In the short history of Italian cinema music composition, the industry has produced a rich and diverse heritage unmatched by any other countries. “La Dolce Vita” is a celebration of of that tradition – a tribute to Italian Film Music. It’s rich history dates back several decades, with a plethora of notable composers.
The first exponent of cinema composition to become recognized beyond Italy was Nino Rota, a gifted composer whose skills covered every musical format from classical orchestral work to opera. Rota dabbled regularly in film scores from 1940’s, but with Lo Sceicco Bianco in 1952 he established an important collaborative relationship with director Federico Fellini. Some of his most notable collaborations with Fellini are La Strada, Prove d’Orchestra e Amarcord.
In the 1960’s and 70’s, Rota found success with other international hits: Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo e Giulietta and Francis Ford Coppola’s Il Padrino and La Dolce Vita.
The 1960’s also saw the rise of other Italian cinema composers, most notably the prolific Ennio Morricone. Morricone penned the music for “Il Buono, il Brutto e il Cattivo”, “Per un Pugno di Dollari”e “C’era una Volta il West”. Other great success are the music composed for Giuseppe Tornatore’s film like “The Legend of 1900”, “Cinema Paradiso”, “Malena” and “A Pure Formality”. “His transition to english-speaking films spawned classics including “The Untouchables” for Brian De Palma and “The Mission”, one of his most famous composition for film music.
The glory days of Italian film music and its magnificient music continue, with such recent successes as the Oscar-Winning “Il Postino”, which earned an Academy Award for Luis Bacalov. “Life is Beatiful” not only beat the odds to become one of the most successful foreign films of all time, but also brought worldwide attention to composer Nicola Piovani.
The expression “Dolce Vita” became, as time went by, the most used one to celebrate the Italian “lifestyle” all over the world. Italy is universally known for its cooking and its wines, for its huge artistic heritage, for its regional traditions, for the opera, for the fashion style and the design style and last but not least, for its cinema, of course.
The programme, whose arrangements are edited by Giuliano Di Giuseppe, will be performed by a symphonic orchestra and three soloist: a voice, a cello and a piano. Dolce Vita is a journey among different souls, which characterized the evolution of Italy, from the 50’s to nowadays and which led it to be well-known around the world. These are memories, feelings, real-life stories, which, thanks to the notes of the show, “La Dolce Vita” will come back to life in different generations and will lead the audience through a new show, full of passion.
