The musicians of the Montreal-based ensemble La Pietà recently gave a knock-your-socks-off performance of several pieces by contemporary composer Ludovico Einaudi and jazz legend Dave Brubeck at our studios in downtown St. Paul. (La Pieta recently released a recording featuring Einaudi's music, which was featured on New Classical Tracks).

The founder of La Pietà, violinist Angèle Dubeau, sat down with Classical MPR's Julie Amacher to chat about the history of the ensemble, the importance of playing "goosebump" music and why there's no limit to how meaningful and relevant music can be to our lives.

They also talked about why, no matter where they are performing, the members of La Pietà always wear red. They do that, Dubeau says, to honor their inspiration and namesake, Antonio Vivaldi. Not only was he known as The Red Priest because of his shock of flaming red hair, he also worked with the young female residents of L'Ospedale della Pieta, one of the five orphanages in Venice. That particular institution's color was red.

For more information about La Pietà, visit their website.

Pieces played:

Life by Ludovico Einaudi

I giorni by Ludovico Einaudi

Experience by Ludovico Einaudi

The Desert and the Parched Land by Dave Brubeck

Life by Ludovico Einaudi: 360/VR video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8bIMfBlWn8

A few tips for watching the "Life" video: everyone can view it on a laptop or phone without VR by clicking and dragging around to see the whole room, but the best result is to watch it using a VR or Google Cardboard headset on an Android phone in the YouTube app.

For those using a headset, click the "Cardboard" option on the YouTube video screen when the video is paused (it looks like a little mask).

This type of YouTube viewing has not been enabled for iPhones yet, but that functionality could be just around the corner.

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