Ludovico Einaudi

Ludovico Einaudi
Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi was born in Turin, Italy on November 23, 1955. Initially Einaudi was influenced by his mother who used to play piano to him when he was a kid.

Before he started learning music under the guidance of Luciano Berio, he attended Conservatorio Verdi in Milan to earn a diploma in composition. Einaudi also earned a scholarship to Tanglewood Festival in USA in 1982.

His music has always been categorized as classical, ambient, minimal and deeply touching contemporary sound, and that explains why he is known to make phenomenal CD sales, and stands amongst some of the best selling musicians in Europe.

He began his composition by mid-1980s and started off with rather traditional way of composing after being influenced by different elements of popular music styles. Initially Einaudi collaborated and composed for theatres, dance and video.

By doing so he searched for more free and personal music language. Some of his early works included his compositions for ballets such as Sul filo d?Orfeo, Time-out, The Wild Man, and The Emperor. Einaudi also composed the music for an opera/ballet by Arena di Verona titled Salgari (Per terra e per mare) in 1995. Emilio Salgari, Rabindranath Tagore, and Charles Duke Jr. wrote the text for the opera.

The set for the score was designed by Jerome Sirlin, while the opera was choreographed by Daniel Ezralow. Accompanied by the writer Andrea De Carlo, he also composed the music for a dance-theatre performance that was not only performed in Italy, but also in Japan and United States.

Einaudi released his debut solo piano album Le Onde in 1996. The album debuted with positive reviews and acquired mainstream success both in UK and Italy. The album was based on Virginia Woolfs novel The Waves, which was first published in 1931 by Hogarth Press.

Le Onde was the turning point in Einaudis career as it established his reputation as a soloist. Although 1990s release Stanze contained 16 musical numbers which were composed by him, but they were performed by Cecilia Chailly. According to Woolf waves are the like the life itself, and that defines Einaudis music as well in his album Le Onde.

The album was initially released in Italy only, but as its popularity rose, it was released in UK as well a couple of years later. Album also received positive reviews both from music critics and listeners, after its release in UK as well.

Le Onde was followed by another one of his albums titled Eden Roc that was released in 1999. According to his official website it explores in greater depth the themes raised in my earlier works, Stanze and Le onde.

As compared to Einaudis previous work, Eden Roc sounded freer and less static. An American master of duduk, Djivan Gasparijan also collaborated with Einaudi on Eden Roc. Duduk is made of the apricot wood, and flaunts the traditional roots of areas such as Balkans.

By the end of 2001, Einaudi released his next studio album titled I Giorni on BMG. The album comprised of 14 tracks, all of them were solo piano pieces by Einaudi. In this album, Einaudi seems to have taken full control over the language of music to express his inner feelings. He has used his music to express his thoughts and sentiments on his travel to Africa.

In his own words according to his official website he said, One day, a little while ago, during a trip to Mali, I was traveling by car with a friend, Toumani Diabate, a virtuoso performer on the kora (the typical Malian harp), when suddenly I heard the most enchanting music, an ancient melody from the thirteenth century.

When I got home and was making my new recording, I began to improvise with that sweet, melancholy music in mind, and so I fought off my nostalgia for Africa. He collaborated with Malian musician Ballake Sissoko who played kora. He recorded his album Diario Mali that was released in Europe in 2003 on Ponderosa Music & Art.

Later in 2004, Einaudi released his compilation album entitled Echoes: The Einaudi Collection, which was followed by the release of his live album La Scala Concert 03.03.03, the same year as well. Also in 2004, Einaudi headed back to studio in June to record his next studio album Una Mattina, which was released on September 6, 2004.

Einaudis most recent studio album Divenire was released on February 19, 2007. In this album Einaudi fused piano with orchestra. Einaudis critically acclaimed hit Primavera was also featured on this album. After the release, Einaudi went on UKs tour to help promote his album.