While using the Wahlenbergbreen glacier and the surrounding sea for a stage may seem a bit strange, Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi didn’t think so as he was filmed playing an original composition on the piano lasting about three minutes, reports CTV News.
The event took place last week on a floating platform near Svalbard, Norway. Ludovico’s haunting composition, “Elegy for the Arctic,” was played as the crackling and crumbling glacier provided sound effects, further adding to the importance of his message.
The unusual performance was put together by Greenpeace and Einaudi, ahead of the upcoming OSPAR Commission meeting being held this week in Tenerife, Spain. OSPAR is an organization made up of 15 countries and the European Union, cooperating to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. The commission is considering a proposal that would safeguard 10 percent of the Arctic ocean, an area roughly the size of the UK.
What did Einaudi think about performing on a platform next to a glacier? Huffington Post reports that in a statement from Greenpeace, he said, “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. “It is important that we understand the importance of the Arctic, stop the process of destruction and protect it.”
