Playing on the top of a 3100-meter glacier, and other moves to kick-start 2020 from up high!

First of all… happy new year, happy 2020! Starting a new decade is psychologically important for everyone, it gives us that skin deep feeling of future that we all tend towards and are tied to, in a more or less enthusiastic way: who doesn’t like to hope?

As many of you have witnessed, to give my ideas a little freshening up at the end of 2019, I climbed 3100 meters to “my home glacier“, the Presena, to honor the mountain with my violin in this significant step: it is, in fact, my first video of 2020. For those who haven’t seen it yet, take in a breath of fresh air by clicking here https://youtu.be/DFM4kNmrBho

5 pieces of backstage trivia:

1) it’s the “home” glacier because this is where I’ve been going since I was a child: Ponte di Legno – Tonale, the ski area that extends over the Adamello between Lombardy and Trentino; this is where I not only learned how to ski and compete to be the fastest, but it’s also where I learned how to lose and get back up again, where I learned to respect nature, where I learned the importance of inner peace and motivation and where I learned to look to the future while always remembering where are I came from.

2) The path that leads to the glacier is called Paradiso (Paradise), so the song Heaven could not be more appropriate, besides lending itself perfectly to the gorgeous aerial shots created by Ervin and Loren Bedeli; giving such a “serene” tribute to Tim Bergling, aka Avicii, seemed a respectful way for me to pay homage to his memory as a fan and as a musician.

3) Did we get there by helicopter? No! If we had shot the video on the Dolomites it could’ve been necessary, but those who’ve been up there know how the glaciers on the Adamello, in the Central Alps, are arranged and know that the arrival point of the new cable car is really close to the Cross, the highest point where I was joined by the drone; I only walked a few dozen meters, though I feel that I a serious WARNING is a must: whether you would like to shoot a video of this kind, or even if you’re just a hiking aficionado, always consult with a mountain guide, or the local experts, and get someone to accompany you; you seriously risk your life in the mountains, every year there are too many victims (also in these last few days unfortunately) who often fall, slip, are buried by avalanches for underestimating risks that seemed trivial: above all else, the mountain must be respected.

4) How can one play in such extreme places, in such extreme conditions and with temperatures way below zero? The gloves help, and with a continuous “putting on and taking off” action the hands remain warm enough to play the violin for tens of seconds in a row; the violin, compared to other instruments, makes you move your hands at shoulder height so they get cold very quickly, also due to the “unfavorable” circulation; nevertheless, by going back and forth between keeping the hands down to warm them up and then up to play, we managed to finish the shoot before 1pm… and the sun helped too.

5) I’m adding a few pics from new year’s eve 2020 and some other alpine dates to this mini backstage reportage: I hope your new year’s eve was an exciting one, wherever you spent it, though my 5^th curiosity is precisely about why I decided to concentrate so many dates in the Alps this year, 8 different and prestigious places over a two week span, so for me also this the video in the snow of early 2020’s has acquired such a memorable meaning for me: Alta Badia, Valle D’Aosta, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Madonna di Campiglio, Folgaria, the valley of the Mocheni, Ponte di Legno and, in a few days, back in Paradise again, just a few meters below where the video was shot: right in that spot there is the ice dome, a real theater housed in a 300 seater igloo where, on January 9^th,  I will have the honor of playing the ice violin and inaugurate the only ice music festival in Italy … I will not fail to write a blog page just for that precise occasion.

To conclude (did I already say it?) Good 2020 at all 😉