Einaudi plays piano on an iceberg as an Arctic glacier crumbles around him

21 December 2018, 18:37

The Italian pianist premiered this beautiful piece in Svalbard to publicise Greenpeace’s battle to save the Arctic.

In June 2016, Greenpeace persuaded the Italian composer and pianist to play on a specially built ‘iceberg’ within 100m of a crumbling glacier as part of their campaign to save the Arctic.

In the video, Einaudi is seen performing his minimalist music in the breathtakingly beautiful surroundings of Wahlenbergbreen glacier in Svalbard, Norway. As he plays one descending scale, huge chunks of ice calve off the glacier. To get to the spectacular location, Einaudi caught a ride with the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise (you can see how the film was made in the video at the bottom of the page): 

El pianista Ludovico Einaudi lleva tu voz al Ártico #SaveTheArctic https://t.co/eMAWNDNWEF pic.twitter.com/KmDDOcPrc5

— Captain Mike (@MikeFincken) June 20, 2016

Einaudi premiered his new composition, Elegy for the Arctic, as governments gathered in Tenerife to consider a proposal to protect 10% of the Arctic Ocean.

According to Greenpeace, three countries - Norway, Denmark and Iceland - oppose the measure. The Arctic is becoming vulnerable to exploitation for fishing and oil drilling because the extent of sea ice covering the ocean has fallen to record lows in recent years.

The Making Of: Einaudi plays piano in the Arctic

Make a donation to Greenpeace here.