Ok I hope all is well with everyone. I wrapped up screenings at EFM-Berlinale on Wednesday, and I am just heading back to Berlin on route to Wroclaw,Poland.

I had a whirlwind trip to Cologne to catch Ennio Morricone’s 60 years of music tour. I was able to get a ticket for last nights show at the Lanxess Arena in central Cologne, just across the river from the stunning cathedral. It is worth a visit to this city just to see that magnificent structure.

The Lanxess Arena is a much more contemporary building, and probably better suited to hockey games that live orchestral performances. Be that what it may, it did facilitate a larger audience being able to attend the show. Although the sound was harsh at times, it was a strange experience as people consumed pretzels,beer, bratwurst etc, and hawkers roamed the crowd selling glasses of champagne:)

The beginning of the show was interesting. It was the first time in all the shows I have witnessed, or worked on as a stagehand with Iatse 129, that a performer was given a standing ovation before the show 🙂 The concert stage was filled with a 200+ Orchestra and choir when Ennio Morricone entered the stage to a small podium, and the show began. The first piece was a nicely arranged version on the Theme From 1900. This led into a variety of tracks from his older back catalogue including Chi Mai. The first set then ended with a powerful collection of themes from Morricone’s music for the films of Sergio Leone. The Good The Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon A Time in The West, and A Fistful Of Dynamite , where among the films that music was pulled from. The highlight being: Sean Jean from A Fistful Of Dollars, and the stupendous closing song to the first set: The Ecstasy Of Gold- featuring soprano Sussana Rigacci.

The Ecstasy Of Gold-Live

The second set opened with some new work by Morricone. Two tracks from his award-winning score for Quentin Taratino’s The Hateful Eight. Then some great tracks from The Red Tent and then a long set of music from The Mission.

The show ended, but wait…there are going to be three encores for Maestro Morricone; including, unbelievably, another version on Ecsasty Of Gold-wow!

A great show, and hopefully he can make it to North America later in the year. His schedule shows in North America had been cancelled for 2016 due to back problems. I am enroute to Wroclaw, Poland where he is performing on February 23 but that show is sold out…

I will finish off my film chat from Berlin for now, thanks everyone for reading along, and feel free to follow the blog. I will make some sporadic posts through the next few weeks before returning to Canada. I hope to check out the film institute in Bratislava, and the Cinematheque Francais in Paris, and I will see what else film related I spot on my journey.

And, my regular 2 hour film score show (Soundtrack), is still on-air weekly with a super guest host Robyn Edgar. The show airs weekly from 10:00-12:00 EST on 93.3 CFMU-FM in the Hamilton, Canada listening area. You can also listen live ,or download podcast/playlists, at : 93.3 CFMU-fm

The show has a nice Facebook page as well-with links to cool articles, playlists and more:  Soundtrack on CFMU-Facebook

The final word from Berlinale goes to an interesting article in The Guardian , exploring some of the more socially important films and issues from this years festival. Enjoy!

Refugee Crisis on display at Berlinale