The Sound of Ennio MorriconePilsen Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, Ludwig Wicki, (conductor)

All it takes to create spine-tingling suspense is a simple motif, such as that played by Charles Bronson on the harmonica in the legendary western “Once Upon a Time in the West”. The tune’s composer was Ennio Morricone (1928–2020): Written in 1968, this film’s soundtrack alone would have sufficed to bestow immortality upon him. In fact, it was only one of over 500 scores Morricone wrote in his lifetime. The Italian master’s music put the resplendent final touches to countless film classics, such as “A Fistful Of Dollars”, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, “My Name Is Nobody”, “Cinema Paradiso”, “Once Upon a Time in America” and “The Untouchables”.

In 2007, having already won five Oscars, he received an honorary award for Lifetime Achievement at the Academy Awards. And in 2016, at the grand age of 87, he won the Academy Award for the score to Quentin Tarantino’s western “The Hateful Eight”. All these monumental works and unforgettable melodies can be experienced at the gala film concert “The Sound of Ennio Morricone”. An impressive line-up of large orchestra, choir and vocal soloists shines a light on the Italian composer’s immense versatility: from sensuous love scenes to duels in Spaghetti Westerns, he always knew how to enhance a scene. Morricone often used instruments rarely heard in soundtracks –

panpipe, Jew’s harp, ocarina and harmonica – and you can hear them all in this grand concert.