He is one of the greatest composers of film music. See you soon 90 years (he will have them on November 10th), the man with more than 500 sheet music has committed to what should be his last tour. "I never said it in those terms," ​​he answers the phone, "Today, I do not know what I will do tomorrow." This is how the Italian maestro, who has worked with the greatest film directors (Huston, Siegel, Tarantino, Polanski, Fuller, Leone, Pasolini, Bertolucci, Argento, Pontecorvo and Almodovar), is announced tomorrow evening in arenas of Nîmes. An ideal setting for grandiose music that Ennio Morricone has already experimented in 2015. He who does not consider himself a conductor (since, according to him, he knows how to direct only his own music) will nevertheless be at the baton of this new program. Two hundred musicians and singers will thus resound the most beautiful themes of the cinema, for an evening rich in inner images and emotions.

It was through a friend of your father that you started composing for television. Was it by choice or necessity?

I started making music for Italian television and for popular singers out of necessity first and foremost. But always with the ambition, and without anyone asking me, to make orchestrations and elaborate arrangements, which can almost forget the basic melody. Since I wanted to compose, this job allowed me to make a living and move forward. I have never done this job in the simplest way. I put all my creativity so that these arrangements mark the spirits and so that the orchestra occupies a capital place in the songs. This is how my first film music came for Il Federale. And from there began the career you know. But it is obvious that this work for television has been an excellent background for my compositions for the cinema.

You who were fond of classical music and avant-garde music, was writing music for movies so noble in your eyes?

The temptation has always been to give great importance to modern, elevated music. But few films accepted music of this level. Because they were simple. I did not have to complicate the listening of a film, it was not necessary to disturb the public. But luckily, on other films, I was able to let off steam and compose an "absolute" music. On 500 music, it must concern about fifty. Writing for the cinema, I kept it secret at first ... But with time and the evolution of society, music for cinema has become a real art. What I did not believe in the beginning.

You have written 500 movie music in all styles, humor, detective, western, romance etc. What guided your choices?

I had a free career, freelance. When I was called to write a film score, I did it. I did not choose, I could not. Otherwise, I pointed to unemployment. My passion was just to compose. But in each creation, I put all my experience to match the film. Even if I kept a certain autonomy. So I was always proud and satisfied with what I was doing, even for films that were not masterpieces.

Your name is also associated with that of Sergio Leone. What does this collaboration in your career represent in retrospect?

Our relationship was built over time, until we became friends. I think the music I wrote for his westerns is the best I've composed. The quality of his films as my music progressed in parallel.

You received your first Oscar for Best Movie Music in 2016 for Quentin Tarantino's "The 8 Salopards". What do you think of rewards? What is your view of Hollywood, who chose to stay in Rome?

Hollywood remains an important arena for all sectors of the cinema. Composers are also artisans. I listened to very good movies that were awarded at the Oscars. I am delighted to have been worthy to enter this circle and finally very happy to have been rewarded. But I only had to do about thirty films in America. And so much more in Italy where I preferred to stay.