Lavinia’s new album Passaggio consists of pieces by the Italian composer/pianist Ludovico Einaudi. Lavinia is aquainted with Einaudi, who has encouraged Lavinia’s work on his pieces and supported her renditions of much-loved compositions ‘Divenire’, ‘Passaggio’ and ‘I Giorni’.
Lavinia is known for her dark, deep, and rich timbre in the lower register as played by her left hand, which she combines with gracious notes in the higher register played by her right hand.
Born in South-Korea and at the age of 2 adopted into a Dutch family, Lavinia started to play the harp at the age of 9. Within two years she was accepted to study at the young talent class of the conservatory of Utrecht (Bachelor) and later at the conservatory of Amsterdam (Master). At both conservatories she graduated with Honours. Her success at the conservatory of Amsterdam was a prelude on Lavinia’s career to come. She performed only contemporary compositions at her graduation concert, making a firm statement already: Lavinia is here to add new chapters to the history of music.
Besides performing the classic harp repertoire, Lavinia also experiments with electronic music, theatrical music, contemporary music, modern classics, and jazz and has been known to cover songs by Radiohead in her concert.
Her broad interest to find new sounds for the harp led her to meet the American composer Philip Glass in 2011. He invited Lavinia to his own concert in Amsterdam where she performed his ‘Metamorphosis’ on the harp. “You are the special effect of this evening” he told Lavinia after the show, and he urged Lavinia to record a full album of Glass’ compositions. The result was overwhelming; ‘Metamorphosis / The Hours’ received unanimous 5 star reviews and reached certified Platinum status in the Netherlands.
Ludovico Einaudi was born in Turin, Italy, and trained as a classical composer and pianist at the Milan Conservatorio before embarking on a career that has seen him achieve spectacular international success across two decades. He has released a series of chart-topping albums with sales exceeding 750,000 copies, sold-out a succession of globe-trotting tours that visit the world’s most prestigious concert halls and composed a string of award-winning Film & TV scores.
His work is instantly recognisable, transcends traditional boundaries between classical, rock and other genres and is notable both for the enormous scale and diversity of its audience. , and the unique devotion it inspires, propelling him to the top of audience polls worldwide and creating an internet phenomenon.
