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Golden Globe Winners 2022
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the winners of the 80th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2022.
In the Best Original Score category composer Justin Hurwitz won the award for his score for Babylon, a raucous and debauched look at three characters making their way through 1920s Hollywood as the movies transition from silents to talkies. Hurwitz wrote a huge homage to big band jazz, coupled with some more sentimental music accompanying the central relationships. This is the fourth Golden Globe for Hurwitz, from four nominations – he previously won awards for La-La Land in 2016 (both Best Score and Best Song), and First Man in 2018. In his acceptance speech, Hurwitz said:
“Thank you, guys, thank you so much. I’m very grateful that I had the opportunity to figure out at a young age that music was the thing for me. I’m grateful to my parents. I’m grateful to the public schools I went to that had music classes. I think a lot about all of the people out there who are really talented at something but never get the chance to figure out what that thing is. So I just think it’s so important to spread opportunity around, to make sure that everybody – kids and adults and everybody – has the opportunity to be exposed to things, to try things out, to figure out what’s for them, because I think things would be so much better if people could… I was very fortunate but I would be… things would be better if people could figure out the thing that they were good at, the thing the love doing more than anything else, and we just need opportunity, we need to spread the opportunity. Thank you Team Babylon, and thank you HFPA.”
The other nominees were Carter Burwell for The Banshees of Inisherin, Alexandre Desplat for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Hildur Guðnadóttir for Women Talking, and John Williams for The Fabelmans.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were M. M. Keeravani and Kanukuntla Subhash Chandrabose for their song “Naatu Naatu” from the epic Bollywood action movie RRR.
The other nominees were Alexandre Desplat, Roeben Katz, and Guillermo Del Toro for “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga), Michael Tucker (Bloodpop), and Benjamin Rice for “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick; Temilade Openiyi (Tems), Robyn Rihanna Fenty, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Göransson for “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; and Taylor Swift for “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing.
Eduard Artemyev, 1937-2022
Composer Eduard Artemyev died in Moscow on December 29, 2022, at the age of 85, following hospitalization with COVID-19.
One of the great pioneers of electronic film music, Artemyev wrote music for more than 150 feature films, documentaries and animated productions during a career spanning six decades. Internationally he is best remembered for his collaborations with Andrei Tarkovsky, especially Solaris, Mirror and Stalker.
Eduard Nikolayevich Artemyev was born in Novosibirsk on November 30, 1937, and studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory under Yuri Shaporin, graduating in 1960. Soon afterward he met engineer Yevgeny Murzin, inventor of the remarkable ANS photoelectronic synthesizer. Artemyev became one of the instrument’s earliest champions, at a time when electronic composition remained almost entirely outside the Soviet musical mainstream.
His defining association began when Tarkovsky engaged him for Solaris (1972). Artemyev combined Bach’s chorale prelude Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ with electronic textures generated on the ANS, creating music that blurred the boundary between conventional score, sound design and the mysterious noises of the planet itself. The result was less a traditional science-fiction score than an otherworldly sonic environment, and it established Artemyev internationally as one of cinema’s most adventurous electronic composers. Read more…
SCL Award Nominations 2022
The Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) has announced the nominations for the fourth annual SCL Awards, honoring the best in film and television music in 2022. The SCL is the premier professional trade group for composers, lyricists, and songwriters working in the motion picture, television, and game music industry, and is headquartered in Los Angeles. The nominees are:
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A STUDIO FILM
- MICHAEL ABELS for Nope
- CARTER BURWELL for The Banshees of Inisherin
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
- MICHAEL GIACCHINO for The Batman
- JOHN POWELL for Don’t Worry Darling
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN INDEPENDENT FILM
- LEO BIRENBERG and ZACH ROBINSON for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
- SHARON FARBER for Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
- SON LUX for Everything Everywhere All At Once
- ROB SIMONSEN for The Whale
- MARK SMYTHE for The Reef: Stalked
Golden Globe Nominations 2022
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has announced the nominations for the 80th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2022.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- CARTER BURWELL for The Banshees of Inisherin
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
- HILDUR GUÐNADÓTTIR for Women Talking
- JUSTIN HURWITZ for Babylon
- JOHN WILLIAMS for The Fabelmans
This is the fourth nomination for Burwell; the 14th nomination for Desplat, who previously won Globes for The Painted Veil in 2006 and The Shape of Water in 2017; the second nomination for Guðnadóttir, who previously won for Joker in 2019; the fourth nomination for Hurwitz, who previously won for La-La Land in 2016 and First Man in 2018 ; and the 26th nomination for Williams, who previously won Globes in 1975 for Jaws, 1977 for Star Wars, 1982 for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and 2005 for Memoirs of a Geisha.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, ROEBEN KATZ, and GUILLERMO DEL TORO for “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
- STEFANI GERMANOTTA (LADY GAGA), MICHAEL TUCKER (BLOODPOP), and BENJAMIN RICE for “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick
- M. M. KEERAVANI and KANUKUNTLA SUBHASH CHANDRABOSE for “Naatu Naatu” from RRR
- TEMILADE OPENIYI (TEMS), ROBYN RIHANNA FENTY, RYAN COOGLER, and LUDWIG GÖRANSSON for “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- TAYLOR SWIFT for “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing
The winners of the 80th Golden Globe Awards will be announced on January 10, 2023.
Angelo Badalamenti, 1937-2022
Composer Angelo Badalamenti died on December 11, 2022, at home in New Jersey after a short illness. He was 85.
Angelo Daniel Badalamenti was born in New York City in March 1937, the son of Italian immigrants from Sicily. A piano player from a young age, Badalamenti was already earning money as a pianist accompanying singers at resorts in the Catskill Mountains in his teens; he later studied at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, and then at the Manhattan School of Music, graduating with a master’s degree in 1959.
He began his career as a songwriter, penning works for singers such as Nina Simone and Shirley Bassey using the pen name Andy Badale. He made his film music debut was early as 1973, scoring the blaxploitation action pic Gordon’s War, but his break came when he was hired to be Isabella Rossellini’s vocal coach for David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet. Impressed with his work, Lynch asked Badalamenti to co-write the song “Mysteries of Love” for vocalist Julee Cruise, and then asked Badalamenti to composed the score for the entire film. Read more…
Nico Fidenco, 1933-2022
Singer, songwriter and film composer Nico Fidenco died in Rome on November 19, 2022, at the age of 89.
One of the most versatile figures in Italian popular music, Fidenco enjoyed enormous success as a singer during the early 1960s before developing a second career as a prolific composer for cinema. He wrote music for more than 80 films, particularly spaghetti westerns, thrillers, erotic dramas and horror pictures, and became especially associated with the Black Emanuelle series.
Fidenco was born Domenico Colarossi in Rome on January 24, 1933. His family moved to Asmara in Eritrea when he was a child, returning to Italy in 1949. Initially interested in filmmaking, he studied at Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and worked as an assistant director while attending university. Music remained a private passion until RCA executive Vincenzo Micocci heard his demos and invited him to sing “What a Sky,” the theme from Francesco Maselli’s I Delfini (1960). The record became an immediate success.
His greatest popular triumph followed in 1961 with “Legata a un granello di sabbia.” Rejected by the Sanremo Festival, the song nevertheless became one of Italy’s first great summer hits, spending 14 weeks at number one and becoming the first Italian single to sell more than a million copies. Other successful songs included “Con te sulla spiaggia,” “A casa d’Irene,” “Se mi perderai” and “La voglia di ballare,” while Fidenco also recorded Italian versions of prominent film themes including “Moon River,” Exodus and The World of Suzie Wong. Read more…
Monty Norman, 1928-2022
Composer, lyricist and singer Monty Norman died on July 11, 2022 in Slough, Berkshire, at the age of 94, following a short illness.
Although his career encompassed musical theatre, popular song, television and a small number of film scores, Norman secured a permanent place in cinema history through one composition: the James Bond theme, written for Dr. No in 1962 and subsequently incorporated into the musical identity of the entire Bond series.
Norman was born Monty Noserovitch in Stepney, East London, on April 4, 1928, the son of a cabinetmaker and a seamstress from a Latvian Jewish immigrant family. Given a guitar at 16, he began his professional career as a singer, performing with bands led by Cyril Stapleton, Stanley Black and Ted Heath, and appearing at the London Palladium and on radio and television. He gradually moved into songwriting, discovering that composing offered greater possibilities than performing.
By the late 1950s Norman had become a successful musical-theatre composer and lyricist. His credits included Make Me an Offer, Expresso Bongo and the English-language adaptation of Irma La Douce. His association with writer Wolf Mankowitz also produced Belle, or the Ballad of Dr Crippen, whose financial backers included producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. Impressed by Norman’s work, Broccoli subsequently invited him to score the first film adaptation of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels.
Norman had already contributed music to films including Hammer’s The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), but Dr. No was by far his most significant screen assignment. He travelled to Jamaica during production and drew heavily on local musical styles, writing pieces including “Kingston Calypso,” “Jump Up” and “Underneath the Mango Tree,” the latter accompanying the famous introduction of Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder. The resulting soundtrack gave the film a distinctive Caribbean character quite unlike the increasingly symphonic sound of later Bond films. Read more…
Vangelis, 1943-2022
Composer Vangelis died on May 19, 2022, in hospital in Paris, where he was being treated for COVID-19. He was 79.
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou was born in Agria, Greece, in March 1943, and in his youth was a self-taught musician, experimenting by combining pianos with traditional Greek folk music, jazz, and rock. After some early success in Greek pop music circles he co-founded the group Aphrodite’s Child with vocalist Demis Roussos, among others, and together they would enjoy great success in Europe, especially the single “Rain and Tears” in 1968. During this period Vangelis also dabbled in film music, writing music for several domestic films, before eventually making his international film music breakthrough in 1970 with the film Sex Power.
Throughout the 1970s Vangelis continued to have success both as a film composer and a recording artist; he scored popular documentary films such as L’Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête Sauvage, and Opéra Sauvage, while simultaneously enjoying chart success, notably as one half of ‘Jon & Vangelis’ with Jon Anderson of Yes; their singles “I Hear You Now” and “I’ll Find My Way Home” were chart hits in the UK. His music was also notably used to score the groundbreaking 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage presented by Carl Sagan, which brought his music to American audiences for the first time. During this period Vangelis developed the iconic sound that would typify much of his career, combining lush and powerful orchestral forces with sometimes very experimental electronica. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2021
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 94th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2021.
In the Best Original Score category composer Hans Zimmer won the award for his score for Dune, the epic science fiction adventure based on the classic novel by Frank Herbert, directed by Denis Villeneuve. This is Zimmer’s second Oscar, him having previously won for The Lion King in 1994. Zimmer was not present at the ceremony to accept the award as he was in the middle of his concert tour in Europe, but he later posted a video on his official Facebook page in which he made an impromptu speech – while dressed in pyjamas and a bathrobe! – in the lobby of his hotel in Amsterdam, and said:
“Who else has pyjamas like this! Actually, let me say this, and this is for real: had it not been for you, and most of these people in this room, this would never have happened. You know it I mean, had it not been for Guthrie [Govan]’s amazing bagpipe, had it not been for Loire [Cotner]’s incredible vocal, had it not been for all the incredible musicians in this band, all the musicians in my life, who have given me the confidence to go and do these things. And had ultimately it not been for Denis Villeneuve quietly one day saying to me ‘have you ever heard of a book called Dune?” and I instantly knew I had found a soulmate. I mean, seriously, usually you discuss things with a director, with Denis, he starts a sentence I finish it, I start a sentence he finishes it, so… you know… that! That’s it!”
The other nominees were Nicholas Britell for Don’t Look Up, Germaine Franco for Encanto, Jonny Greenwood for The Power of the Dog, and Alberto Iglesias for Parallel Mothers.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for “No Time to Die” from the James Bond film of the same name.
The other nominees were Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Darius ‘Dixson’ Scott for “Be Alive” from King Richard, Lin-Manuel Miranda for “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto, Van Morrison for “Down to Joy” from Belfast, and Diane Warren for “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days.
BAFTA Winners 2021
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of the 75th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2021.
In the Best Original Music category, the winner was Hans Zimmer, who won the award for his work on the sci-fi epic Dune, based on the classic novel by Frank Herbert. This was Zimmer’s first BAFTA win, but he was not present in London to accept the award as he was on tour in Europe with Hans Zimmer Live.
The other nominees were Nicholas Britell for Don’t Look Up, Alexandre Desplat for The French Dispatch, Jonny Greenwood for The Power of the Dog, and Daniel Pemberton for Being the Ricardos.
SCL Award Winners 2021
The Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) has announced the winners of the third annual SCL Awards, honoring the best in film and television music in 2021. The SCL is the premier professional trade group for composers, lyricists, and songwriters working in the motion picture, television, and game music industry, and is headquartered in Los Angeles. The winners are:
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A STUDIO FILM
- GERMAINE FRANCO for Encanto
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN INDEPENDENT FILM
- DANIEL HART for The Green Knight
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A TELEVISION OR STREAMING PRODUCTION
- CRISTOBAL TAPIA DE VEER for The White Lotus
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG FOR VISUAL MEDIA – DRAMA/DOCUMENTARY
- BILLIE EILISH and FINNEAS O’CONNELL for “No Time to Die” from No Time to Die
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG FOR VISUAL MEDIA- MUSICAL/COMEDY
- NICHOLAS BRITELL, ARIANA GRANDE, SCOTT MESCUDI, and TAURA STINSON for “Just Look Up” from Don’t Look Up
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
- HILDUR GUÐNADÓTTIR and SAM SLATER for Battlefield 2012
DAVID RAKSIN AWARD FOR EMERGING TALENT
- STEPH ECONOMOU
SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION AWARD
- ETHAN COEN, JOEL COEN, and CARTER BURWELL
IFMCA Award Winners 2021
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF 2021 IFMCA AWARDS
MAURIZIO MALAGNINI WINS SCORE OF THE YEAR FOR THE FANTASY BALLET FILM “COPPELIA”
JAMES NEWTON HOWARD WINS THREE AWARDS, INCLUDING COMPOSER OF THE YEAR; NICK REDMAN HONORED WITH INAUGURAL ROBERTO ASCHIERI SPECIAL AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO FILM MUSIC; SCORES FROM CHINA, FINLAND, SPAIN, WIN IN OTHER CATEGORIES
FEBRUARY 17, 2021 — The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2021, in the 2021 IFMCA Awards.
The award for Score of the Year goes to composer Maurizio Malagnini, for his score for the unique fantasy-science fiction-ballet film “Coppelia.” The film stars members of the Dutch National Ballet and is an updated version of the original stage work by Léo Delibes, in which a pair of young lovers from a small European town must save their home from an evil interloper intending to use the townspeople’s ‘essence’ to give life to a robotic creation. IFMCA member Jon Broxton described “Coppelia” as “a sweeping orchestral masterpiece of staggering beauty, combining half a dozen leitmotif themes into a narrative structure that carries the entire emotional weight of the film. This is then augmented by some impressive electronic textures which accompany the villain of the piece, and it all builds to a stunning climax of thematic, romantic wonder,” and concluded by saying that “…in a time when the theatrical movie schedule is dominated by Marvel and Disney, prequels and sequels and multiverses, there has to be room for art projects like Coppelia, and for the ravishing music like that composed here by Maurizio Malagnini.”
The score is also named Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror Film. These are the second and third IFMCA Awards of Malagnini’s career, him having previously won the Breakthrough Film Composer of the Year award in 2015. Read more…
Academy Award Nominations 2021
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the nominations for the 94th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2021.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- NICHOLAS BRITELL for Don’t Look Up
- GERMAINE FRANCO for Encanto
- JONNY GREENWOOD for The Power of the Dog
- ALBERTO IGLESIAS for Parallel Mothers
- HANS ZIMMER for Dune
This is the third Oscar nomination for Britell, the first Oscar nomination for Franco – and the first for an American woman since Ann Ronell in 1945, the second Oscar nomination for Greenwood, the fourth Oscar nomination for Iglesias, and the 12th Oscar nomination for Zimmer, who previously won for The Lion King in 1995
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA for “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto
- VAN MORRISON for “Down to Joy” from Belfast
- FINNEAS O’CONNELL and BILLIE EILISH for “No Time To Die” from No Time to Die
- DARIUS ‘DIXSON’ SCOTT and BEYONCÉ KNOWLES-CARTER for “Be Alive” from King Richard
- DIANE WARREN for “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days
The winners of the 94th Academy Awards will be announced on March 27, 2022.
BAFTA Nominations 2021
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the 75th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2021.
In the Best Original Music category, which is named in memory of the film director Anthony Asquith, the nominees are:
- NICHOLAS BRITELL for Don’t Look Up
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for The French Dispatch
- JONNY GREENWOOD for The Power of the Dog
- DANIEL PEMBERTON for Being the Ricardos
- HANS ZIMMER for Dune
This is the second BAFTA nomination for Britell, the 11th BAFTA nomination for Desplat (who won the award for “The King’s Speech” in 2011, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2014, and “The Shape of Water” in 2017), the third BAFTA nomination for Greenwood, the first film nomination for Pemberton (he was nominated previously for video games), and the 10th BAFTA nomination for Zimmer.
The winners of the 75th BAFTA Awards will be announced on 13 March, 2022.
IFMCA Award Nominations 2021
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED
JAMES NEWTON HOWARD AND HANS ZIMMER RECEIVE FOUR NOMINATIONS EACH; THREE WOMEN NOMINATED FOR BREAKTHROUGH COMPOSER AWARD; SCORES FROM AUSTRALIA, CHINA, FINLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN, VYING FOR MAJOR AWARDS
FEBRUARY 3, 2022. The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2021, for the 18th annual IFMCA Awards. Composers James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer lead a very open field with the most number of nominations, both receiving a total of four. Composers Panu Aaltio, Nicholas Britell, Jonny Greenwood, Maurizio Malagnini, and Bear McCreary all received three nominations.
American composer Howard’s nominations are for his work on two films: the globe-trotting action-adventure “Jungle Cruise” starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, which is based on the popular Disney theme park ride; and the animated fantasy “Raya and the Last Dragon,” which follows the adventures of a young girl in an alternate universe version of South East Asia, as she tries to save her family by hunting for a mythical dragon. “Jungle Cruise” is nominated for Score of the Year and Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Score, “Raya and the Last Dragon” is nominated for Best Animation Score, and Howard is nominated for Composer of the Year.
IFMCA member Christian Clemmensen said that “Jungle Cruise” is a combination of “skittish comedy, sincere drama, breakneck adventure, romantic teasing, and flowing fantasy, all inhabiting one whirlwind of a score” and concluded that it “represents most of what his collectors love about Howard’s writing.” IFMCA member John Mansell described “Raya and the Last Dragon” as “a fully symphonic work … mysterious, with rich and lush musical moments that are filled with the romantic and the comedic, a varied and vibrant work that is bursting to capacity with haunting themes and edged with emotive and poignant tone poems.”
German composer Zimmer’s nominations are for his work on two of 2021’s most popular and acclaimed films: director Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” based on the groundbreaking science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, and the action-packed 25th James Bond film “No Time to Die,” which marks the end of actor Daniel Craig’s term playing the legendary British spy. “Dune” is nominated for Score of the Year and Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror Score, “No Time to Die” is nominated for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Score, and Zimmer is nominated for Composer of the Year.
IFMCA member Jon Broxton wrote that there was “something timeless, ancient, epic, but also futuristic and progressive” about the music from “Dune,” and concluded that “when it works, and Zimmer really gets to the heart and soul of Frank Herbert’s story and Denis Villeneuve’s vision, it’s some of the most effective film music of 2021”. IFMCA member James Southall said that “No Time to Die” is “essentially the score that lots of Bond fans have wanted for a while, combining all the traditional musical elements you’d expect, and giving them a modern twist, along with the oft-requested deep interpolation of the song into the score,” and called it “entertaining from start to finish.” Read more…
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