New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Italian composer and the most-streamed classical artist in the world, Ludovico Einaudi, is today releasing his brand new album 'The Summer Portraits' via Decca Records. The record is a lush return to full-band textures and is the result of a cascade of personal memories triggered by sun, summer and family holidays.
Einaudi's music crosses genre and generations. Loved by millions of people worldwide, his compositions have also resonated in the hearts of sports stars such as Emma Raducanu and Gareth Southgate, who recently included music by Einaudi on his Desert Island Discs on BBC
Radio 4.
'The Summer Portraits' is a song cycle in thirteen tracks, in which the personal becomes the universal. In 2023, Einaudi took a villa on the Italian island of Elba with his own family, nestled in a forest of pine trees, and found the house to be decorated with thirty or forty striking oil paintings clearly made by the same hand. He discovered they had been produced by a woman from Rome who owned the house for some years and painted new scenes every summer. "Everyone has their own version of the summer portraits," he says. "I started to make my own paintings with music. This album is dedicated to all our summers, all our beautiful moments." The oil paintings (which gave name to the solo piano meditation 'Oil on Wood') are a symbol of Einaudi's own impressionistic approach to music: each stroke so carefully chosen; powerful moods created by something delicate.
Whilst in London for his recent SOLD OUT Palladium shows late last year, in which he "sent the crowd into a trance" (The London Standard), Einaudi found time to perform a surprise set at St Pancras station to a delighted - and unsuspecting - audience all hoping to catch an up-close glimpse of the star.
In support of 'The Summer Portraits', Einaudi is heading on a world tour which includes five SOLD OUT nights at London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall - the longest ever run by a pianist headlining the venue - and arena shows in Manchester, Dublin and Edinburgh (first night SOLD OUT). An immersive experience for everyone, his live performance takes the audience on a kind of guided musical meditation, and concerts always end in celebration and spontaneous applause.
Einaudi has quietly become one of the most successful musicians in the world. His hauntingly beautiful and evocative music tops the classical charts worldwide, and is particularly loved here in the UK. He continues to perform to huge crowds at the world's most prestigious venues.
Ludovico Einaudi 2025 UK Tour Dates
30 June - Royal Albert Hall, London (SOLD OUT)
1 July - Royal Albert Hall, London (SOLD OUT)
2 July - Royal Albert Hall, London (SOLD OUT)
3 July - Royal Albert Hall, London (SOLD OUT)
4 July - Royal Albert Hall, London (SOLD OUT)
6 July - Co-op Live, Manchester
8 July - 3Arena, Dublin
10 July - Castle, Edinburgh (SOLD OUT)
11 July - Castle, Edinburgh
Toronto / October 2 / Massey Hall
Laval, QC / October 3 / Place Bell
Born in Turin, Einaudi trained as a classical composer and pianist at the Milan Conservatorio. He studied under
Luciano Berio, one of the most important composers of the twentieth century avant-garde. After some early prestigious commissions in the classical world Einaudi turned his back on what he regarded as an essentially conservative approach to music to embrace his own enthusiasms, which included African, folk and rock music.
Einaudi's music has become some of the most recognisable in the world through its use in film and advertisements, making him the world's most ubiquitous contemporary composer. He has provided music for numerous films including Shane Meadows' This Is England and the TV sequels This Is England '86' (for which he earned a BAFTA nomination), This Is England '88, and This Is England '90. His music also appears in numerous feature films and trailers, including the
Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary I'm Still Here, the French Oscar nominee Untouchables and the multi-award-winning film Mommy by Xavier Dolan, as well as regularly being heard on popular weekly television programmes and high profile adverts. Fans include Nicki Minaj, who walks onstage to his music, Iggy Pop, Tom Hiddleston and Ellie Goulding, to name but a few. Championed by BBC
Radio 1 DJ Greg James, Einaudi's music has been sampled by
Professor Green and remixed by
Mogwai and Starkey. In 2016 the pianist performed on a floating platform in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, specially built by Greenpeace, to raise awareness of global warming.
The next few years saw the release of 'Seven Days Walking' which - consisting of seven albums released in seven months accompanied by live dates in seven cities across the UK including seven sold-out nights at the Barbican in London - dominated classical charts across the globe. This was followed by soundtracks to Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe-winning films Nomadland and The Father as well as the launch of new podcast mini-series Experience: The
Ludovico Einaudi Story, starring celebrated actors, filmmakers and screenwriters such as Russell Crowe, Shane Meadows and Eric Toledano. In 2023, Einaudi received a prestigious invitation from the United Nations for Human Rights to contribute to the Human Right Day concert, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
October 2023 witnessed Einaudi's triumphant return to the UK, captivating audiences in Cardiff, Leeds, Birmingham, and Liverpool. He began 2024 flying to Dubai, Singapore, and a 9-date tour in Australia, including a sold-out residency at the Sydney Opera House.
Winter 2024 saw him play two nights at the London Palladium. This was followed by various European dates before a run of 17 shows in Milan, at Teatro Dal Verme, in December.
This summer Einaudi makes history by embarking upon the longest continuous headline run ever by a pianist at the Royal Albert Hall, with five consecutive nights in June-July. The record-breaking run of dates at the historic London venue (totalling over 26,000 people) takes place from 30th June to 4th July, and is already sold out. This residency is followed by the recently announced extra concerts at Manchester's Co-op Live (6th July), Dublin's 3Arena (8th July) and Edinburgh Castle (10th [sold out] and 11th July).
