Hans Zimmer temporarily stopped his London concert last week (March 22) to show the audience a video of a Ukrainian pianist. The composer was very moved by the strength and expressiveness of the young musician.
With passion against fear and against war
The video shows pianist Alex playing the soundtrack theme of “Inception” composed by Hans Zimmer, undeterred by the suddenly loud warning sirens in Lviv. Later, another hand with pink painted fingernails joins the piano.
The video was filmed by John Stanmeyer, a National Geographic photographer. He posted it on Instagram and wrote: “When the sirens sounded, the police asked everyone to go inside the train station. Alex @alexpian_official kept playing louder and louder against the air raid sirens. His friend with the most comforting pink fingernails agreed. A simple, overwhelming minute of passion, against fear, against war.”
A personal video message from Hans Zimmer
Zimmer’s daughter discovered the video on Instagram and showed it to her father. Hans Zimmer, who won an Oscar for the film score of “Dune” on Sunday (March 27), then sent the Ukrainian pianist a video message. This can also be seen on Instagram. In the video, wearing a scarf in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, he says he was “just stunned” by the young artist’s “Time” performance. “I’m thrilled with what you’ve done with this music,” he continues. He also announces: “We are on your side. We’re going to play Time for you tonight. We will always play “Time” for you. We will always be there for you. Thanks.”
Alex thanked the 64-year-old composer on Instagram. He was not only grateful for Zimmer’s personal message, but also for raising awareness of the war in Ukraine. He also writes: “I am happy to be able to make a major contribution to the information front so that as many people as possible learn the truth and protest against aggressive and criminal Russia.”
Zimmer also honors his Ukrainian musicians
With “Wonder Woman” Zimmer made a second reference to Ukraine at his concert in London’s O2 Arena. Before he began playing the score for Wonder Woman 1984, he pointed out that there were also Ukrainians among the members of his touring orchestra. “When Covid prevented us from coming here 885 days ago, we booked our orchestra from Ukraine, from Odessa. We only managed to get 10 people,” said the composer. It is particularly remarkable for him that there are many women among these 10. They “taught him who the real wonder women are” so he wanted to celebrate them with this piece.