Nicola Piovani

Nicola Piovani
Nicola Piovani

Nicola Piovani (b. 26 May 1946, Rome, Italy) is a light-classical musician, theater and film score composer, and winner of the 1998 Best Original Dramatic Score Oscar for the score of the Roberto Benigni film La Vita è bella, better known to English-speaking audiences as Life Is Beautiful.

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.

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 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 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 Cavalier (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. 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.

Rumors have abounded for years that Nicola Piovani was a pseudonym of better-known composer Ennio Morricone, a fact Piovani uses to humorous effect when speaking in public.

External links

v · d · eAcademy Award for Best Original Score (1981–2000)

Vangelis (1981) · John Williams/Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse (1982) · Bill Conti/Michel Legrand, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman (1983) · Maurice Jarre/Prince (1984) · John Barry (1985) · Herbie Hancock (1986) · Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne and Cong Su (1987) · Dave Grusin (1988) · Alan Menken (1989) · John Barry (1990) · Alan Menken (1991) · Alan Menken (1992) · John Williams (1993) · Hans Zimmer (1994) · Luis Enríquez Bacalov/Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (1995) · Gabriel Yared/Rachel Portman (1996) · James Horner/Anne Dudley (1997) · Nicola Piovani/Stephen Warbeck (1998) · John Corigliano (1999) · Tan Dun (2000)
Complete list · (1934–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–2020)


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