In an age where hyper-specialization and specialized knowledge prevail, competition (and success) in a single field of human knowledge, and a comprehensive humanistic education seems to have lost its value, I feel compelled to call a failed violist a maestro. In his musical life, I believe he expressed himself only as a conservatory student and in an amateur orchestra. But he was a man of science and culture, a musician at heart.
His name was Michele Lanzinger, and yesterday, May 30, 2026, he left too many people without his voice too soon. He was a geologist and anthropologist, and with these titles he served as director of the Tridentine Museum of Natural Sciences, then, thanks to him, of the MUSE phenomenon, and finally president of ICOM Italia, the International Council of Museums, as well as of the Conservatory of his hometown, the “Bonporti” Conservatory in Trento.
However, the Nature he had studied so much and truly loved had concentrated in him such a variety of talents and interests that it would seem reductive, almost jarring, to remember him only as a man of science. And while I cannot speak of him as someone who knew him for much longer than our six years, I am indebted to him for that attention that only truly great people can bestow on ordinary people, for that sharing that, in shifting from “lei” to “tu,” increases the awareness of mutual value.
And it’s certainly no coincidence that our first meeting place was on a program titled “Music, Nature, Relations,” just as the subsequent shared project—in which his contribution was crucial—was ultimately named ANIMA. Nature and culture, art and science, had converged in the idea of creating a string quartet from the wood of a centuries-old, monumental silver fir. Something beautiful and unique was being born, and he was there: man, scientist, musician, and guardian of the idea.
If today there exists a story that, through the sound of a special string quartet, recalls a prince of the woods, the Avez del Prinzep, it is also thanks to this prince of humanity.
And if ANIMA tells us that the Avez’s message of hope will resonate for centuries through the instruments born from its wood, I equally want to be certain today that the seeds of beauty, intellect, and honesty sown by Michele Lanzinger on the lands he trod will always flourish anew.
Plato argued that the true musician is not the physical performer, but rather the one who, through harmony and reason, attunes his soul to the world of ideas. In this sense, Lanzinger was a true musician, who spent his life trying to understand the harmony of the universe and its mechanisms, without losing sight of his community, his time, and the contemplation of the life around him.
Michele, hoping I haven’t wronged you by making you a musician, now that you can no longer respond with your beautiful, calm, and rounded voice, I close the case of memories and carry it with me to continue our shared ideas and ideals.