Ludovico Einaudi

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, 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 one of the best known composers in the world today.

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.

‘Le Onde’ also ignited Ludovico’s career in film & television music and he has since composed many awardwinning scores including Doctor Zhivago (2002) and Sotto Falso Nome (2004). 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. 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. It immediately led to two new albums, Diario Mali (2005), a collaboration with kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko and his first live solo album La Scala Concert 03.03.03 (2003), recorded in his adopted city of Milan. The release of Una Mattina’ (2004) saw more ‘firsts,’ it was Ludovico’s debut album on new and current record label Universal and also his most ‘classical’ to date. Largely written for solo piano, it leapt to the top of the UK classical album chart and gave him his first sold-out UK tour. Ludovico remains one of the most popular composers in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe.