MOVIE MUSIC UK

On Saturday, February 26th I had the honor of attending a champagne reception to recognize the achievements of the music nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards. The event was organized by the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) and held at the home of the Emmy-nominated composer John Cacavas in Beverly Hills.

The six nominees for Best Original Score – Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech), John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon), A.R. Rahman (127 Hours), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network)  and Hans Zimmer (Inception) – were all in attendance, as were Best Original Song nominees Alan Menken and Glenn Slater (Tangled), and Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey (Country Strong).

In a brief presentation, SCL President Dan Foliart, SCL First Vice President Arthur Hamilton and SCL Director Charles Bernstein congratulated each nominee on their Oscar nomination, and paid tribute to their work in furthering the art of film music during 2010. During the tribute, respects were also paid to the late John Barry, and long-time film music publicist Ronni Chasen, who was tragically murdered in November 2010.

In addition to the nominees, those present at the event included composers Neal Acree, Mark Adler, Bruce Broughton, Russell Brower, Charles Fox, Craig Stuart Garfinkle, Mark Kilian, Penka Kouneva, Michael McCuistion, Eimear Noone, Atli Orvarsson, Stu Phillips, Garry Schyman, Richard B. Sherman, Ryan Shore, and Pinar Toprak; legendary lyricist Hal David; industry veterans Jon Burlingame, Dan Goldwasser, Julie Kirgo, Leonard Maltin, Nick Redman, and Daniel Schweiger; film music agent Laura Engel of Kraft-Engel Management, film music agent Randy Gerston of First Artists Management, vice-president of ASCAP Shawn LeMone, pianist Mike Lang, rock legend Johnny Marr of The Smiths, BMI executive Hanna Pantle, and ASCAP executive Mike Todd.

Here are some photos of the event; click on the images to enlarge:

With many thanks to Ray Costa and Jenni Dunn from Costa Communications