Pianist and aerospace engineer Leonardo Barilaro releases 'Becoming who I was', 3 months after his space music was onboard the International Space Station and broadcast to Earth. 'Becoming who I was' is the photo of our self-awareness journey. Multi-tracks of piano are entangled with electronic sounds to paint the process of remembering who we already were as a child. The space piano music style creates a meditative aura. The message of this release is personal and the composer shows that 30 years ago he already knew he was the Space Pianist, wanting to travel between stars, inspired by Asimov, and wanting to play his own music outside planet Earth, with J.S. Bach as ultimate God of harmony.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Leonardo Barilaro, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
Hi Kamil! Thank you for this interview.
I got inspired thanks to my dad that gave me the first inputs at a young age and what got me into music has always been curiosity and still it is after 33 years. It all started with my discovery of Bach, Beethoven and Queens.
Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music?
I don’t have hobbies, I have passions. I truly love freediving and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Moreover, the art of photography and videography really fascinate me.
Your latest song is 'Becoming who I was'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
'Becoming who I was' is the photo of our self-awareness journey. Multi-tracks of piano are entangled with electronic sounds to paint the process of remembering who we already were as a child. The space piano music style creates a meditative aura.
The message of this release is personal and shows that 30 years ago I already knew I was the Space Pianist, wanting to travel between stars, inspired by Asimov, and wanting to play my own music outside planet Earth, with J.S. Bach as ultimate God of harmony.
The journey is the process of understanding who we already are and fully embrace it. The composition was out on 14th November, symbolic date of my birthday.
Everyone’s personality has multiple sides, hence the several multi-layering of acoustic piano, a century old upright piano and a grand piano, synths and VST sounds.
The videoclip mirrors this hybridity on multiple levels, showing awareness and self-centering during the process.
Can you reveal the recipe for a musical hit?
When I discover it I will let you know.
Jokes aside, it is difficult to have a generalised recipe, even though there are some recognisable patterns we can see on modern day musical hits.
Usually, a musical hit should present to the public: known elements at a pop-culture level, repetitive modules, simple lines and melody to memorise and to whistle and/or being suitable for parodies or for dance clips, to become viral, like on Tiktok.
What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as an artist?
Nullo die sine nota! This is my mantra, that means: Not a day without a note.
It is a life long process, that requires daily discipline, practice, new sources for exploration.
This year I am completing my project Space Piano Music everyday, where everyday I release a new track on all music platforms with related videoclip.
A gigantic project that is teaching me a lot and is boosting my development, thanks to the several boundary conditions to manage such a complicate endeavour.
What inspires you as an artist? Could it be the sea, the weather or something else?
Space! Clearly.
We are living a new Space era and I am lucky of being part of it.
The recent Artemis I missions, all the programs being developed like by SpaceX are exciting and opening new doors for humanity to become a multi-planetary species.
How do you spend your free time? What makes you feel relaxed?
I don’t like the expression that ‘free time’ got in modern society, since it is usually opposite to ‘slave time’
I enjoy spending as much as possible quality time with my life buddy, my wife Ozu. This time together becomes even better when we are travelling and discovering new places.
Do you have a mentor or coach?
I had some excellent mentors, both in music and science.
I want to mention above all Prof Cesare Barbieri and Prof Alessandro Francesconi for aerospace engineering and Maestro Romano Dimitri and Maestro Franco Angeleri regarding music. The allowed me to dive deeply inside myself and supported in the process of developing my potential.
At the moment I am flying mainly solo, walking on my own legs, as it should be.
Do you think it's easy to become established in the music world, or is it difficult?
Depends on what we mean with ‘established’. But anyway, yes, it is very difficult. The music industry is changing very fast, on one side this means more opportunities than in the past, on the other the challenges are bigger.
What accomplishments do you see yourself achieving in the next five to 10 years?
After that my piano composition, Maleth, was onboard the International Space Station last August and broadcasted to Earth, I am planning to go to Space and play the piano there.
In the next 5 to 10 years, I am aiming at streaming my performance from the Low Earth Orbit, the one where the International Space Station is, and from the Moon.
The step after will be going to Mars.