Ludovico Einaudi

Ludovico Maria Enrico Einaudi OMRI (Italian: [ludoˈviːko eiˈnaudi]; born 23 November 1955) is an Italian pianist and composer. He trained at the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan. Einaudi began his career as a classical composer, and began incorporating other styles and genres—including pop, rock, world music, and folk music.

Einaudi composed the scores for a number of films and trailers, including This Is England, The Intouchables and I'm Still Here, the TV miniseries Doctor Zhivago, and Acquario in 1996, for which he won the Grolla d'oro for best soundtrack. He has also released a number of solo albums of piano and orchestra, notably I Giorni in 2001, Nightbook in 2009, and In a Time Lapse in 2013. Taranta Project, a collaborative album, was released in May 2015, and Elements was released in October 2015.

Einaudi was born in Turin, Piedmont. His father, Giulio Einaudi, was a publisher working with authors including Italo Calvino and Primo Levi, and his grandfather, Luigi Einaudi, was President of Italy between 1948 and 1955. His mother, Renata Aldrovandi, played the piano to him as a child. Her father Waldo Aldrovandi was a pianist, opera conductor and composer who migrated to Australia after World War II.

Einaudi started composing his own music as a teenager, first writing by playing a folk guitar. He began his musical training at the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan, obtaining a diploma in composition in 1982. That same year he took an orchestration class taught by Luciano Berio and was awarded a scholarship to the Tanglewood Music Festival. According to Einaudi, "[Luciano] Berio did some interesting work with African vocal music and did some arrangements of Beatles songs, and he taught me that there is a sort of dignity inside music. I learnt orchestration from him and a very open way of thinking about music." He also learned by collaborating with musicians such as Ballaké Sissoko from Mali and Djivan Gasparian from Armenia. His music is ambient, meditative and often introspective, drawing on minimalism and contemporary pop.

1980s

After studying at the Conservatory in Milan, and subsequently with Berio, he spent several years composing in traditional forms, including several chamber and orchestral compositions. He soon garnered international attention and his music was performed at venues such as the Teatro alla Scala, the Tanglewood Festival, Lincoln Center, and the UCLA Center for Performing Arts.

In the mid-1980s he began to search for more personal expression in a series of works for dance and multimedia, and later for piano.

Some of his collaborations in theater, video, and dance included compositions for the Sul filo d'Orfeo in 1984, Time Out in 1988, a dance-theater piece created with writer Andrea De Carlo, The Wild Man in 1990, and the Emperor in 1991. Later collaborations include Salgari (Per terra e per mare) (1995), an opera/ballet commissioned by the Arena di Verona with texts by Emilio Salgari, Rabindranath Tagore and Charles Duke Jr, and E.A. Poe (1997), which was conceived as a soundtrack for silent films.

Soundtracks

Einaudi began using his style to compose film soundtracks in the mid-1990s. He started with two films by Michele Sordillo, Da qualche parte in città in 1994 and Acquario in 1996, for which he won the Grolla d'oro for best soundtrack. In 1998 he composed the soundtrack with Treno di panna, and that same year wrote the score for Giorni dispari by Dominick Tambasco.

In 2000 he collaborated with Antonello Grimaldi on Un delitto impossibile, and he also composed the soundtrack for Fuori del mondo, which was nominated for an Oscar Award and for which he won the Echo Klassik award in Germany in 2002. After the release of his debut album, some excerpts were included in the film Aprile by Nanni Moretti. In 2002 his soundtrack for Luce dei miei occhi was named best soundtrack at the 2002 Italian Music Awards.

In 2002 he won an Italian award for Best Film Score for Luce dei miei occhi. Allmusic gave his score for the 2002 TV serial Doctor Zhivago 4.5/5 stars and a glowing review, comparing it in skill to Maurice Jarre's score of the previous film adaptation.

In 2004, his soundtrack for Sotto falso nome received the prize for the best film music at the Avignon Film Festival.

He has since either written the scores for a number of films or had his music included in the soundtracks. In 2010 he wrote the music for the trailer of Black Swan. His "Due Tramonti" was featured in the film I'm Still Here (2010) directed by Casey Affleck. Einaudi's "Nuvole Bianche" was featured in the film Insidious (2010) directed by James Wan, the British TV-drama This Is England 86 and in the TV-series Derek (2012) directed by and starring Ricky Gervais. To The Intouchables (2011), the biggest box office movie in French history, he contributed the tracks "Fly", "Writing Poems", "L'origine nascosta", "Cache-cache", "Una Mattina" and "Primavera." The film This Is England featured Fuori dal mondo and Dietro casa. The British TV drama series This Is England '88 also contained the tracks "Fuori Dalla Notte", "Solo" (a bonus track from Nightbook), "Berlin Song" and "Distacco".

In 2016, he participated in the Greenpeace campaign which was filmed in the Arctic.

Solo releases

Einaudi is signed to Decca Records and is published by Chester Music Limited, part of the Music Sales Group of Companies.

Ludovico Einaudi at Quirinal Palace in 2008

After the multi-media inspired Time Out in 1988, in 1992 he released Stanze, which he had composed for harp. The album was performed by Cecilia Chailly, one of the first musicians to begin using electric harp. He released his first solo piano album, Le Onde, in 1996 on BMG. The album is based on the novel The Waves by British writer Virginia Woolf, and enjoyed mainstream success, particularly in Italy and the UK. His 1999 followup, Eden Roc, was also released on BMG, with shorter pieces. For the project he collaborated with the Armenian duduk musician Djivan Gasparijan.

His next solo piano release, I Giorni (2001), was inspired by his travels in Africa. The solo piano track "I Giorni" was featured in a BBC promotion for arts and culture programmes, and attracted much interest due to Greg James' airing in June 2011 of the piece on BBC Radio 1. He mentioned that he found the piece therapeutic when he was studying in university. Due to repeated airings by Greg James that month, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at #32 on 12 June 2011.

La Scala Concert 03.03.03 is a 2004 Live album of Einaudi at a concert at La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy on 3 March 2003. His 2003 album Diario Mali is a collaboration of Einaudi on piano and Malian musician Ballaké Sissoko on kora. In 2004 he released Una Mattina on Decca. In 2006, Divenire (in English "to become") is a collaboration of Piano and Orchestra by Einaudi. The album also includes his critically acclaimed track "Primavera." It was recorded by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Einaudi, as the piano master. Shortly after its release, Einaudi went on tour to various places in the UK, playing both the music on Divenire and orchestral arrangements of his other works. The album topped the iTunes classical chart.

In October 2009, Nightbook was released. The album saw Einaudi take a new direction with his music as he incorporated synthesized sounds alongside his solo piano playing. The album was conceived and recorded in response to the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, as well as an exhibit space where Einaudi performed for a gallery opening for Kiefer. The album was also inspired by the drums and electronics of the Whitetree Project, a performing trio Einaudi formed with Robert and Ronald Lippok of To Rococo Rot, a German electronic group. In Italy the album went Gold with more than 35,000 copies sold.

His album, In a Time Lapse, was released on 21 January 2013, with US and Canadian supporting tours. He also appeared on KCRW in Los Angeles. On 17 September 2013, Einaudi performed various songs from In a Time Lapse, together with a new ensemble, at the annual iTunes Festival held at the Roundhouse in London. The group intimately rehearsed this performance in the barn of Einaudi's house. In March 2016 the world premiere of a new piano concerto 'Domino' took place at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Einaudi in 2008

Works

• 1988: Time Out
• 1992: Stanze (harp)
• 1995: Salgari
• 1996: Le Onde (piano)
• 1999: Eden Roc (piano and strings)
• 2001: I Giorni (piano)
• 2003: Diario Mali (piano, kora)
• 2004: Una Mattina (piano, cello)
• 2006: Divenire (piano, string quartet)
• 2009: Nightbook (piano, electronic)
• 2013: In a Time Lapse (piano, electronic)
• 2015: Taranta Project (piano, electronic, orchestra, cello, kora)
• 2015: Elements (piano, electronic, orchestra)

Recordings

• 1988: Time Out – BMG Ricordi
• 1992: Stanze – BMG Ricordi
• 1995: Salgari – BMG Ricordi
• 1996: Le Onde – BMG Ricordi
• 1998: Fuori dal Mondo – BMG Ricordi
• 1998: Ultimi Fuochi – BMG Ricordi
• 1999: Eden Roc – BMG Ricordi
• 2001: I Giorni – BMG Ricordi
• 2001: Luce dei miei Occhi- BMG Ricordi
• 2002: Dr. Zhivago – BMG Ricordi
• 2003: La Scala Concert 03.03.03 – BMG Ricordi
• 2003: Le parole di mio padre – BMG Ricordi
• 2003: Diario Mali (with Ballaké Sissoko) – Ponderosa IRD
• 2003: Echoes: The Einaudi Collection - BMG UK & Ireland
• 2004: Una Mattina – Ponderosa Music and Art/Decca/Sony Classical
• 2006: Divenire – Ponderosa Music and Art/Decca
• 2009: Cloudland – Ponderosa Music and Art, side project recorded as a group called Whitetree
• 2009: Nightbook – Ponderosa Music and Art/Decca
• 2010: The Royal Albert Hall Concert – Ponderosa Music and Art
• 2011: Islands: Essential Einaudi – Decca (UMO)
• 2013: In a Time Lapse – Ponderosa Music and Art/Decca #24 UK, #2 Mega Top 50, #5 FIMI Albums Chart, #6 Classical Albums
• 2015: Elements – Decca / Ponderosa Music & Art

Film and television scores

Einaudi at a solo performance in 2008

• 1988: Treno di panna (Director: Andrea De Carlo)
• 1994: Da qualche parte in città (Director: Michele Sordillo)
• 1996: Acquario (Director: Michele Sordillo)
• 1998: Aprile (Director: Nanni Moretti)
• 1998: Giorni dispari (Director: Dominick Tambasco)
• 1999: Fuori dal mondo (Director: Giuseppe Piccioni)
• 2000: La vita altrui (Director: Michele Sordillo)
• 2000: Un delitto impossibile (Director: Antonio Luigi Grimaldi)
• 2001: Le parole di mio padre (Director: Francesca Comencini)
• 2001: Alexandreia (Director: Maria Iliou)
• 2002: Luce dei miei occhi (Director: Giuseppe Piccioni) – Italian music award for best film score
• 2002: Doctor Zhivago (TV mini-series, Director: Giacomo Campiotti)
• 2004: Sotto falso nome (Director: Roberto Andò) – Prize for the best film music at Avignon Film Festival 2004
• 2004: Mission: Saturn
• 2006: This Is England (Director: Shane Meadows)
• 2010: This Is England '86 (Director: Shane Meadows)
• 2010: Stargate Universe – Pathogen
• 2010: Sangandaan – Landas ng Buhay
• 2010: I'm Still Here (Director: Casey Affleck)
• 2010: Das Ende ist mein Anfang - German film
• 2010: Black Swan Trailer (Director: Darren Aronofosky)
• 2011: Elena - Mysterio ng Kahapon
• 2011: This Is England '88 (Director: Shane Meadows)
• 2011: Intouchables - (Director: Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano)
• 2012: J. Edgar - (Director: Clint Eastwood)
• 2012: Derek (Pilot episode) - (Director: Ricky Gervais)
• 2014: The Water Diviner - (Director: Russell Crowe)
• 2014: Mommy - (Director: Xavier Dolan)
• 2015: This is England '90 - (Director: Shane Meadows)
• 2017: The Third Murder - (Director: Hirokazu Koreeda)

Commercials, other

Einaudi at a concert in Moscow, 12 September 2014

• 2011: BBC - background music to minute of silence for recent racing deaths before Formula 1 Airtel Grand Prix of India (30 October)
• 2011: Airtel India TV commercial "Endless Goodbye" - Excerpt from "I Giorni"
• 2012: Procter & Gamble TV commercial "The Best Job" for the Olympics 2012 (excerpt from "Divenire" on YouTube)
• Numerous episodes of the BBC's Top Gear including the 2009 Bolivia Special.
• Year of creation unknown: National Basketball Association (NBA) of America, Where Will Amazing Happen This Year (Magic Johnson Sky Hook) on YouTube
• 2012: James May's Toy Story's Christmas Special, Excerpt from "Divenire".
• 2012: "The Snow Prelude N. 03 in C Major" was the Background music to Nationwide Building Society's adverts.
• 2013: Derek TV series
• 2013: Vodafone RED, Excerpt from "Walk".
• 2013: BBC - The Apprentice - Episode 7: Caravans (Lady Labyrinth & The Crane Dance)
• 2013: British Airways Advert: Today, Tomorrow on YouTube, "Experience (Starkey Remix)" for commercial
• 2013: Een 'BIRTH DAY' - 'Life' as intro and outro track - for the Belgian documentary by photographer Lieve Blancquaert (nl) - 9 episodes
• 2013: "The Book Thief" International Trailer - "Life" THE BOOK THIEF - OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL TRAILER, 20centuryfox on YouTube
• 2013: "Moving Art" Louie Schwartzberg, Netflix series.
• 2014: Procter & Gamble TV commercial for the Sochi 2014 Olympics - "Primavera" Video on YouTube
• 2015: Nike Golf Ad, Rory Mcilroy tribute to Tiger Woods - "Nuvole Bianche" Video on YouTube
• 2015: ANZ Australia: Welcome to Your World, Your Way on YouTube, "Experience" for commercial
• 2015: UFC 193 Promo Video: UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holly Holm - Revolution on YouTube, "Experience" for commercial
• 2015: BBC: "Fly" used as theme music to TV series Doctor Foster
• 2015: RTVE: "Nuvole Bianche" used as theme music of 2015 Spanish Lottery commercial
• 2015: BBC Masterchef the Professionals, Life was used when winner was announced
• 2016: SKY Sports - The Open on YouTube, "Experience" music for commercial and other features for The 2016 Golf Open
• 2016: Procter & Gamble TV commercial Strong on YouTube for the Rio 2016 Olympics, "Experience" music for commercial
• 2016: Amazon Prime - A Priest and an Imam meet for a cup of tea. Excerpt from "I Giorni"