Morricone pulls out of three Rome performances over back problems.

Celebrated Italian composer Ennio Morricone has cancelled three concerts in Rome due to two collapsed spinal vertebrae, according to the Accademia S. Cecilia.

The 87-year-old Oscar winner had been due to perform with the S. Cecilia orchestra on 21, 23 and 24 May at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. The Rome concerts, all of which were sold out, will now be substituted with screenings of the Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise film version of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, accompanied by the S. Cecilia orchestra.

Ticket holders have the choice of either attending the West Side Story evenings or getting a refund before 9 May. For details see Auditorium website.

Earlier this year Morricone won an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award for his soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s movie The Hateful Eight. He has written the soundtracks for over 500 films and television series, starting with the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, and has also composed 100 classical pieces.