2/15/19: I expected that this video was going to make me sad, but I wasn’t prepared for the tragic beauty of the music and how beautifully it fit the surroundings.

The world-famous Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi wrote and performed a piece he called Elegy for the Arctic. The piece was performed for the first time on a floating platform in the Arctic Ocean in front of the Wahlenbergbreen Glacier in Svalbard, Norway. The artist wrote and performed the piece to benefit Greenpeace’s Save the Arctic project.

It broke my heart when I learned that the construction of the platform on which Einaudi plays shouldn’t have been possible. The catastrophically-early retreat of sea ice which is a direct result of climate change was the reason the floating stage could be placed before the glacier. And the video was shot in 2016. I shudder to imagine how much worse it has gotten since then.

“I played Elegy for the Arctic in support to the campaign for a marine sanctuary in the North Pole’s international waters. One year has passed, Save the Arctic is still a global priority. We still need your support.”

Ludovico Einaudi

You can find out more about the project and make a donation on Greenpeace’s Save the Arctic website. You can also follow Ludovico Einaudi on his website.

As you might imagine, the making-of video is entirely fascinating, and a real nail biter. When that giant piece of glacier dramatically fell into the water just when Einaudi was about to begin playing, it created an ice wave. The crew had about a minute to hustle the pianist back onto the ship and secure the piano. Yike!