Mi Won and I were at the Dallas Galleria on our last stop of the evening over 20 years ago and the last movie showing was a new Italian movie named "Cinema Paradiso" We decided to buy the tickets and take a chance. That began my long-lasting love for the music of the Italian composer, Ennio Morricone.
As I began my post-graduate studies in music composition in London, I was given an opportunity to do research at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Foundation in Rome, Italy. This Foundation was connected to the same school where the young Ennio Morricone studied by day and played his trumpet in the evenings to support his studies as a student composer.
Years later I gathered enough courage to write a letter to him to thank him for his inspiration and beautiful music. I also shared the story of my Father's service in Italy during WWII and within two weeks I received a letter from Rome addressed to Mi Won and me along with a treasured picture of himself at the piano.
His music needs no words of description, it touches the heart in ways that very few composers have ever achieved. His legacy will find his significant body of work among the greatest modern composers such as Henryk Górecki. Music that touches the heart of "all" humanity. Timeless and without the need for an explanation.