Our friend, Rodison C. Leonardo, was born in the Philippines, a native Filipino. You can also call him by his nickname Jing. He's 34 years old, a Roman Catholic. He holds a degree of Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communication Engineering. There was once an occurrence in his life he wanted to enter Priesthood after his graduation in college. For some personal reasons, he didn't continue to pursue it. Until now it's very hard to admit that he's still a bachelor at his mature age. He only diverts his time to watch film or hear music after his work. He loves film and music. His real hobbies are to collect music in LPs and CDs, and also to collect films in VHS, VCD and DVD as well. He started to like Sir Ennio Morricone's music when he saw the film "The Mission" in 1995. He considered The Mission music 'very influential' to him. Seeking more of Sir Ennio's works, he joined in one of Morricone's prestige forums. There he met many friends in different nations who really loved to help those who were beginners of knowing Sir Ennio and his magnificent scores. He still makes contact to some of them through e-mail. Knowing friends who have one common goal, "to spread the music of Sir Ennio Morricone", is a very remarkable and tremendous experience for him. It's so great to know there's someone in the Philippines who really appreciate Maestro Ennio Morricone, truly the legend of film music.

I'm so glad because Maestro Ennio responded to my letter, a note penned in Italian. Actually, it was Friday last week the letter did arrive. This was my second time I wrote Maestro a letter with the help of my friend Carmine, a Swiss (remember him Captain?), translating my English letter into Italian. Although I wasn't really expecting Maestro would answer my letter anymore because of his preoccupation in writing so many scores. Good gracious, he got time to open it, read it and answered it at the same time. For me, it's really amazing; something I'll cherish for all time. That's why my heart really pounded and leapt for joy! I only read a reply this morning coming from Carmine. I asked him to translate the letter/note of Maestro from Italian to English. Here's the translation:

Dear Mr. Rodison C. Leonardo
Thank you for your nice letter and for the nice words you wrote to me. I'm grateful to you......... Signed Maestro Ennio

Although the last sentence of the note is somewhat vague, Carmine asked me to scan it in a clear format. Maybe I'll find time to do it this week........

Honorary Oscar 2006 goes to composer Ennio Morricone

congratulations Morricone most heartily

Ennio Morricone Mini biography: A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialised in trumpet. His first film scores were relatively undistinguished, but he was hired by Leone for Per un pugno di dollari (1964) on the strength of some of his song arrangements. His score for that film, with its sparse arrangements, unorthodox instrumentation (bells, electric guitars, harmonicas, the distinctive twang of the jew's harp) and memorable tunes, revolutionised the way music would be used in Westerns, and it is hard to think of a post-Morricone Western score that doesn't in some way reflect his influence. Although his name will always be synonymous with the spaghetti Western, Morricone has also contributed to a huge range of other film genres: comedies, dramas, thrillers, horror films, romances, art movies, exploitation movies -making him one of the film world's most versatile artists. He has written nearly 400 film scores, so a brief summary is impossible, but his most memorable work includes the Leone films, Gillo Pontecorvos _Battaglia di Algeri, La (1965)_ , Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988), plus a rare example of sung opening credits for Pier Paolo Pasolini's Uccellacci e uccellini (1966). It must be stressed that he is *not* behind the work of the entirely separate composers Bruno Nicolai and Nicola Piovani despite allegations made by more than one supposedly reputable film guide! (see here)