In an intimate room filled with art, international organist Sergio de Pieri will bring some of the much-loved film scores from composer Ennio Morricone to life.
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Morricone scored the famous cowboy films of the 1960s, best-known as spaghetti westerns, from Italian director Sergio Leone. These include the highly-rated Once Upon a Time in the West and A Fistful of Dollars.
Swapping the organ for a piano, de Pieri said he would perform arrangements of the recognisable music in a never-before-heard way.
“Morricone is one of the great composers for music for film,” he said. “But his many CDs are with orchestras, never the piano (only).”
While in Italy, de Pieri decided to take matters into his own hands and make a recording of these famous songs on the piano.
“After that I played so many concerts because people love this music on the piano only,” he said.
Following a good reception from audiences around Australia last year, de Pieri decided to bring the film music to Ballarat.
One of the things that excites him most is the prospect of performing his music inside the Art Gallery.
“I love the place, there is a magic… a beautiful room with pictures and the piano, what more do you want?” he said.
de Pieri likened playing in such a room to a dream.
“It is beautiful because there are beautiful acoustics, and the pictures around me I love – I love the paintings and visual arts,” he said. “If it is a big theatre you feel very far away, but here the audience is all around you and it is a good atmosphere.”
de Pieri is no stranger to Ballarat as the founding artistic director of the Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields Festival.
The 10-day event offers multiple concerts a day in different locations across Ballarat and nearby towns including Daylesford, Clunes, Creswick and Snake Valley.
de Pieri said the festival continued to grow every year, which he called a remarkable achievement considering its 22-year history.
“It is a unique festival,” de Pieri said. “It brings people from not only Ballarat but from Melbourne and everywhere else.”
de Pieri’s upcoming performance is part of a music series at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. He will perform on Thursday, March 16, at 7.30pm.
All concerts will be followed by supper and a chance to meet the artists.
