FilmMusicSite.com: Composer Talk

Jon Everist is a multi award-winning and ASCAP-nominated composer for games and film. He has written music for franchises such as Overwatch 2, Shadowrun and BattleTech. Recently Jon worked on the video game The Lamplighters League. The score for this game was recorded at the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

In this new episode of Composer Talk composer Jon Everist talks in-depth about his music for the video game The Lamplighters League.

Enjoy listening!

Simon Franglen is an English composer of classical and film music. He is also a record producer and former musician. His credits include four of the list of top grossing films and six of the list of best-selling albums of all time.

Over the last year, Simon was credited as the composer for his first two films Avatar: The Way of Water and Notre-Dame on Fire, though he is in no way a newcomer to the industry or the film music world. In his 30 years in the industry, Simon has worked with iconic composers and musicians including James Horner, Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Howard Shore; has produced, arranged, programmed, and/or contributed music to films including Titanic, Avatar, Se7en, Moulin Rouge, Bodyguard, and The Amazing Spiderman; and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work on Avatar, won a Record of The Year Grammy as a producer on 'My Heart Will Go On,' and won an ASCAP Award for the completion of The Magnificent Seven score after James Horner's tragic passing.

His Avatar: The Way of Water score is over three hours long, was recorded with over 100 musicians, and has over 500-million streams for both OST and expanded score album together, not including the streams for the original song he co-wrote with The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia, 'Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength).' He won this weekend the Discovery of the Year Award at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent with his score to Avatar: The Way of Water.

In this new episode of Composer Talk the composer talks about how he started out as a composer for filmmusic. He also talks in depth about his music for Avatar: The Way of Water.

Enjoy this new episode of Composer Talk

Pinar Toprak is a Turkish-American Emmy-nominated composer, conductor and performer. At the age of 5 she enrolled in the local music conservatory in Istanbul learning to play the violin and the guitar. At the age of 17 she moved to Chicago in the United States. She started at the Berklee College of Music in Boston to study jazz. Pinar Toprak has written music for video games, television series and films. She has written music for video games such as Ninety-Nine Nights and Fortnite. She wrote the score to the Marvel Studio blockbuster Captain Marvel, the Sandra Bullock movie The Lost City, the Netflix film Slumberland and recently PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. Pinar Toprak is the first female composer to score both a film and video game with gross revenues of over $1 billion (Captain Marvel) and $5 billion (Fortnite) respectively. 

In this new episode of Composer Talk Pinar talks about her passion for filmmusic, how she came to be the composer for the Marvel film Captain Marvel and her latest film PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie.

Dascha Dauenhauer is a composer who is born in Russia. She began composing and playing the piano at the age of five and studied composition at the Moscow Music Conservatory as a child. Her family moved to Berlin and continued her studies there. In 2006, she began her diploma studies in music theory at the UDK Berlin and subsequently completed her master’s program in film music at the Film University in Babelsberg. She has written music for Berlin Alexanderplatz, Evolution, Blood Red Sky, the series The Swarm and Souls. Recently she wrote the music to the film Golda which recently opened in cinema’s.

In this new episode of Composer Talk Dascha talks about her latest films Golda and Tatami. She gives us a better view on the way she works and her passion for combining orchestral music with electronic and acoustic sounds.

Check out this new episode of Composer Talk

In this episode of Composer Talk you can listen to an interview with Brazilian composer Marcelo Zarvos. He has written music for over more than 60 films. We talk about his score to The Equalizer 3, the latest action hit starring Denzel Washington and directed by Antoine Fuqua. Marcelo is having a busy second half of 2023 because he has also worked on the films such as Flamin' hot, directed by Eva Longoria, the film Cassandro and the latest Todd Haynes movie May December which has had it's premiere during the film festival in Cannes.

Check out this new Composer Talk!

In this new episode of Composer Talk I talk to composer Michael Abels. Michael Abels is an Emmy- and Grammy-nominated composer. He is best known for his genre-defying scores for the Jordan Peele films GET OUT, US and NOPE. The score for US won a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, multiple critics awards, and was named “Score of the Decade” by The Wrap. Both US and NOPE were shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Original Score. Other recent media projects include the films BAD EDUCATION, NIGHTBOOKS, and the docu-series ALLEN v. FARROW. Currently he worked on the score to Chevalier. Michael composed, arranged, and/or produced all of the music that was performed on-screen. Kris Bowers composed the underscore. 

In this new Composer Talk we talk about how it was to work on the film Chevalier and also about the importance of this story in history. Michael talks about his working relationship with director Jordan Peele. We zoom in on some of the most exiting tracks from Us and Nope and there are some sound clips for you to enjoy.

Check out this new episode of Composer Talk.

American-born composer Susan DiBona and her Italian composing partner Salvatore Sangiovanni have worked on nearly 50 original film and television scores as well as music for commercials, opera, games, top 40 pop music, musical theater, and ballet since creating The Villa Studios Praia a Mare in southern Italy. Susan DiBona is a seasoned film composer and multi-instrumentalist who began studying piano and writing music at the age of seven. Salvatore Sangiovanni, born in Italy, is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso concert and jazz pianist whose composing skills range from classic Italian opera to American big band and beyond. Both composers wrote the music for films such as Une Seule Danse, Bad Habits Die Hard, 4Halloween, Ismene,… Recently they wrote the music for the western Bloody Fury which premiered on May 4th 2023.

Mychael Danna is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning film composer who has composed over 80 film scores and is recognized for his blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. He composed the transculturally inspired, 2013 Oscar and Golden Globe winning film score for Ang Lee's Life of Pi. Danna also composed the scores for Ang Lee's The Ice Storm and Ride With the Devil. Other well-known films Danna has composed music for include the Pixar films The Good Dragon and Onwards. Recently Mychael Danna has written music for Return to Space, Where the Crawdads Sing and My Father’s Dragon.

In this episode of Composer Talk Mychael talks about how he began his career with Tim Clément in writing music for nature. We talk about Where the Crawdads Sing and My Father’s Dragon. He talks in length about working together with his brother Jeff. This June he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at Soundtrack 20 in Cologne, Germany. Mychael reflects on this honor.

Enjoy this new informative episode!

In this new episode of Composer Talk we talk to English composer Laura Rossi. She is a composer for film, TV and concert music. Her music has been described as ‘hauntingly atmospheric with emotional depth and beauty’ Her credits include Battle of the Somme, London to Brighton, Song for Marion, BFI Silent Shakespeare, The Cottage, Hurricane and ITV 6-part drama Redemption. In 2016-17 one hundred orchestras worldwide performed her score, to the UNESCO listed Battle of the Somme film. Watched live by over 37,000, performed by 4,200 musicians, and televised live on BBC1 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Laura is also lecturer for film music at the London Film Academy and Guildhall School of Music and regularly gives masterclasses about film composition. 

Enjoy listening.

In this new episode of Composer Talk you can listen to an interview with the talented Rachel Portman. She has written music for more than 100 films, television shows and theatre productions. In 1997 she was the first female composer to win an Oscar for Best Original Score for the film Emma. She has written music for films such as Emma, The Cider House Rules, The Duchess, The Legend of Bagger Vance, A Dog's Purpose, Chocolat, Never Let Me Go and many many more. Recently Sony Classical has released an album with 20 tracks containing piano suites of her best film work. It's called Beyond the Screen – Film Works on Piano.

In this Composer Talk she talks about that new album but also about Julia, a documentary about tv chef and author Julia Child. We also talk about the importance female composers can play in the filmmusic industry.

Check out this new episode and enjoy listening!

Photo credit: Giles Keyte