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By Christine Rappleye, Church News
Remember at the beginning of the opening ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics, there was a 3½-minute countdown of 24 traditional Chinese seasons?
The music for that sequence was written by Rudi Sordes, a Latter-day Saint from France.
Sordes, 55, an engineer, had previously collaborated with Chinese filmmaker Long Jiangbo, and the pair had worked together on two films, according to France Newsroom.
For several months prior to the Olympics, Sordes collaborated with Long under the direction of opening ceremonies creator Zhang Yimou.
Part of the music included Sordes singing with his daughter Emma.
Music has been part of his life since he was young. Sordes learned to play the piano and wrote his first song at 13 years old. He continued playing and composing, later taking organ lessons when he was 40. In 2001, his songs and film scores began to be broadcast on French television, according to France Newsroom.
He had Olympic aspirations when he was 20 and competed in track during college. He considered the 200-meter race to be his best event. His personal best time was in a race when he took second, but ultimately, it was not a path to the Olympics.
He went on to be an entrepreneur, software architect and aeronautical consultant. The father of seven has also served as a Church leader.
Piano Guys
Music from other Latter-day Saints was played during Olympic competitions. In ice dancing, Chinese duo Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu skated their free dance to “Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascends” by The Piano Guys.
The Piano Guys is composed of pianist Jon Schmidt, cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, videographer/producer Paul Anderson and music producer/songwriter Al van der Beek.
Nelson shared his reaction on social media.
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