“It was an experience we sensed would be rich. The execution exceeded our expectations. Faces lit up. Sorrows took on a spiritual dimension. The quality of the voices contributed greatly, but so did the sensitivity and communication of the people,” wrote Dr. Jean-François Ciais, head of the Unit, in a thank you letter addressed to Mrs. Mazzola.
Everything took place on the 3rd floor of Archet 2 Hospital. What happened was exceptional: people at the end of life smiled, made hand gestures to keep time… Hope and joy were felt for a few minutes.
“It is a true breath of life, a moment of grace that helps us in our way of the cross,” confided Murielle, afflicted with a serious degenerative bone disease.
An Exchange
Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni, a soprano of international renown, accompanied on piano by Margherita Colombo and on vocals by the bass Marco Sportelli, reached the patients of the unit.
The service psychologist also recognized the exceptional nature of this encounter when Denia addressed a lady who had until then communicated with no one. She did not want to hear singing. Then, when she heard Denia’s voice, she agreed to meet her. She then went to her bedside.
“In her bed of suffering, tense like a stone that refuses everything, we spoke to her, I asked if I could sing her a little lied by Schumann. As she didn’t respond, I began Du bist wie eine Blume (you are like a flower). And suddenly, her hand relaxed, the features of her face, frozen like a mask, softened, her eyes opened, and her mouth, which until then was locked, whispered to us ‘beautiful… thank you,’ that’s when she tried to fix her hair, a gesture of coquetry that can return like a dream that passes over our life, thanks to the power of music that makes us forget the suffering of the moment.” The singer managed to adapt her repertoire and the power of her voice to each patient.
After the success of the singer’s intervention at the patients’ bedside, doctors, nurses, volunteers, and artists called for regular opera interventions for people at the end of life.
