MOVIE MUSIC UK

JOHN POWELL’S HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON IS NAMED INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS’ 2010 FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR

The International Film Music Critics Association announces the winners of its seventh annual awards for excellence in musical scoring in 2010 with John Powell’s score for the animated film HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON topping the list, winning both Film Score of the Year and Best Score for an Animated Film. Alexandre Desplat receives three awards: Best Score for a Drama Film (THE KING’S SPEECH), Best Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film (THE GHOST WRITER) and Composer of the Year.

Continuing their tradition to highlight lesser known but vital world talents, the Association awards the Breakout Composer of the Year to Portuguese composer Nuno Malo for AMÁLIA. Turkish composer Pinar Toprak wins Best Score for a Comedy Film for her score to the THE LIGHTKEEPERS. Rounding out the film categories are Best Score to a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film which goes to TRON: LEGACY by the French duo Daft Punk, Best Score for a Documentary Film winner is French composer Bruno Coulais for OCÉANS and American Danny Elfman’s “Alice Theme” from ALICE IN WONDERLAND wins Best Individual Composition.

In the non-film category, Bear McCreary wins his second award in a row in the Best Score for a Television Series, this year for Fox’s drama HUMAN TARGET (McCreary won last year for BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA). Kojima Productions’ CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF SHADOW, with music by Óscar Araujo, wins Best Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media.

The Best Archival Release goes to the six-disc box set release of Alex North’s score to Stanley Kubrick’s SPARTACUS, which was Varèse Sarabande’s executive producer Robert Townson’s 1000th release for the label. Best Record Label of the Year goes to La-La Land Records, their first win in this category, for such notable 2010 expanded release soundtracks as BATMAN RETURNS, DRAGONSLAYER, PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO and HOME ALONE. Read more…

ALEXANDRE DESPLAT RECEIVES 7 INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS AWARD NOMINATIONS, INCLUDING TWO FOR FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR

The International Film Music Critics Association has announced its list of nominations for excellence in musical scoring in 2010, with French composer Alexandre Desplat leading the field with 7 nods including THE KING’S SPEECH (3 nominations) and THE GHOST WRITER (3 nominations) for Film Score of the Year. Also nominated in this category are John Powell’s HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (5 nominations), Daft Punk’s score to TRON: LEGACY (3 nominations) and Hans Zimmer’s INCEPTION (3 nominations).

Desplat, who also wrote the nominated score to HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1, is short-listed for Composer of the Year along with John Powell (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON); James Newton Howard (SALT, THE LAST AIRBENDER, NANNY MCPHEE RETURNS); Danny Elfman (ALICE IN WONDERLAND); and Hans Zimmer (INCEPTION).

Breakout Composer of the Year nominees include Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, better known as the French electronic/dance duo Daft Punk, for TRON: LEGACY; Spanish composer Oscar Araujo for the video game CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF SHADOW; Spanish composer Arnau Bataller for the mystery film LA HERENCIA VALDEMAR; German composer Herbert Grönemeyer for the George Clooney drama THE AMERICAN; and Portuguese composer Nuno Malo for AMÁLIA, the film about the life of Portuguese fado singer Amália Rodrigues. Read more…

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES WINNERS FOR 2009; MICHAEL GIACCHINO’S UP WINS BEST SCORE

Michael Giacchino wins the 2009 Score of the Year award from the International Film Music Critics Association for his inventive and nostalgic score for the Disney Pixar film, UP, which also wins Best Original Score for an Animated Feature. Giacchino receives a total of four awards, including Composer of the Year, in part for also writing the Best Original Score to a Fantasy/Science Fiction Feature winner for the JJ Abrams STAR TREK reboot. Giacchino won the Association’s first Score of the Year award in 2004 for another Pixar film, THE INCREDIBLES.

Christopher Young wins two awards for DRAG ME TO HELL: Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film and Film Music Compostion of the Year for “Concerto to Hell.” Also receiving two awards is James Peterson for Breakout Composer of the Year and Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure Feature for the mixed martial arts prison movie THE RED CANVAS.

Veteran composer Marvin Hamlisch wins Best Original Score for a Comedy Film for Steven Soderbergh’s THE INFORMANT!, while Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski wins Best Original Score for a Drama Film for director Tom Ford’s debut film, A SINGLE MAN. Rounding out the feature film winners is Armand Amar’s Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature for the French nature documentary HOME. Read more…

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES ITS 2009 NOMINEES FOR SCORING EXCELLENCE; MICHAEL GIACCHINO RECEIVES A RECORD NINE NOMINATIONS

The International Film Music Critics Association announces its list of excellence in musical scoring for 2009 with composer Michael Giacchino receiving nine individual nominations, the most for any composer in a given year since the Association began issuing awards in 2004. Along with multiple mentions for his score to the Disney Pixar movie UP and JJ Abrams’ reinvented STAR TREK, Giacchino receives nominations for his scores to the TV series LOST as well as the documentary EARTH DAYS. Giacchino is also nominated for Composer of the Year along with Alexandre Desplat, James Horner, Christopher Young and Brian Tyler.

Both UP and STAR TREK are nominated for Score of the Year, along with James Horner’s score to the worldwide blockbuster AVATAR and Christopher Young’s score to Sam Raimi’s DRAG ME TO HELL. These film scores are tied with the most nominations this year at four noms each. Alexandre Desplat’s score to THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON rounds out the category. Read more…