Composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi has scheduled an additional date when he plays Birmingham this month but he is promising both concerts will be slightly different.

With his concert at Town Hall on November 27 pretty much sold out, he has added another performance on November 24.

But the Italian musician, whose albums Divernire, I Giorni and last year’s Nightbook have been international best-sellers, always likes to alter a performance so that each concert is unique.

“I love playing live because you are always developing the music,” he says. “Last year when we toured with Nightbook, I was seeing the audience reaction and that helps you with the music.

“When you are touring and playing the same music every night, even though you really love that music, you can get a bit bored if you do exactly the same thing again and again.

“But some pieces really take off and I like to add variations. Then every concert is different.”

Born in Turin in 1955, Einaudi was introduced to music from a very early age by his pianist mother.

“I probably first played a piano when I was about three or four,” he recalls. “And I was about nine or ten when I started to really feel a connection to it. But it was when I was 16 that I knew that I couldn’t stay away from it.”

He began training at the Milan Conservatory, gaining a diploma in composition in 1982.

In 1988 he recorded his first album Time Out, with his greatest hits Echoes released in 2004. And on November 1 he released his first live album and DVD, Ludovico Einaudi The Royal Albert Hall Concert, which was recorded in March.

Einaudi was keen to record the concert in this country.

“We also wanted a venue which was really beautiful so we thought straight away of the Royal Albert Hall,” he says.

Despite his success, Einaudi’s music is hard to pin down. It has been described as classical, minimal, ambient and countless other definitions.

With influences as diverse as the English novelist Virginia Woolf and traditional folk tunes from Mali, Einuadi believes he falls well outside any box.

“My work is so full of different influences because I like to experience pop, folk and classical music. I put all of these influences into my music and that is why it appeals to so many different people.”

His work has also been used in countless film and television scores and advertising campaigns, most recently appearing in the This is England ‘86 TV series.

* Ludovico plays the Town Hall on Nov 24 and 27. Tickets: 0121 780 3333 and www.thsh.co.uk