Composer

Ludovico Einaudi

Story

Luminous, emotive, effortlessly lyrical and always supremely refined the music and performance of Ludovico Einaudi have attracted an ever growing audience over the last two decades whose diversity and devotion are without parallel. He has released a series of chart-topping albums , sells out the most prestigious concert halls worldwide, composed a string of award-winning film scores and routinely tops audience polls becoming an internet phenomenon. With a unique musical alchemy that draws
on elements of classical, rock, electronica and world musics he has rendered traditional ideas of genre and audience divide obsolete and become not only one of the best known composers in the world today but almost certainly the best loved too.

Ludovico was born in Turin, Italy and trained as a classical composer and pianist at the Milan Conservatorio before continuing his studies with Luciano Berio, one of the most important composers of the twentieth century avant-garde. His career began with a series of prestigious commissions for institutions such as the USA’s Tanglewood Festival, Paris’ IRCAM and recently the National Center of Performing Arts of Beijing , but he turned away from what seemed a glittering classical career to forge his own musical path,
giving him the freedom to reconcile his wider-ranging influences. It was a bold strategy but one quickly rewarded, when Ludovico’s electric harp suite ‘Stanze’ (1997) was first played on BBC Radio the switchboard jammed with listeners. It was a similar story with his next release ‘Le Onde’ (1998), a solo piano cycle he performed himself. A listener-organised campaign made it Ludovico’s breakthrough and a permanent fixture a top the Classic FM charts. This upswell of grass roots activity, snowballing with the onset of the internet and social media, has allowed Ludovico to build a uniquely close relationship directly with his audience. Le Onde’ also ignited Ludovico’s career in Film & TV music and he has since composed many awardwinning scores including ‘Doctor Zhivago’ (2002) and ‘Sotto Falso Nome’ (2004) which also became successful albums in their own right. In recent years Shane Meadows’ acclaimed film ‘This Is England’ (2006) and its television sequel ‘This Is England ‘86’ (2010) have brought a BAFTA nomination for Ludovico and introduced his music to a huge new audience. In 2011 another acclaimed film used his music: “ Intouchables” by Olivier Nakache and Eric Soledano. The film has been voted as the cultural event of 2011 in France and it has been submitted for the 85th Academy Award. Ludovico built on the impact of ‘Le Onde’ with a series of albums notable for their exuberant experimentation. ‘Eden Roc’ (1999) saw an array of guest musicians and instruments ranging from electric guitar to the Armenian duduk. ‘I Giorni’ (2001) deepened this engagement with world music in Ludovico’s second collection for solo piano. His ‘best of’ collection from these first four albums ‘Echoes: The Einaudi Collection’ (2003) has since gone to sell more than 100,000 copies. As Ludovico’s fame grew, his concert schedule naturally grew along with it and became an increasingly important part of his life.