Carlo Savina

Carlo Savina (2 August 1919 – 23 June 2002) was an Italian composer and conductor who composed, arranged, and conducted music for films, and is especially remembered for being the music director of films such as The Godfather (1972), Amarcord (1973), and The Bear (1988).

Savina worked with many of the notable film score composers of the 20th century including: Ennio Morricone, Armando Trovajoli, Nino Rota, Mario Nascimbene, Stanley Myers, Stephen Sondheim, Philippe Sarde, and Miklos Rozsa. His work ranged from composing music for frequent Spaghetti Westerns such as Johnny Oro to being the musical director and conductor in Federico Fellini's Orchestra Rehearsal.

In 1985 he won the David di Donatello Best Music award for the film score of Pizza Connection.

Carlo Savina came from a musical family—his father was the first clarinettist for the orchestra of an Italian public radio broadcaster EIAR. Carlo learned the violin as a child and went on to graduate from the Conservatory of Music Giuseppe Verdi in Turin where he studied piano, violin, composition, and conducting.

In 1945 he began composing music for radio. Early in his career, he was awarded a prize by the Accademia Musicale Chigiana. He started his own orchestra and soon was famous.

In 1950 he began composing and arranging music for film. For the next thirty years, he composed, arranged, and conducted music for over 200 films and became one of the most prolific, and perhaps underrated, screen and television composers of the 20th century.