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Pianist performs on glacier to support the environment
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Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi performs atop an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean on June 17. (youtube.com/user/ludovicoeinaudi/-)
W
hen we talk about a piano performance, we usually think about it being held in an auditorium or a grand, classical concert hall. However, Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi broke this routine recently by performing atop a melting glacier.
At Svalbard in Norway, the renowned pianist and composer played an original piece titled Elegy for the Arctic on a grand piano on a floating platform in the Arctic Ocean. Amid the freezing wind and the Wahlenbergbreen glacier, his less than three-minute performance was filled with minor notes intended to portray sadness. As he performed, viewers could see the glaciers collapsing in the distance.
(Read also: Nicholas Saputra stars in EU documentary on elephant conservation)
As quoted by designboom.com, Einaudi said, “I could see the purity and fragility of this area with my own eyes and interpret a song I wrote to be played upon the best stage in the world. It is important that we understand the importance of the arctic, stop the process of destruction and protect it.”
The performance was part of a collaboration between Einaudi and Greenpeace coinciding with the start of the OSPAR Commission’s meeting in Tenerife, Spain, last week. What the pianist and the environmental organization seek from the meeting is the realization of the creation of a protected area in the Arctic Ocean. (kes)
