On 21 September, Pietro Camera, our friend and Ramirez Italia agent, was waiting for me at Milan airport to take me to the hotel, where he later picked me up with his wife, Enza Noto, and we went to dinner at Marro Fish, a restaurant specialising in fish of exquisite quality and great originality in the preparation of its dishes.
Thus began our experience at the Cremona Musica fair held from 22 to 24 September 2023.
Award winners at the Museo del Violino
On 22 September I had the honour of receiving an award from the City of Cremona and the Cremona Music Fair, from the director of the Fair, Massimo de Bellis and the artistic director Alessio Ambrosi, in the Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi, at the Museo del Violino.
The spectacular hall, designed by Arkpabi architects Giorgio Palu’e Michelle Bianchi to magnify the sound of the music performed in it, is like an ocean of wooden waves that welcomed us with the warmth of the precious material from which it is constructed.
Cremona Musica Edition 2023
The great accordionist Luca Zanetti opened the event, followed by Roberto Fabbri who played with the affection he always shows when it comes to our guitars and our family; after the handover, we enjoyed the mandolin performance of Carlo Aonjo, followed by the excellent guitarist Erin Karamazov.
Christian Saggese masterfully crowned this very special moment for me, with the sweetness and colour of his guitar playing, and he even managed to outdo himself by closing the event playing a duet with Erin Karamazov, in an unbeatable rapport between the two artists.
All in all, it was a gift to the soul of all of us who had the privilege of attending such a beautiful event.
Our participation in the presentation of the history of Guitarras Ramírez
The following day, invited by the Fair, I gave a talk about the Ramírez guitar makers to a delighted audience who, at the end, joined me to share their experiences and their questions about our history and our guitars. Thus I had the opportunity to meet personally several lovers of our work and to talk at length with all of them.
The Volontè stand was my place of reference during the Fair, accompanied by Marco Volontè and his team, always so close and welcoming to me.
There I received the visit of two flamenco guitarists Juan Lorenzo and Roberto Riva, and one that gave me special joy, that of Maurizio Colonna, the extraordinary guitarist I met 27 years ago at a concert organised by Il Circolo degli Inquietti in homage to Ramírez on 30 November 1996.
Amalia Ramírez
Madrid 30 September 2023
