David McDermott on Living in the Past: I Time Traveled Through Art - 246 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Release Date: 07/27/2025
Alvise Casellati: Can Music Heal? The Powerful Story Behind Opera & Therapy - 280 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
CHAMPION OF ITALIAN OPERA. Alvise Casellati was born in Padua, Italy, from a Venetian musical family with important ties to the top classical music scene in the 19th and 20th centuries. He is currently serving as Artistic Director of the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, one of the most prestigious opera and dance theaters in Italy and in the world. He is the Founder and Music Director of Opera Italiana is in the Air (OIA), created in 2017 to bring superstar singers and the young talents in iconic locations in the air such as Central Park, New York, to give...
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Bianca Jagger: “I Am a Human Rights Defender. That Is My Mission” - 279 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
DEFENDER OF JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS. Bianca Jagger is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF), a UK-based human rights organisation that defends human rights and civil liberties, promotes international justice, campaigns to end violence against women and girls, addresses the threat of climate change, and advocates for the rights of Indigenous peoples and future generations. “Being born in Nicaragua shaped my understanding of repression, injustice and inequality.” “I have dedicated my life to the defence of peace, justice and...
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Thomas Clement Salomon: How Italy Secured a Lost Caravaggio After 60 Years - 278 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
REVIVIFYING ROME. Thomas Clement Salomon is the director of Rome’s Baroque Palazzo Barberini and the Galleria Corsini since January 2024. Palazzo Barberini is home to the National Gallery of Ancient Art, with a collection of paintings by Caravaggio and other Caravaggesque painters that now includes the very recently acquired Caravaggio Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini. Thomas studied art history and archaeological heritage protection law, for many years he helped organize major exhibitions at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome and the Palazzo Reale in Milan, worked at the Galleria...
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The life and achievements of Jennifer Montagu, a leading British art historian known for her work on Italian Baroque sculpture - 277 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
PIONEER OF BAROQUE SCULPTURE. Jennifer Montagu LVO CBE is a highly regarded British art historian whose emphasis is in the study of Italian Baroque sculpture. A daughter of Ewen Montagu, a British lawyer, writer and Naval intelligence officer, and granddaughter of painter Solomon J. Solomon RA, she studied under Sir Ernst Gombrich at the Warburg Institute, London where she received her PhD degree. Montagu lectured in History of Art at Reading University 1958–64, then was assistant Curator 1964–71, and Curator 1971–91, of the Photographic Collection at the Warburg Institute....
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Antonio Citterio: Why Good Design Starts With the End of a Product’s Life - 276 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
DAY TO DAY BRILLIANCE. ANTONIO CITTERIO is an Italian architect, furniture and industrial designer. Today his cross-disciplinary practice for architecture and interior design is known as “ACPV ARCHITECTS Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel”. The firm works internationally, developing projects on all scales in collaboration with a network of specialist consultants. In both 1987 and 1994, Antonio Citterio was awarded the Compasso d’Oro (“Golden Compass”) prize, the world’s oldest and most prestigious industrial design award. In 2008 the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts,...
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Francesco Billari on Population Decline, AI & Identity - 275 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
LEADING AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY. Francesco Billari is Professor of Demography at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. He became Rector in November 2022 after having held the role of Dean of the Faculty. He has worked at the University of Oxford Department of Sociology, at Nuffield College, and at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. His recent book Domani è Oggi offers a demographic lens to shed light on the potential futures shaped by today’s choices. “The important thing is that all young people should think that going to university is a wise and...
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David Trickey on Childhood Trauma: Why the Same Event Affects Kids Differently - 274 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
CHANGING THE QUALITY OF TRAUMA IN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES. David Trickey is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist who has specialised in working with traumatised children, young people, and their families since 2000. He is Co-Director of the UK Trauma Council, chartered by the British Psychological Society and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Across all of his roles, he draws heavily on the published research literature, to which he has made his own contribution. "An important part of getting through traumatic events is being able to make sense of them, to think...
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From War Zones to Cultural Diplomacy: Claudio Pagliara on Peace, Power, and a Changing World - 273 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
PROMOTING ITALIAN CULTURE AND BRIDGING CULTURAL DIVIDES. Claudio Pagliara is a journalist who became the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute on Park Avenue in New York in September 2025, soon after he completed his term as head of the RAI Radiotelevisione italiana correspondence office in the United States. With enormous international experience that includes living in Jerusalem for almost 10 years, he was foreign desk chief at Tg2 — Italy’s second state channel — for seven years. His recent book L’imperatore is a journey through America’s transformation...
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The Uffizi: Simone Verde on The Hidden Galleries, New Acquisitions, and the Future of Florence’s #1 Institution - 272 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
ANTHROPOLOGY REGENERATES CULTURE. Simone Verde is a museologist and art historian who was appointed Director of the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy, in December 2023, replacing Eike Schmidt who moved to Capodimonte. From 2014 to 2016 Simone Verde was head of scientific research at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, and from 2016 to 2023 he directed the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma, Italy, whose total restoration and refurbishment he completed. Verde studied Theoretical Philosophy in Rome and Paris, has a doctorate in Anthropology of Cultural Heritage, and a degree...
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Inside New York’s Most Beloved Museum: Axel Rüger on the New Era of The Frick - 271 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
THE REGENERATION OF THE FRICK. Axel Rüger is a German art historian, curator and museum director. Director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 2006 to 2019, he previously worked as a curator of Dutch art at the National Gallery in London. He led the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2019 through 2024, and in March 2025 assumed the directorship of The Frick Collection in New York City. “You get a sense of how the Fricks lived at the time, even though we do not really talk much about their daily life.” “For the first time, the Frick now also has a café and a dedicated space...
info_outlineA TRYST WITH TIME. David McDermott is an artist whose work has been exhibited internationally since the 1980s. In his experiments with time he emphatically insists on the beautiful and the miraculous, looking beyond the promises of techno-modernity and mirroring themes of 19th century artists’ rejection of the Industrial Revolution.
“This old-fashioned concept of moving forward in time and abandoning the past, abandoning civilisation to move forward, it’s a very outdated concept.“
“Right now, my painting’s a rebellion against modern art.“
“I’m very interested in my life now, which is different from the one I escaped from.“