You may not recognize Ludovico Einaudi by name, but there's a good chance you've heard his captivating and hypnotic compositions.
Einaudi is the most streamed living classical composer on Spotify, with hundreds of millions of streams on many of his songs. His music is deeply emotive.
"I need to work around something that I feel is moving — something in my heart, in my belly," he says.
His latest album, The Summer Portraits, is a trip back to his childhood in Turin, Italy. His childlike wonder is at the core of his creativity.
"I never grew up, in a way. I feel the heart is still the heart of when I was 14," he says.
As part of our latest Sense of Place series, Einaudi talks about not having to create original music for Nomadland; about how his grandfather left Italy to avoid appeasing fascists; and about how he ended up playing on a barge in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.
Featured Songs
- "Punta Bianca"
- "Rose Bay"
- "Elegy for the Arctic"
- "Petricor"
- "Fly"
This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.
