Nicola Piovani (born 26 May 1946) is an Italian light-classical musician, theater and film score composer. In 1998, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score for Roberto Benigni's film Life Is Beautiful (1997).

After high school, Piovani enrolled at the Sapienza University of Rome, receiving his degree in piano from the Verdi Conservatory in Milan in 1967, and later studied orchestration under the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis.

In 1971 and 1973 collaborated for the music of two albums of the songwriter Fabrizio De André: Storia di un impiegato and Non al denaro non all'amore né al cielo. In 2008, after De André departure, Piovani wrote the music for the film Amore che vieni, amore che vai, inspired by a novel of De André himself, Un destino ridicolo.

Among his more popular works is the score for the Federico Fellini film Intervista, his second of three collaborations with the famous director, the others being Ginger e Fred (Ginger and Fred in English) and La voce della luna (The Voice of the Moon). Years later, he composed a ballet titled Balletto Fellini.

In 2000, his Academy Award-winning score for Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è bella) was further nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" category, losing to Randy Newman. In 2005, he was a member of the jury at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival. In light of his recent work with French directors, notably Danièle Thompson, Philippe Lioret, and Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, the French Minister of Culture gave him the title of Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on 21 May 2008 at the Cannes Film Festival.

To date, Piovani has over 130 film scores to his credit, including films such as Slap 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), and Kaos (1984). The music for the latter is considered by many as one of the best film scores ever done. However, he is reported to believe that "Too many film scores make a composer a hack, but in the theatre music is above all craftsmanship". Accordingly, he continues to work in musical theatre, and also composes concert and chamber music.

Piovani also composed the first opera Amorosa 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.

In 2023, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy.

In 2024, Piovani composed the score for Loris Lai's debut feature film, How Kids Roll.

Source: Article "Nicola Piovani" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Nicola Piovani, né le 26 mai 1946 à Rome, est un pianiste, compositeur et chef d'orchestre italien contemporain.

Nicola Piovani a composé de nombreuses musiques de film, ainsi que la partition de la comédie musicale Concha Bonita (2002), dont le livret est d'Alfredo Arias et René de Ceccatty. Il fut entre autres le dernier compositeur attitré de Federico Fellini.

Il a également composé les bandes originales de films de Mario Monicelli, Michelangelo Antonioni, des frères Taviani, de Nanni Moretti, Philippe Lioret et du film La vie est belle (de Roberto Benigni), œuvre pour laquelle il est récompensé, en 1999, d'un Oscar de la meilleure musique de film dans la catégorie «Meilleure partition originale pour un film dramatique». Toujours pour La Vie est belle, il reçoit cette même année (1999) une nomination lors de la 42e cérémonie des Grammy Awards dans la catégorie «meilleure composition de film».

Piovani a également composé le premier opéra Amorosa presenza basé sur un livret d'Aisha Cerami et Nicola Piovani inspiré du roman de Vincenzo Cerami, qui est créé en janvier 2022 au Teatro Verdi de Trieste.

Source: Article "Nicola Piovani" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.

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