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Nicola Piovani | |
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 Piovani in 2010 | |
| Born | (1946-05-26)26 May 1946 (age 79) |
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| Years active | 1971–present |
Nicola Piovani (born 26 May 1946) is an Italian classical musician, theater andfilm score composer. In 1999, he won theAcademy Award forBest Original Dramatic Score forRoberto Benigni's filmLife Is Beautiful (1997).
After high school, Piovani enrolled at theSapienza University of Rome, receiving his degree inpiano from theVerdi Conservatory inMilan in 1967,[1] and later studiedorchestration under theGreek composerManos Hadjidakis.[2]
In 1971 and 1973 collaborated for the music of two albums of the songwriterFabrizio De André:Storia di un impiegato andNon al denaro non all'amore né al cielo. In 2008, after De André departure, Piovani wrote the music for the filmAmore che vieni, amore che vai, inspired by a novel of De André himself,Un destino ridicolo.[3]
Among his more popular works is the score for theFederico Fellini filmIntervista, his second of three collaborations with the famous director, the others beingGinger e Fred (Ginger and Fred in English) andLa voce della luna (The Voice of the Moon). Years later, he composed aballet titledBalletto Fellini.[4]
In 2000, his Academy Award-winning score forLife Is Beautiful (La Vita è bella) was further nominated for aGrammy Award in the "Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" category, losing toRandy Newman. In 2005, he was a member of the jury at the27th Moscow International Film Festival.[5] In light of his recent work with French directors, notablyDanièle Thompson,Philippe Lioret, andÉric-Emmanuel Schmitt, theFrench Minister of Culture gave him the title ofChevalier (Knight) of theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres on 21 May 2008 at theCannes Film Festival.[6]
To date, Piovani has over 130 film scores to his credit, including films such asSlap the Monster on Page One (1972),The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974),Flavia the Heretic (1974),Le Orme (1975),A Leap in the Dark (1980)The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982), andKaos (1984). However, he is reported to believe that "Too many film scores make a composer ahack, but in the theatre music is above all craftsmanship". Accordingly, he continues to work inmusical theatre, and also composes concert andchamber music.[7]
Piovani also composed the first operaAmorosa presenza on a libretto by Aisha Cerami and Nicola Piovani, based on the novel by Vincenzo Cerami and is performed at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste in January 2022.[8]
In 2023, he was awarded theLifetime Achievement Award from theWorld Soundtrack Academy.[9]
In 2024, Piovani composed the score for Loris Lai's debut feature film,How Kids Roll.[10]
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