Nicola Piovani in Concert for the Italian Film Festival

The Italian Cultural Institute has organised with the collaboration of Cinecitta’ Luce an Italian Film Festival at the Cine Lumiere in South Kensington and to mark this important event Maestro Nicola Piovani has been flown from Italy with his Quintet for a concert at the prestigious Cadogan Hall off Sloane  Square.

Maestro Nicola Piovani has written more than 100 soundtrack scores for Italian films and also foreigner ones and he won an Oscar for the music in the film “Life is beautiful”. Opening the Italian Film Festival with this concert has been like the cherry on top of the cake, linking cinema and music beautifully inside the elegant frame of the Cadogan Hall for a magic evening. Mr Carlo Presenti, director of the Italian Cultural Institute greeted the audience and introduced Maestro Nicola Piovani and his Quintet.

Together with Marina Cesari at the sax and clarinet, Pasquale Filasto playing cello and guitar, Andrea Avena at the double bass and Cristian Marini at the percussion, drums and accordion, Nicola Piovani led the audience to a journey inside the history of the cinema playing his music from films like “The Night of S. Lorenzo”, “Life is beautiful”, the last Federico Fellini’s film “The Voice of the Moon” and more. With the help of the translator Consuelo Hackney, Maestro Piovani explained to the audience how he wrote music, or why, or his sensations and feelings while composing. Also he cherished this evening explaining that despite all the technology that surround us, music will be always played now, as it was 2000 years ago and it will be in 2000 years time.

Rounds of applause followed the end of the concert and after a final greeting the audience has been treated with an encore from a French film still not outside its borders, not very famous but the Quintet enjoy playing immensely called “ Le Code a Change’ “.

With this concert we had the official opening of the Italian Film Festival 2011 which program can be seen at the Italian Cultural Institute website that between the venue at the Cinema Lumiere with new films and the building in Belgrave Square with a season of film related to food will be packed of events through the month of March.