L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 4 BARBARA MINAFRA NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Y ou'll find more than a couple of winning Italian "notes" in No- madland and The Father. And notes is the right word, because it was composer Ludovico Ei- naudi to create the music for these two "wonderful inde- pendent movies that speak about deep, important the- mes," and that were awarded at the Oscars 2021. Einaudi says – rightly – he feels "ho- nored to have contributed to these stories with my music," and that he considers the awards "a bit my own." Einaudi, from Turin, is a composer and pianist with a renowned and productive career on his shoulders. He w r o t e t h e m u s i c f o r N o m a d l a n d , w h i c h w o n three Oscars: best movie, b e s t a c t r e s s a n d , m o s t importantly, best director to Chloe Zhao, the first non- white woman – and only s e c o n d o v e r a l l , a f t e r Cathryn Bigelow – to have won in the category in 93 years. He also performed all pieces at the piano, along with Federico Mecozzi at the violin and Redi Hasa at the cello: they are all taken from the albums Elements, Divenire and Seven Days Walking, a project collec- t i n g s e v e n r e c o r d s , o n e published every month, for seven months from March to September 2019, the 14th studio work for Einaudi, r e l e a s e d f o r D e c c a Records/Universal Music Group. " I s t a r t e d l i s t e n i n g t o Seven Days Walking and I could feel that Ludovico was walking in the Alps: it was amazing. It got the impres- sion – director Chloe Zhao said to Joe Dempsie during t h e r e c o r d i n g o f t h e Experience: The Ludovico E i n a u d i S t o r y p o d c a s t – that he and Fern (a charac- ter in her movie) walked side by side. Their love for nature connects them, and that's when I understood his music was perfect for our film." Einaudi himself explains to ANSA this sha- red, common inspiration: the movie offers "a sort of v i s i o n t h a t i s p a r a l l e l t o mine, a dimension of free- dom, of something I express with music, and the movie w i t h i t s o w n l a n g u a g e : a story and its images. I loved it straight away, because I f e l t i t w a s s o m e t h i n g I c o u l d h a v e t o l d m y s e l f . Zhao explained to me the music was useful while edi- ting the film, she used it almost as a reading key." Florian Zeller's work w o n t w o O s c a r s : o n e o f t h e m w e n t t o A n t h o n y Hopkins for best actor: "At 83, I really didn't think to win. I really didn't expect i t . " H e r e , t o o , E i n a u d i ' s music was soundtrack to the images, with six pieces from Seven Days Walking, a n d t h e o r i g i n a l M y Journey. "The reason I real- l y w a n t e d t o w o r k w i t h E i n a u d i , i t ' s t h e w a y h e uses violins. I wanted vio- lins running through The F a t h e r , l i k e a g o l d e n thread," the director explai- ned. Einaudi, who studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Music School in Milan, under the wing of Luciano Berio, has a well known surname in Italy: he is the son of Editor Giulio Einaudi and grand- son of former President of the Republic Luigi Einaudi, who served from 1948 to 1955. But it's his artistic t a l e n t t h a t m a d e h i m famous: in 2005, he was a w a r d e d t h e O r d i n e a l Merito della Repubblica Italiana and, in 2012, he r e c e i v e d t h e P r e m i o Vittorio De Sica, from the hands of President of the R e p u b l i c G i o r g i o Napolitano, for his contri- bution to music. He perfor- med in the most important theatres in the world, from L a S c a l a i n M i l a n t o t h e R o y a l A l b e r t H a l l i n London, from the Olympia in Paris to the Philarmonie in Berlin. He sold more that 7 5 0 , 0 0 0 r e c o r d s a c r o s s Europe and his music has been streamed more than 2,4 billion times, making of h i m t h e m o s t s u c c e s s f u l streaming classical artist of all times. His compositions are an example of music that crosses over genres, and is "cinematographic" b e c a u s e o f i t s a b i l t y t o evoke images. A classical musician, he embraced a varieties of sty- les, including pop, rock, world and folk music, as well as a few soundtracks, including Russell Crowe's The Water Diviner, Casey A f f l e c k a n d J o a q u i n Phoenix's I'm Still Here, X a v i e r D o l a n ' s M o m m y , a n d a l s o Q u a s i A m i c i - I n t o u c h a b l e s b y O l i v i e r Bakache and Eric Toledano, F u o r i d a l M o n d o b y Giuseppe Piccioni, and This i s E n g l a n d b y S h a n e M e a d o w s . I n f a c t , a 2 8 - tracks double album dedi- cated to his soundtracks will be released in June by Decca. Last year, during the first l o c k d o w n , h e p u b l i s h e d twelve Songs from Home, performed on his home's piano. In Italy, his most well known composition – although not many know it's his -- is the very brief intro to the RAI 1 News, the m o s t i m p o r t a n t n e w s broadcast in the country. And unfortunately, the n e w s c o u l d n ' t a n n o u n c e any of our three potential victories at the Oscars this year. The award for best song went to Fight for You, from Judas and The Black Messiah, and not to Laura Pausini, a pillar of Italian music around the world. Massimo Cantini Parrini w i t h h i s c o s t u m e s a n d Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli a n d F r a n c e s c o P e g o r e t t i with their make up (all for M a t t e o G a r r o n e ' s Pinocchio) didn't have bet- ter luck: it was George C. Wolfe's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom to win. "My victory was being nominated: being one of t h e o n l y d e s i g n e r s g o o d enough to be selected for the Oscars doesn't happen every day – said the multi- awarded costume designer and pupil of Oscar winners Piero Tosi and Gabriella Pescussi, who already won f o u r D a v i d d i D o n a t e l l o Continued to page 6 Ludovico Einaudi during a performance. His music was part of two movies that won at the Oscars this year (Photo courtesy of Ponderosa Music and Art) Winning Italian "notes" at the Oscars

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