La Rocca Chorus: International Fame, Traditions, and Cross-Continental Appeal

The voices and music of the La Rocca chorus resound throughout Europe. From Turkey to England, passing through Belgium. But the group’s admirers, conducted by maestro Giorgio Avanzini, are not limited to the Old Continent, reaching even across the Atlantic in the United States.

In California, specifically in San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean coast, the very first fan club was founded. It was established by Joanna and Al Goldspiel, Americans who was captivated during their vacation by the lake by the virtuosities of the chorus founded on a crisp October evening in 1956.

At that time, at the bar of Gianni Paoletti, in via San Bernardo, members of the Gardesana section of the Alpini initiated what is now the La Rocca chorus.

This ensemble has been energizing Gardesana life for over forty years, performing songs tied to local tradition. A musical folklore often associated with ancient customs.

Traditions and Local Engagement

For example, during the biganate, a Christmas pilgrimage house to house bringing a song and a blessing. Meanwhile, in summer, the weekly gathering for tourists continues at the small Piazza Libertà.

There, the couple Helvaligk from Istanbul spent one of their many pleasant evenings in Garda. A peaceful holiday, serenaded by the voices of over thirty singers divided into contraltos, baritones, basses, and tenors.

This remains a vivid memory for the Turkish couple, who, after returning to their homeland, lost their smile in the face of the terrible moments amidst the devastating earthquake that crippled Anatolia.

A drama “mitigated” by listening to and purchasing music in the Garda square.

“Thanks to your songs,” the Helvaligks wrote in a letter to the president of the lake group Beppe Bertame, “we found courage and hope during the night of the terrible earthquake.”

An expression that would make anyone shiver and which of course filled the members of the coro La Rocca with joy.

International Requests and Participation

Similarly, there was the request from Spellacy, an Englishman from Maghull, a town near London, who vacationed in September with his wife at the wellness center.

On Christmas Eve, via letter, he asked maestro Giorgio Avanzini for the sheet music of the songs.

“It’s always a pleasure to listen to the chorus playing the tape we bought. It would be a great pleasure for me to learn the words with the students of the evening school I attend to study Italian,” explains Spellacy, inviting the chorus, “if it pleases good God,” next September.

However, the meeting was at risk of being missed by Françoise Goffinet from Brussels, who arrived in Garda in August.

“I looked for a sign announcing your concert. I went to the tourist office but no one knew about the La Rocca chorus. Luckily, the police explained to me where it is and when they sing,” she said.

Significant testimonials for a choir loved and followed worldwide, which features in its repertoire “Kameraden, ruh aus in unserem Land,” a piece composed by Jan Langosz and became the official anthem of the German military cemeteries in Italy.

This composition was first performed by the group in 1966 in Bonn, in front of the German government. An anthem that, every year, on Remembrance Day for war fallen, is performed by the Gardesana choir at the military cemetery of Costermano, at the behest of the German consulate in Italy.