IT HAPPENED TODAY
A beautiful friendship has always linked Mariele Ventre and the ‘Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano’ children’s choir from Bologna with Rovereto. A relationship attested to by no less than three visits that the choir and its founding teacher made to the Bell of the Fallen, all in February, during the 'Children's Carnival'. On these occasions, the Piccolo Coro was the star of the very popular and well-attended concerts held at the Teatro Comunale Zandonai.
Mariele accompanied her children from the Piccolo Coro to the Bell for the first time in Rovereto on 10 February 1985. She returned on 18 February 1990, when she was presented with a miniature reproduction of the Bell as a gift by the then secretary of the Foundation, Sergio Mozzi. She made her third visit, exactly five years later, on 19 February 1995, again in the context of the 'Children's Carnival'.
The year 1995 was an important year for Mariele, who would pass away prematurely just ten months later, on 16 December. The trip to Rovereto and the concert were therefore some of her last commitments with the Piccolo Coro. It is significant that, in her very last year of life, Mariele refused to give up this appointment, which she considered extremely important, not only on an artistic level (the concert at the Zandonai), but also as a formative moment for her children. Almost as an appendix to these events, the 1st 'Armonicamente Bambino' National Conference for teachers and leaders of children's choirs was held on 20 April 2002 in Palazzo Todeschi, organised by the Municipality of Rovereto and the 'Amici e Minicoro' Cultural Association. During the conference, introduced by Father Berardo Rossi, the figure of Mariele and her work as an educator and musician was an important focal point. The speakers included Mariele's sister, Maria Antonietta Ventre, president of the Mariele Ventre Foundation.
The Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano has always been the staunch, strong promoter of a culture of Peace, which is also one of its dearest and most recurring themes in its vast repertoire. It is no coincidence that in 2003 the choir was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of Unicef Italy 'so that through the communicative power and universal language of music and song performed by children, it can convey a message of Peace and hope to all their peers, regardless of nationality, religion, gender, language and race'.
In fact, long before this important acknowledgement, on 1 September 1971, on the eve of its tour to the Holy Land, Pope Paul VI asked the choir to take his greetings and good wishes for peace to the land where Jesus was born. And, not surprisingly, upon arrival at Tel Aviv airport, the first song sung by the choir on Israeli soil was Hevenu shalom aleichem: we have come to bring you Peace.
In its now sixty years of existence, the Piccolo Coro has created many songs with Peace as their main theme. Many of these made it onto the recent compilation (December 2022) entitled Peace, with songs such as Il cielo di Beirut, Il sole verrà, Prova a sorridere, Le impronte del cuore, Il mio cuore è un gran pallone, Una stella a Betlemme, Se la gente usasse il cuore and Hevenu shalom aleichem.
Francesco Marruncheddu
18 February 1990: The Piccolo Coro "Mariele Ventre" dell'Antoniano under the Bell, on the right, Mariele Ventre and Foundation Secretary Sergio Mozzi
19 February 1995: The Piccolo Coro "Mariele Ventre" dell'Antoniano under the Bell
19 February 1995: The illustration donated to Mariele Ventre by artist Fabio Vettori to mark the Piccolo Coro concert at Teatro Zandonai. In the background, Maria Dolens, watching over the valley
19 February 1995: Mariele Ventre on the stage of Teatro Zandonai at the end of the concert applauds Maestro Gianpaolo Daicampi, director of the ‘Minicoro di Rovereto’ children’s choir
