A Steinway grand piano was mounted on a man-made wooden platform, made to resemble one of the many icebergs floating around it. It’s not a sight typically seen in the Arctic waters, but Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi knew it was important to be present in order for his work to be more meaningful.
Einaudi composed a song, titled “Elegy For The Arctic,” that is heartbreaking, somber, and meant to be played as a sort of funeral song for the melting glaciers in the area.
The pianist partnered with Greenpeace in their “Save the Arctic” campaign, which is aimed at raising awareness about the effects of climate change on the world’s most fragile regions and how it affects everyone.
His performance came at the start of an OSPAR Commission meeting in Spain that week, in which 15 European nations met to discuss protecting an area in international Arctic waters.
Einaudi said of the experience,
“Being here has been a great experience. I could see the purity and fragility of this area with my own eyes and interpret a song I wrote to be played upon the best stage in the world. It is important that we understand the importance of the Arctic, stop the process of destruction and protect it.”
Greenpeace boasted that over 8 million people were calling for the protection, while countries like Norway, Denmark and Iceland continued to express their resistance at the maneuver. Despite being the most fragile and crucial to the environment, the Arctic waters of the world are the least protected.
The deterioration of the Arctic Ocean is linked to increasingly frequent extreme weather events in the Northern hemisphere, such as flooding, superstorms and droughts, all of which are effects of climate change. The destruction of the Arctic then comes full circle and furthers the effects of climate change in other regions, such as with sea level rise and extreme temperatures.
All of this was inherently being protested against by Einaudi when he took to his stage last month to ask that the OSPAR Commission make the right decision by protecting the Arctic. The Commission wound up agreeing that protections could be necessary, but that other councils, such as the Arctic Council Working Group, would need to provide more information and agree as well.
Watch the video below to hear Einaudi’s heartbreaking eulogy for the falling glaciers.
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