Home News Moving Arctic solo raises climate awareness

Moving Arctic solo raises climate awareness

Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi performs original composition, "Elegy for the Arctic". Image credit: Raul Alaejos / Greenpeace

ON MONDAY, A world-renowned Italian composer and pianist, Ludovico Einaudi, performed an historic concert in the Arctic Ocean to raise awareness about climate change.

Ludovico performed his own piano composition, “Elegy for the Arctic” whilst floating on a platform against the backdrop of the Wahlenbergbreen glacier in Svalbard, Norway. The musician is known for his composition for the film Black Swan and the television serial Doctor Zhivago.

Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi performs on a floating platform in the Arctic Ocean, in front of the Wahlenbergbreen glacier in Svalbard, Norway. (Image: Pedro Armestre / Greenpeace)

Ludovico travelled aboard a Greenpeace ship, and his moving performance was part of the activist organisation’s campaign urging governments to ratify a proposal to set up a protected area in international Arctic waters at this week’s meeting by the OSPAR (Oslo-Paris) commission in Spain.

“Being here has been a great experience. 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,” Ludovico said in a Greenpeace statement. “It is important that we understand the importance of the Arctic, stop the process of destruction and protect it.”

The 2.6m x 10m ‘iceberg’ platform was made of more than 300 triangles of wood and weighed almost 2 tonnes. The grand piano was shipped from Germany.

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