film and TV personalities for prestigious UK outlets, The Independent, The i-paper and The Sunday Times – and, of course, Senior Planet. A member of Critics Choice Association, BAFTA and AWFJ, she wrote the screenplay for 2016 Netflix family film, The 3 Tails Movie: A Mermaid Adventure. An award-winning writer, in 2021 she was honored by the Los Angeles Press Club with 1st prize at the NAEJ Awards.

 

Pictured left to right: VIVA VERDI! Producing and writing partners, Producer Christine La Monte, p.g.a., and Director, Yvonne Russo, p.g.a.

Photo credit:      Hope Gamble, VIVA VERDI! LLC