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Academy Award Winners 2018
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 91st Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2018.
In the Best Original Score category composer Ludwig Göransson won the award for his score for the box office blockbuster Marvel super hero movie Black Panther. In accepting his award, Göransson said:
“Um, wow. Thank you, Ryan Coogler. Ryan… Ryan, working with you has been an incredible honor. I remember twelve years ago we were sitting in our dorm at USC writing the score for your first short film, and we’re here twelve years later, you know, celebrating one of the most important cinematic moments in history. I want to share this award with all the incredible African artists I worked with on the score – Baba Maal, Massamba Diop, Magatte Saw – and all the classical musicians in London that recorded on the score. And everyone… I also want to share this award with my mom, and dad, and sister – they insisted I play guitar- and my wife Serena, I love you so much. Thank you!”
The other nominees were Terence Blanchard for Blackkklansman, Nicholas Britell for If Beale Street Could Talk, Alexandre Desplat for Isle of Dogs, and Marc Shaiman for Mary Poppins Returns.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga), Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt for “Shallow” from A Star is Born.
The other nominees were Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Mark Spears (Sounwave), Anthony Tiffith, and Solana Rowe (SZA) for “All the Stars” from Black Panther; David Rawlings and Gillian Welch for “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns; and Diane Warren for “I’ll Fight” from RGB.
IFMCA Award Winners 2018
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF 2018 IFMCA AWARDS; “SOLO” TAKES SCORE OF THE YEAR, MULTIPLE WINS FOR JOHN POWELL, JAMES NEWTON HOWARD
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2018, in the 2018 IFMCA Awards.
The award for Score of the Year goes to British composer John Powell for his score for the Star Wars spin-off story “Solo,” which looked at the early life of the legendary rogue and intergalactic smuggler Han Solo. The film was directed by Ron Howard, and starred Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, and Donald Glover. In describing the score, IFMCA members Asier Senarriaga and Óscar Giménez called Solo “a spectacular score that combines the classic ideas of Williams with the talent of Powell,” and proclaimed it “the score of the year,” while IFMCA member Jon Broxton – speaking about the score’s multitude of recurring character themes – said that the way Powell “incorporates all the thematic complexity into his score is masterful, but best of all is the way he allows them to develop organically; this is not just a rigid leitmotif score where mathematics trumps emotion. Instead, Powell engages in sensible and appropriate development, meaning that when the emotional outbursts do come, they pack a real wallop, and satisfy both the heart and the brain in equal measure.” Read more…
BAFTA Winners 2018
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2018.
In the Best Original Music category, the winners were Bradley Cooper, Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga), and Lukas Nelson, for their collection of original songs written for the musical drama film A Star is Born. BAFTA is different from other awards bodies, in that their music award specifically includes song scores, adaptation scores, and expert use of classical music alongside original scores, and the award is for in an overarching ‘best use of music in film.’ Cooper, who also co-wrote, directed, produced, and co-starred in the film, accepted the award, saying:
“Thank you BAFTA. Wow, I got to fulfill a dream that I never thought would ever happen, to compose and arrange music, and I got to do it with the greatest musicians in the world – Lady Gaga and Lukas Nelson, who I share this with tonight. This music was the heartbeat of the film, and we had so much help from people all over the country. Brandi Carlisle, Mark Ronson, Hillary Lindsey, Jason Ruder and the whole sound team, Steve Morrow, Alan Murray, it wouldn’t have sounded like that without you. Ben Rice at the Village Studios in Santa Monica. The engineers. Most of all I have to thank Irina [Shayk], for putting up with me, for all the music I was trying to make in our basement for a year. Thank you very much, thank you.”
The other nominees were Terence Blanchard for Blackkklansman, Nicholas Britell for If Beale Street Could Talk, Alexandre Desplat for Isle of Dogs, and Marc Shaiman for Mary Poppins Returns.
IFMCA Award Nominations 2018
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED; JAMES NEWTON HOWARD LEADS THE FIELD WITH FOUR NOMINATIONS
FEBRUARY 7, 2019. The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2018, for the 15th annual IFMCA Awards. In one of the most open fields in IFMCA history, composer James Newton Howard received the most nominations with four, closely followed by Nicholas Britell, Alexandre Desplat, Ludwig Göransson, Justin Hurwitz, and John Powell, who each received three.
67-year-old American composer James Newton Howard is nominated for his work on two scores – “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” the second film in the Harry Potter spinoff series, and the controversial Jennifer Lawrence Cold War spy thriller “Red Sparrow” – and is one of the five nominees for Composer of the Year. IFMCA member Christian Clemmensen called Fantastic Beasts an “accomplished and mature fantasy score” which “sits comfortably with Howard’s accomplished genre works and competes favorably for a place amongst 2018’s best scores,” while IFMCA member Mihnea Manduteanu described Red Sparrow as “beautiful and passionate” and “melodic and furious”. Howard previously received IFMCA Score of the Year honors in 2006 for “The Lady in the Water”. His other major score in 2018 was for the lavish fantasy “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” which was inspired by Tchaikovsky’s seminal ballet. Read more…
Movie Music UK Awards 2018
The world of film music in 2018 yielded some truly outstanding scores, but my top scores of the year actually came to me rather more easily than they usually do. They each spoke to different aspects of my musical personality, touching on my love of screen musicals, my love of powerful and rousing action, my love of deep emotional content, and my love of memorable themes. The year’s best score, for me, heralded the triumphant return to Hollywood of a 1990s great who has spent more time on Broadway than in Tinseltown, and if there is any justice at all he will be the world’s newest EGOT after the Oscars are announced.
Meanwhile, the world outside of the United States proved once again that brilliant film music can be found all over the globe if you are prepared to actively seek it out instead of simply settling for whatever the major studios foist upon us; my winners and nominees this year include scores from the UK, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, Japan, China, and even Egypt. So, without further ado, here are my choices… Read more…
Michel Legrand, 1932-2019
Composer Michel Legrand died on January 26, 2019, in hospital in Paris, France, after a short illness related to a pulmonary infection. He was 86.
Michel Jean Legrand was born in Paris, France, in 1932, the son of composer-conductor Raymond Legrand and his wife, Marcelle Ter-Mikaëlian, who was the sister of conductor Jacques Hélian. Legrand studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris from age 11, working with Nadia Boulanger among others, and as both a composer and a pianist. He achieved early career success in 1954 age 22 when his original jazz album I Love Paris became a surprise hit in Europe. He released numerous more albums in the 1950s, including the popular Paris Jazz Piano in 1959, and then established himself as a jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader in the United States, working with jazz stars such as Miles Davis, Stan Getz, and Lena Horne.
Legrand dabbled in film music from the mid 1950s onwards, but achieved his first significant success in 1960 when he scored director Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking A Woman Is a Woman (Une Femme Est Une Femme) in 1961. Legrand quickly became a key musical component of the French New Wave, working for Godard and other directors such as Jacques Demy and Agnès Varda, among others, on such classics as Lola (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962), La Baie des Anges (1963), Bande à Part (1964), and La Chinoise (1967). His score for Demy’s 1965 musical film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg earned him his first Academy Award nomination, and from that point on Legrand split his time between Hollywood and Europe, working on both big-budget American and films and more artistic French fare. Read more…
Academy Award Nominations 2018
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the nominations for the 91st Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2018.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- TERENCE BLANCHARD for Blackkklansman
- NICHOLAS BRITELL for If Beale Street Could Talk
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Isle of Dogs
- LUDWIG GÖRANSSON for Black Panther
- MARC SHAIMAN for Mary Poppins Returns
These are the first Oscar nominations for Blanchard and Göransson. This is the second nomination Britell (his first was Moonlight in 2016) and the fourth score nomination for Shaiman (his seventh overall, including nominations for Best Song) – although his last one came in 1999 for Patch Adams. Desplat has now been nominated ten times, and is the only former Oscar winner in the field, having won for The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014, and for The Shape of Water last year in 2017.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- STEFANI GERMANOTTA (LADY GAGA), MARK RONSON, ANTHONY ROSSOMANDO, and ANDREW WYATT for “Shallow” from A Star is Born
- KENDRICK LAMAR DUCKWORTH, MARK SPEARS (SOUNWAVE), ANTHONY TIFFITH, and SOLANA ROWE (SZA) for “All the Stars” from Black Panther
- DAVID RAWLINGS and GILLIAN WELCH for “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
- MARC SHAIMAN and SCOTT WITTMAN for “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from MARY POPPINS RETURNS
- DIANE WARREN for “I’ll Fight” from RGB
The winners of the 91st Academy Awards will be announced on February 24, 2018.
BAFTA Nominations 2018
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2018.
In the Best Original Music category, which is named in memory of the film director Anthony Asquith, the nominees are:
- TERENCE BLANCHARD for Blackkklansman
- NICHOLAS BRITELL for If Beale Street Could Talk
- BRADLEY COOPER, STEFANI GERMANOTTA (LADY GAGA), and LUKAS NELSON for A Star is Born
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Isle of Dogs
- MARC SHAIMAN for Mary Poppins Returns
This is the ninth BAFTA nomination for Desplat, who won for “The King’s Speech” in 2010, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2014, and for “The Shape of Water” in 2018; and the second nomination for Shaiman, who was previously nominated for “Sleepless in Seattle” in 1993. It is the first nomination for both Blanchard and Britell. Cooper, Nelson, and Lady Gaga are nominated for the numerous original songs they wrote for the latest screen version of A Star is Born.
The winners of the 72nd BAFTA Awards will be announced on February 20, 2019.
Golden Globe Winners 2018
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the winners of the 76th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2018.
In the Best Original Score category composer Justin Hurwitz won the award for his score for director Damien Chazelle’s film First Man, which tells the life story of the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong. This is Hurwitz’s second Golden Globe, him having won previously for La La Land in 2016. In his acceptance speech, Hurwitz said:
“OK, alright. I have to thank Nick Baxter who mixed this score, and John Taylor who mixed this movie, because a theremin score could have ended up being very annoying, and they found the right place for everything to sit and showed that great mixers can make a composer look good. So, thanks to them. I want to thank Tom Cross who cut the film, and the whole editorial department – Harry Yoon, John To, Derek Drouin, Jennifer Stelemma, Jeff Harlacker, Jason Miller – I’m in awe of how you guys put together something so complex. Thank you of course to Damian [Chazelle], who is brilliant and loyal and touches every detail of our work. Thank you HFPA, thank you everybody at Universal, and the Los Angeles musicians.”
The other nominees were Marco Beltrami for A Quiet Place, Alexandre Desplat for Isle of Dogs, Ludwig Göransson for Black Panther, and Marc Shaiman for Mary Poppins Returns.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga), Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt, for their song “Shallow” from the latest version of A Star Is Born.
The other nominees were Jón Þór Birgisson (Jónsi), Troye Sivan, and Brett McLaughlin for “Revelation” from Boy Erased; Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith, Mark Spears (Sounwave), Solána Rowe (SZA), and Al Shuckburgh (Al Shux) for “All the Stars” from Black Panther; Annie Lennox for “Requiem for A Private War” from A Private War; and Dolly Parton and Linda Perry for “Girl in the Movies” from Dumplin’.
Golden Globe Nominations 2018
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has announced the nominations for the 76th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2018.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- MARCO BELTRAMI for A Quiet Place
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Isle of Dogs
- LUDWIG GÖRANSSON for Black Panther
- JUSTIN HURWITZ for First Man
- MARC SHAIMAN for Mary Poppins Returns
This is the first Golden Globe nomination for Beltrami, and the first major film music nomination of any kind for Göransson, although Göransson has been a multiple Grammy award nominee and winner for his work as a producer for Donald Glover and Childish Gambino.
This is the 2nd nomination for Hurwitz, who previously won the Globe for La La Land in 2016, the 2nd nomination for Shaiman, and the 10th nomination for Desplat, who previously won the Globe for The Painted Veil in 2006 and The Shape of Water in 2017.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- JÓN ÞÓR BIRGISSON (JÓNSI), TROYE SIVAN, and BRETT McLAUGHLIN for “Revelation” from Boy Erased
- KENDRICK LAMAR DUCKWORTH, ANTHONY TIFFITH, MARK SPEARS (SOUNWAVE), SOLÁNA ROWE (SZA), and AL SHUCKBURGH (AL SHUX) for “All the Stars” from Black Panther
- STEFANI GERMANOTTA (LADY GAGA), MARK RONSON, ANTHONY ROSSOMANDO, and ANDREW WYATT for “Shallow” from A Star Is Born
- ANNIE LENNOX for “Requiem for A Private War” from A Private War
- DOLLY PARTON and LINDA PERRY for “Girl in the Movies” from Dumplin’
The winners of the 76th Golden Globe Awards will be announced on January 6, 2019.
Francis Lai, 1932-2018
Composer Francis Lai died on November 7, 2018, at home in Paris, France, after a short illness. He was 86.
Francis Albert Lai was born in Nice, France, in April 1932. He moved to Paris in his twenties and began composing songs while working with lyricist Bernard Dimey. He accompanied Édith Piaf and wrote songs for French singers such as Mireille Mathieu and Yves Montand before transitioning into film scoring in the mid-1960s. His breakthrough came in 1966 with Un Homme et Un Femme [A Man and a Woman], directed by Claude Lelouch. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and Lai’s score – particularly its vocal theme – became a major success. He would go on to score more than 30 of Lelouch’s films, notably .
Lai’s most widely recognized international work came in 1970 with Love Story, starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw. Its theme became a chart-topping hit in both instrumental and vocal versions, and Lai received the Academy Award and a Golden Globe for the score. His other notable works include Mayerling (1968), Rider on the Rain (1970), Emmanuelle II (1975), Bilitis (1977), and International Velvet (1978). He also composed for television and collaborated with artists such as Carly Simon. Read more…
Arthur B. Rubinstein, 1938-2018
Composer Arthur B. Rubinstein died on April 23, 2018, in Los Angeles, after a short illness. He was 80.
Arthur Benjamin Rubinstein was born in Brooklyn, New York, in March 1938. He studied at the University of Hartford and the Juilliard School, and began his career in theater and concert music before moving into film and television.
Rubinstein’s subsequent career spanned over four decades. A frequent creative partner of director John Badham, Rubinstein’s propulsive electronic score for Blue Thunder (1983) and the suspenseful, thematically rich music for WarGames (1983) remain among his best-known works. His other acclaimed scores include titles such as Short Circuit (1986), Stakeout (1987), The Hard Way (1991), Another Stakeout (1993), and Nick of Time (1995).
He also wrote scores for numerous TV series, including episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King, the 1985 reboot of The Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories, Wiseguy, The Love Boat, Sledge Hammer, and even The Simpsons. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) for the episode “We’re Off to See the Wizard” from Scarecrow and Mrs. King in 1986. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2017
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 90th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2017.
In the Best Original Score category composer Alexandre Desplat won the award for his score for director Guillermo del Toro’s romantic fantasy film The Shape of Water. In accepting his award, Desplat said:
Merci, c’est fantastique. I‘m very grateful to the Academy. My mother is also turning 90 this year so I think she’ll be very happy tonight! Yes, she’s Greek, by the way! Now, Guillermo, thank you, you know, thank you for the letting the music be the voice of your characters and convey the beautiful melancholy of love. That’s for you. I wish to thank Miles Dale, Fox Searchlight, and the music department at Fox. All the musicians who played on the score and those downstairs here, and I wish to thank queen Renee Fleming, Laura Engel, Ray Costa, my friend Katz, and Solrey you elevate my music, everything I write by your musical genius, thank you, but this is not for you, it’s for our daughters Ninou and Antonia. Thank you!
The other nominees were Carter Burwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Jonny Greenwood for Phantom Thread, John Williams for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Hans Zimmer for Dunkirk.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Kristin Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez their song “Remember Me” from Coco.
The other nominees were Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, and Taura Stinson for “Mighty River” from Mudbound; Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman; Sufjan Stevens for “Mystery of Love” from Call Me By Your Name; and Diane Warren and Lonnie Lynn Jr. (Common) for “Stand Up For Something” from Marshall.
IFMCA Award Winners 2017
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF 2017 IFMCA AWARDS; “PHANTOM THREAD” TAKES SCORE OF THE YEAR, MULTIPLE WINS FOR MICHAEL GIACCHINO, BENJAMIN WALLFISCH
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2017, in the 2017 IFMCA Awards.
The award for Score of the Year goes to British composer Jonny Greenwood for his score for critically acclaimed period drama “Phantom Thread,” directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. In describing the score, IFMCA member Jon Broxton wrote that it was a “quite masterful score from Greenwood, one which gets deeply under the skin of the damaged, potentially dangerous, but nevertheless mutually fulfilling relationship at the center of the story. The abstract, impressionistic, modernistic textures perfectly capture the torment that both characters at times feel, as well as their willful and often unpleasant personalities. Then, when he opens up his orchestra and performs the Phantom Thread theme with glorious melodrama, or when he writes elegant romantic music for what should be the dreadful finale, the whole thing simply soars”. The score was also named Best Original Score for Drama Film; these are the first IFMCA Award wins of Greenwood’s career, him having previously been nominated for Breakthrough Film Composer of the Year in 2007 and Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film for “Inherent Vice” in 2014. Read more…
BAFTA Winners 2017
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of the 71st British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2017.
In the Best Original Score category composer Alexandre Desplat won the award for his score for director Guillermo del Toro’s romantic fantasy film The Shape of Water. In accepting his award, Desplat said:
“Yes, what a venue for music! Thank you, it’s… it’s marvelous. Guillermo, your film is unique, and the poetry you’ve given us is amazing, and for music there’s always a good bonding between music and poetry, so thank you, thank you very much. Thanks to Fox Searchlight. This music was recorded here in London by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road [applause] Marvelous musicians! Many of them, one of them is here tonight, Solrey, the best musician I have ever met and… [applause] and, Antonia, my daughter. Hi, Antonia! And… I thank you. It’s marvelous. Thank you.”
The other nominees were Jonny Greenwood for Phantom Thread, Dario Marianelli for Darkest Hour, Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer for Blade Runner 2049, and Hans Zimmer again for Dunkirk.
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