Italian Pianist Ludovico Einaudi Plays a Grand Piano While Floating in the Middle of the Arctic Ocean

Above, watch Ital­ian pianist and com­pos­er Ludovi­co Ein­au­di per­form an orig­i­nal com­po­si­tion, “Ele­gy for the Arc­tic,” on a grand piano, float­ing right in the mid­dle of the Arc­tic Ocean. In one of his most chal­leng­ing per­for­mances, Ein­au­di played “Ele­gy for the Arc­tic” for the very first time–a piece ded­i­cat­ed to the preser­va­tion of the Arc­tic. The home of endan­gered wildlife, the region also helps reg­u­late our frag­ile cli­mate. And our future depends part­ly on whether we keep it intact.

To pull off this pro­duc­tion, a Green­peace ship trans­port­ed Ein­au­di and his grand piano to the seas north of Nor­way, and put them on a large plat­form. Says Green­peace:

The mas­sive ear­ly retreat of sea ice due to the effects of cli­mate change allowed the con­struc­tion of a 2.6 x 10 metre arti­fi­cial ice­berg, made from more than 300 tri­an­gles of wood attached togeth­er and weigh­ing a total of near­ly two tonnes. A grand piano was then placed on top of the plat­form.

You can see Ein­au­di per­form­ing right in front of a large glac­i­er, while ice sheets fall aways as he plays. It’s a sight to behold.

If you would like to help pro­tect the Arc­tic, you can donate to Green­peace here.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

Glob­al Warm­ing: A Free Course from UChica­go Explains Cli­mate Change

A Beau­ti­ful Drone’s Eye View of Antarc­ti­ca

The Arc­tic Light

The Mak­ing of a Stein­way Grand Piano, From Start to Fin­ish


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Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.