Can you imagine the poetic and romantic power originating from a piano playing right in the middle of Lake Como, at the sunset?

If you’ve been in Cernobbio last year in late August you know exactly what we’re talking about. Yes, because right there a young pianist from Como, Alessandro Martire - Italian excellence abroad and considered among the best contemporary artists for his style - managed to create from scratch a unique format: the Floating Moving Concert, a tribute to his native land. During that unforgettable event, Alessandro exhibited on a floating platform with the violinist Anastasiya Petryshak, flooding that suggestive location with music and emotions: our team was (obviously) there, and the impression we had was that his music really seemed like the voice of the lake itself, capable of drawing on our emotions and dreams like an old friend. Difficult to put it into words: take a look at the official video of the event.

Composer of movie soundtracks, short movies, theater and commercials, at the age of 27 Alessandro is literally a volcano of creative energy: his songs are romantic stories, exciting journeys, coming from the classical tradition and contemporary elements. There’s actually no definition for his music… you can call it New Age, classic, contemporary, alternative crossover and other similar adjectives, but in the end it always comes down to this: Martire plays the Martire’s music.

We had a phone chat with him during the lockdown, just in the days of the release of his latest album, “Share The World” (soundtrack of the fantastic National Geographic video that shows all the beauty of the world that is waiting for us out there).

The passion that this young artist has for Lake Como is overwhelming: “On my tours abroad I never miss an opportunity, at the end of my concerts, to talk about my roots and our lake, because let's face it: it's the most beautiful lake in the world", he told us.

His project linked to the Cernobbio event is wonderfully ambitious: “The Floating Moving Concert today has merged into a festival called LEJ: the idea is to create a large network with international artists and to replicate the format all around the world; here, it would be great to play in different locations of Lake Como. And why not, even for private occasions."

But how does a globetrotter artist live his house? An artist used to traveling around the world at a fast pace, playing in prestigious theaters and universities, and dealing with a kaleidoscope of cultures that are different from time to time… What is the right balance between inspiration, experiences, study and meditation? We thought it would have been a quite challenging question, that's why we couldn't resist and we took the opportunity to investigate Alessandro’s concept of home.

Don't miss the interview below! Tip: read it while listening to his last album, now out also on Spotify.

We like to remember how Mahler created some of his best compositions by listening to the sounds of nature from his tiny house in the woods near Dobbiaco; in the same way, Bellini was inspired by the roar of Moltrasio waterfall to compose some arias from La Sonnambula. And then there’s you, who last July played in the middle of the lake, in perfect harmony with the poetry of the water. To what extent do Lake Como beauty and your roots have an impact in your compositions?

Lake Como has always been an inspiration for me, every day: places like our lake inspire me like a sort of soundtrack. In these years I have always looked for the best way to tell the uniqueness of Lake Como, and in the end I found it right with Lej Festival, which is an ideal language.

Is there a song of yours that you would somehow call “Lake Como soundtrack"?

Lej, a song from the last disc, is dedicated precisely to Lake Como.
It’s a solo piano piece: it is divided into various sections, it starts slowly to recall the tranquility of the lake, then presents a rhythmic part that tells the liveliness of the Como region in its alternating water, mountains, clear skies, and extraordinary villas.
Lej also acts as the soundtrack of the official video of Floating Moving Concert and of the whole project.

Beethoven changed home precisely 80 times in his life, and Mozart in Vienna moved to 8 different apartments, living in a total chaos (something that someone could probably define the artist's restlessness). In your opinion, what link is there between the home and the creative impulse for a musician?

Music for me comes from experience; in this sense I need my home to tidy up the ideas, the emotions, the impressions that I live day by day, meeting after meeting, journey after journey. The home for me is really a refuge of tranquility when I'm not traveling around the world. Traveling I collect stimuli; at home I make them “sediment”, and I carefully study them.

Let's talk about the creative process: it seems that Rossini - funny to say - composed more easily in his kitchen rather than in the music room. Do you have a room or a corner of your home where - maybe for the objects that surround you, or for a particular light - you gather more concentration for your work?

My study, without a doubt. I know many composers who don’t have a studio at home, and they compose in the living room; for me the silence of the studio is essential, it’s really the place of maximum concentration.

Is there a song you associate to a house you love?

Chopin’s Nocturnes for me convey a perfect sense of home.

The most difficult question in the end, as always. Tell us what home is for you, in a word.

Sharing.

What’s your concept of Home? We’re eager to hear your story.

Get in touch!

A Pianist’s Home: A Place Where Moulding Emotions Into Music