Whether playing solo or creating a rich musical tapestry with talented instrumentalists, Ludovico Einaudi is an artist audiences flock to hear. The post-classical phenomenon celebrates 20 years with Decca next year and has just revealed details of his 17th studio album.
What is Ludovico Einaudi’s new album called?
Ludovico Einaudi’s new album is titled The Summer Portraiits. It was initially inspired by a recent summer break at a villa on a Mediterranean island, where the composer came across a series of paintings created over several summers by a previous occupant. That led to Einaudi looking back on his own history of summers.
‘I started to think of my summers, the time where my life was strictly connected with all my senses, where the days felt like months and months like years, and I was free from morning to night, and every day was a new discovery of life, and nature was a fundamental part of it. We were nature.' (Ludovico Einaudi)
Who performs on Ludovico Einaudi’s new album?
As fans might expect, Ludovico Einaudi himself performs the piano elements of The Summer Portraits. However, the album features baroque violin solos from Théotime Langlois de Swarte, alongside the strings of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (under conductor Robert Ames) and Einaudi regulars Federico Mecozzi (violin/viola), Redi Hasa (cello) and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Arcuri.
When is Ludovico Einaudi’s new album out?
The Summer Portraits is released by Decca on 31 January 2025, with a first single Rose Bay out now – along with a very special video, featuring footage from Ludovico Einaudi’s childhood summers. Rose Bay is named for the Sydney suburb to where Einaudi's estranged grandfather emigrated in the 1930s.
One of Italy's top conductors in his day (indeed he played for Puccini), Wando Aldrovandi, refused to work under a fascist government and left for Australia. He would never see his family, including Einaudi's mother (who was just 12 when he left), ever again. 'I grew up with the image of this person that I never saw,' Einaudi says. 'My mother missed her father all her life. Music became a place where she could connect to him.'
Ludovico Einaudi's single 'Rose Bay' is out now, with the full album available on from 31 January on Decca Records and from wherever you enjoy your music.