Moto Contrario — When Music Becomes Care
News | October 27, 2025
by Claudia Brancaccio, President and Artistic Director of Milano Classica
At a time when mental health is (finally) at the center of public discourse, we believe it is essential for the world of art to take responsibility for engaging with this topic, with sensitivity and honesty.
Music, in particular, has a remarkable ability to express what words often cannot. It can transform pain into beauty and turn fragility into deep connection.
With Moto Contrario, a project that grew from a profound artistic dialogue between Quartetto Indaco and Sarah Kim Cross, developed thanks to the European platform MERITA, we wanted to contribute to this evolving dialogue, not with a manifesto, but with a concert.
On October 10th, in the setting of the PIME Theatre in Milan, we experienced a special moment: the world premiere of the orchestral version of Moto Contrario.
Moto Contrario is a multisensory journey that weaves together music, words, and images to address, without rhetoric, the theme of mental health, starting from two lived experiences: that of Robert Schumann, the Romantic composer whose creativity was deeply intertwined with illness, and that of Sarah Kim Cross, a violinist who shares her personal story of vulnerability and renewal. For the first time, this narrative took shape in an orchestral version made possible by the QuBE (Quartet Based Ensemble) format, developed by Milano Classica. This model sees the string quartet not only as performers but as musical leaders of the ensemble, a concept we’ve embraced wholeheartedly, with the belief that chamber music can become a collective organism even without a conductor, through active and mutual listening.
On stage, the music of Robert and Clara Schumann was interwoven with original compositions by Cosimo Carovani, in an emotional flow enriched by the visuals of Letizia Castellano and the words of Clara Wieck-Schumann, interpreted by Olivia Manescalchi, leading up to Sarah’s own voice, who, with disarming sincerity, shared her story.
The audience responded with deep and attentive silence, and with applause that went beyond appreciation, it was emotional reciprocation. That evening, art became a tool for connection and reflection. Not just a performance, but a shared space.
With Moto Contrario, we believe we’ve created something that speaks not only of music, but of the possibility of transforming vulnerability into presence, and performance into care.
