VIVA VERDI!

VIVA VERDI! – Giuseppe Verdi, the most influential Italian Opera composer of the 19th century, willed his vast fortune to build a retirement home in Milan, Italy for ageing opera singers and musicians, and the young music students who are mentored by and live among them. Many of the residents are living legends, who, because of Verdi, are living the third act of their lives with passion, dignity and purpose. This documentary uncovers the incredible stories of these living treasures found at Casa Verdi today.

Entering Casa Verdi in Milan, Italy, is like walking into a living masterpiece. The neo-Gothic style of the mansion is elegant and regal, austere yet sumptuous. The air is thick with sounds of music. So thick in fact, it’s almost as if you can see it in the form of rich colors floating in and out of the dozens of rooms, back and forth through the large windows and then down the long, tapestry covered corridors until it finally arrives to your listening ear. Your heart warms as the music slowly envelopes you, subtly inviting you deeper into this house filled with living legends. Your curiosity sparks, the pull is undeniable—you must discover the treasures of Casa Verdi for yourself, because there is quite frankly, no other place like it in the world.

"With VIVA VERDI!, we learn to never take anything for granted, be it the wise elders in our lives or the music that predates us. For those of us with much catching up to do: venture forth. For those who are already heavily connected with the arts: remain true to yourself. When your contributions help heal others, your second life will forever remain. Verdi chose to have Casa Verdi as a secondary life (of sorts): he has helped foster music long after he was gone in ways not even he could have imagined; VIVA VERDI! furthers this mission." - Film Fatales

Yvonne Russo is an award-winning director, producer, and writer and accomplished storyteller working in film, television, and animation. Her range of honors include as a Humanitas Award Winner, winner of Outstanding Achievement in Producing from First Americans in the Arts, a recipient of both The Redford Center Grant and Nia Tero Foundation Grant, and serving as keynote speaker at the United Nations Human Rights and Salesforce’s Office of Equality & Engagement on preserving Indigenous endangered languages. 

A proud member of the Sicangu Lakota Tribal Nation, Russo has worked throughout her career to elevate underrepresented voices through storytelling, bridging past and present with compelling narratives that inspire and educate.

Deeply committed to fostering new talent and global storytelling, Russo has worked in partnership with the Royal Film Commission – Amman, Jordan and New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT), where she designed and led a two-year intensive workshop that helped Jordanian filmmakers develop and produce both documentary and narrative films, strengthening the region’s creative industry.

She is an active member of the Directors Guild of America, BAFTA, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the Producers Guild of America, where she previously served on the Board of Governors. She is also a longtime member of SAG-AFTRA and served on the Board of NYWIFT.

Christine La Monte, producer, p.g.a., writer

Christine La Monte, producer, p.g.a. and co-writer of the Oscar-nominated VIVA VERDI! is a producer/director/writer and former film marketing executive at Universal, Disney, and Orion. Currently under the La Monte Productions banner, she has three Italian feature documentaries: VIVA VERDI, an intimate glimpse into the lives of the celebrated opera singers and musicians living out their “third act” while mentoring music students who live among them at Casa Verdi Milan, the home that Giuseppe Verdi built in 1896; 2026 awards contender AI WEIWEI’S TURANDOT, follows renown revolutionary artist, Ai Weiwei, in his operatic directorial debut as he brings his artistic vision and iconoclastic activism to Puccini’s Turandot at the Rome Opera House - serving as producer on the Italian/ US Co-Production; and as producer on the slow cinema FIGLI DEL FIUME/ CHILDREN OF THE RIVER about three men’s search for meaning along Italy’s Po River currently in post production.  In development, is Justice Deferred, a legal thriller by Len Williams. La Monte produced the Palm Springs International Film Festival Audience Award-winning short film, DANDELION DHARMA; the Gary Goldstein scripted play, “Three Grooms & A Bride,” and the syndicated television talk show, Marilu, starring Marilu Henner. Her directing credits include the Screen Actors Guild’s “A Heart United” with Sharon Lawrence and Jo Beth Williams, and “The Angina Monologues” with Brenda Strong. She spent over 6 years at the public relations/marketing firm, Rogers and Cowan as the Executive Vice President of the Motion Picture Group; as an international strategic marketer, she worked at Italian studio, CineCittá in Rome, and served as Marketing Executive, at TV 3 New Zealand, while living in Auckland.  A long-time member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences since 1987, she is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Alliance of Women Directors. La Monte is a past faculty member of New York’s School of Visual Arts where she initiated the Dusty Awards, an annual festival of student short films and awards ceremony.  On the Advisory Board of LA-based SEEfest, she is a frequent guest speaker/panelist at independent filmmaking events, including USC, UCLA and New York Film Academy. With US/Italian dual citizenship, La Monte divides her time between Los Angeles and Rome. www.lamonteproductions.com