LAND OF FREEDOM

May 1944: the school year is ending and a college student leaves school to join the partisan troops settled on the heights of the impenetrable Val Grande. He's only 16 years old. Around his neck he carries the green handkerchief of the Valdossola, in his hand a long 9mm caliber pistol, without ammunition. Land of Freedom is a composition inspired by the story of this teenage boy who feels the duty and responsibility to engage in the struggle of liberation against the Nazi-fascist dictatorship. A boy who makes civil commitment a purpose of his own young life. Edo Nolli will survive the sweep of August 29, one of the bloodiest retaliations of the partisan struggle, and then find shelter, after the collapse of the Republic of Valdossola, in Switzerland in the internment camps. He will tell his story, faithful to the principles that enlivened his choice, only 65 years after the tragic events. Land of Freedom is a free interpretation of these facts: sometimes lighthearted, sometimes strongly felt, sometimes tragic. A tribute to all those people who have made civil engagement a part of their history, their lives. A civil commitment that, although in a completely different context, I inevitably find in that wonderful world of cultural volunteerism that is the community of wind bands. I dedicate this composition to all these people and, in particular, to the musicians of the Wind Band of Crevoladossola (conductor James Longo) who commissioned this work to celebrate the 120 years of their institution's life.