Sound
Nicola Piovani
Born 1946-05-26 · Rome, Italy
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.
Acting credits
8.3A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-time Oscar winner and the author of over five hundred unforgettable scores.
Ennio
2022
6.2Ferruccio Castronuovo was the only authorized eye, between 1976 and 1986, to film the brilliant Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini (1920-1993) in his personal and creative intimacy, to capture the gears of his great circus, his fantastic lies and his crazy inventions.
Fellinopolis
2021
NRA documentary feature film about Vittorio De Sica, one of the greatest masters of world cinema. Through a new access to his family, rare archives and testimonies of contemporary artists and filmmakers from the entire world, the ilm retraces his life, his work and legacy. An intimate portrait of an author able to transform the observation of the real in an universal emotion and reveals the modernity of a gaze which keeps on illuminating cinema and our way of seeing the world.
Vittorio De Sica: Staging Life
2026
NRMilo Manara revolutionized the comics imagination, liberating female desire through the protagonists of his comics. His career was marked by his encounter with Hugo Pratt, his mentor and companion, and by his exploration of the power of sex as a political act, culminating in the publication of Il gioco. His partnership with Federico Fellini redefined the boundaries between eroticism, cinema, and comics, and his unmistakable style made him a point of reference for entire generations.
Manara
2025
NRFrom the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the world premiere of ‘Amorosa presenza’, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Vincenzo Cerami, and the opera debut of Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani. Conducted by Maestro Piovani, with stage direction by Chiara Muti.
Amorosa presenza
2022
6.9A director and his crew attempt to make the transition from the small to the big screen.
Boris: The Film
2011
6.2No synopsis available yet.
Vittorio racconta Gassman: Una vita da mattatore
2010
7.4Documentary about the film and theater career of the roman actor, Gigi Proietti, who passed away on 2 November 2020
Luigi Proietti detto Gigi
2022
NRFrom the Arturo Toscanini Auditorium in Turin, Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani takes centre stage in his dual role as conductor and composer, alongside the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. The programme features soundtracks from films by the Taviani brothers, Roberto Benigni and Federico Fellini.
Nicola Piovani con l'Orchestra Rai
2016
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Cento e oltre. Puccini e noi
2025
3.5Documentary with interviews and clips of Fellini's movies.
The Magic of Fellini
2002
NRThe Orchestra and Chorus of the Petruzzelli Theater in Bari perform “The Labyrinth of Crete,” an opera for children written and directed by Nicola Piovani. Two clowns, Don Cosimo and Papèla, tell the story—loosely based on the exploits of Theseus—who, chosen to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, faces the monster with the help of Ariadne.
Il Labirinto di Creta
2024
NRTo mark the tenth anniversary of the L'Aquila earthquake, Nicola Piovani will conduct *The Symphony of the Seasons* for soloists, children’s choir, narrator and orchestra from the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio.
Sinfonia delle Stagioni
2019
NRIl sangue e la parola (Blood and Words) “Not the sword but words illuminate the way” is a cantata by maestro Nicola Piovani with lyrics freely adapted from Aeschylus' The Eumenides. Performed by the orchestra and choir of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma with Andrea Pennacchi as narrator. The concert also includes performances of symphonic suites from La notte di San Lorenzo (The Night of San Lorenzo) and La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful).
Il sangue e la parola - Non la spada ma la parola illumini la via
2022
5.0No synopsis available yet.
Siamo in un film di Alberto Sordi?
2025
NRNo synopsis available yet.
La visita meravigliosa: Viaggio in Italia sulle tracce di Nino Rota
2011