Will Be, the final performance of the fourth artistic residency of Playing Memories, was presented to the public as a world premiere on Tuesday 25 March at Politeatro in Milan, and will subsequently be performed before an international audience on Friday 28 March at the Auditorium of Colegio Salesianos de Atocha in Madrid.
“Will Be” is not just the title of the piece – it is the core meaning of a story that follows a young man, Will, as he fights for his dream: to be recognised in a country that still sees him as a foreigner, despite being born and raised there.
Will can only express himself through music. With his songs, he wants to transform reality and overcome the barriers of prejudice. The streets are his daily training ground, the place where he spends most of his time, and where he has learnt that life can be harsh, and people can be merciless towards those considered of different blood.
But “will” in English also means “willpower”, and Will is prepared to give everything. To protect his dream, he has built an imaginary fortress made of music, where the heroes are the singer-songwriters who have always accompanied him. Their words have given him the weapons to face hostility, feeding, day by day, his desire to let the world hear his voice.
His songs tell that story.
Yet the boundary between dream and reality is thin, and the question remains open: Will be? Will it truly come to be?
In this multidisciplinary performance, reinterpretations of songs by Lucio Dalla, Mirkoeilcane, Willie Peyote, and Caparezza, together with original works by singer-songwriter Silvio Padovani, known as Bohris – the creator and artistic leader of the performance, and a student in the second-cycle academic degree in Music Production at Saint Louis – are joined by dance, acting, and visual art.
The result is a unique narrative that brings to the stage the complex issues of racism and prejudice through the “lightness” of art.
25 March 2025, 8:00 PM – Politeatro Milano, Viale Lucania 18 – Milan
28 March 2025, 7:00 PM – Auditorium of Colegio Salesianos de Atocha, Calle Ronda de Atocha 27, CP 28012 – Madrid
“Will Be” is an artistic residency of Playing Memories, a project by Saint Louis College of Music, co-produced with: Conservatorio Alfredo Casella of L’Aquila, Fondazione Accademia d’Arti e Mestieri dello Spettacolo Teatro alla Scala of Milan, RUFA, and ISIA of Rome.