An Italian musician who survived the Costa Concordia shipwreck is to release an album shaped by his experience of the tragic event.
Antimo Magnotta, 46, was the resident pianist on board the cruise ship when it sank in 2012, resulting in the deaths of 32 people.
His album, Inner Landscape, is dedicated to the victims and “based on my introspective thoughts after the disaster”.
In January 13 2012, the 114,000-tonne cruise liner carrying more than 4,000 passengers hit a submerged rock off the coast of Isola del Giglio near Tuscany.
Mr Magnotta was among those rescued in a six-hour effort that resulted in most of the passengers and crew being taken ashore.
His album contains 10 solo piano tracks that are “related to my experiences”.
Antimo Magnotta was a resident pianist on the Costa Concordia (PA)
Mr Magnotta, who lives in Peckham, London and is a resident pianist at The Gamble Room at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), said he had to “learn how to play again” after the tragedy.
He said: “I lost my sleep, I lost my peace of mind and I lost my little savings. I was on the edge of poverty.
“I was suffering with post-traumatic stress and didn’t want to play the piano.
“All I wanted to do was become anonymous and forget about my past.
“I had to learn how to play the piano again.”
Mr Magnotta, who grew up in a small village near Naples in southern Italy, said working on his album helped with the “healing process”.
He said: “Inner Landscape is a music cycle inspired by my thoughts after the accident.
“It refers to this brand new landscape I was experiencing – like a window in reverse.
Mr Magnotta aboard the Concordia (Antimo Magnotta)
“It is part of a slow and ongoing healing process.”
One track, entitled Where is Everybody, is based on the long anxious wait before being rescued, while another piece called Losing Myself “portrays the aftermath which I felt when I arrived in London” in 2013.
There is also a track called 32 which is “a small composition which is a tribute to the memory of those who lost their lives”.
Among them were two fellow musicians who were close to Mr Magnotta.
He said: “The main melody is formed by 32 notes and each note is a tribute to a victim.”
Another piece called Sofia is dedicated to his nine-year-old daughter, who was at the forefront of his thoughts as the disaster unfolded.
He said: “When I was feeling hopeless right after the abandon ship order was launched, I was thinking about my two daughters, Sofia and Alessandra, particularly Sofia, because she was with me on the same ship 10 days ago.
The album Inner Landscape is dedicated to the victims of the 2012 disaster (PA)
“I am not sure we would have been able to make it if she had been with me at that time. Luckily, I was alone.”
The piece Seven Short Blasts and One Long is a reference to the general alarm that is sounded on ships to make the crew aware that an emergency has occurred.
Mr Magnotta said: “The short blasts are sounded by me in the piano towards the end of the composition.”
Inner Landscape is a self-release album as it will be sold independently without the help of an externally owned or operated record label.
It will be available mid-March and can be downloaded from Mr Magnotta’s website for £7 or purchased as a CD for £10.
His previous album, The Raphael Project, was inspired by the cartoons of 16th-century Italian painter Raphael, which he viewed regularly as he played at the V&A.