Film Composer Spotlight
Klaus Badelt
Early in his career, Klaus Badelt garnered tremendous success in his native Germany, receiving the highest accolades in the record, television, and motion picture industries. In 1998, Klaus moved to Los Angeles and segued into composing for blockbuster, American-made films. Since his Pirates of the Caribbean score brought him worldwide attention, Klaus has received International awards and distinction, scored more than 40 major motion pictures and set the tone for both critically acclaimed films and top-grossing blockbusters. He has worked with such diverse directors as Werner Herzog, Richard Donner, Wolfgang Petersen, Francis Lawrence, Michael Mann, Jerry Bruckheimer and Harvey Weinstein. Klaus wears many hats as a composer, arranger, performer, and producer of monumental live stage shows, one-of-a-kind theatrical events, pop-music recordings and even the coveted 2008 Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremonies. Klaus was invited by famed producer Lawrence Ho to create the score for the first-of-its-kind film environment called The Bubble in Macau, China, and the ancient capital Xi'an commissioned Klaus to write the Terracotta Warriors opera about Emperor Qin, to premiere in 2010. Klaus was trusted with the iconic French Let Petite Nicolas, the humorous adventures of the 9-year-old boy in the nostalgic 1950's. In 2009 it was adapted to film for the first time ever. Heart-warming, tender stories like these are one of Klaus' passions, but his inspiration is fueled by contrasting projects.
Paul Brill
Paul Brill's compositions for numerous award-winning films, TV series and commercials, NPR program themes, and several acclaimed CDs of original and innovative songwriting show that youthful adventures as an herbal smokes salesman, street performer, valet, corporate errand boy, and a marine biology instructor can serve the creative spirit well.
Paul's original score for the film, The Devil Came on Horseback, was recently nominated for an EMMY AWARD; his score for the celebrated HBO film, The Trials of Darryl Hunt, was also nominated for an EMMY AWARD and was hailed by Variety as "memorably chilling, sounding notes of purest dread." Young American Recordings recently released the Hunt soundtrack, curated by Brill, featuring selections from his score and contributions by Andrew Bird, M. Ward, Dead Prez and Mark Kozelek among many others.
Paul recently scored the much-heralded HBO film, "Right America: Feeling Wronged," and is currently completing work on "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work," which will premiere at Sundance 2010. He recently scored the film adaptation of the best-selling book, Freakonomics, for Loki Films (Jesus Camp).
Brill is the ongoing composer for the acclaimed A+E television programs "The First 48," "The Interrogators," National Geographic's "Rescue Ink," and the upcoming A+E series, "Runaway Squad" and "Steven Seagal: Lawman." He has completed upcoming films for MTV, History Channel, Discovery Channel, PBS, among others, and is currently at work on the HBO feature film "Burma Soldier."
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More Composer Bios
Carter Burwell
CARTER BURWELL has composed the music for for the feature films Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Waterland, This Boy's Life, Rob Roy, Fargo, Conspiracy Theory, The Spanish Prisoner, Gods and Monsters, Velvet Goldmine, Three Kings, Being John Malkovich, Before Night Falls, Adaptation, The Alamo, Kinsey, No Country for Old Men, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, In Bruges, Burn After Reading, Twilight, Where The Wild Things Are, A Serious Man, and the upcoming Howl.
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Dika Durbuzovic
Dika's first memory of passively "locking" motion and music, was at the age five during Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984 when she witnessed the famous figure skating performance by gold medalists Torvill and Dean. They were skating to Maurice Ravel's "Bolero". This may have been the beginning of her long journey to becoming a film music composer. During her classical training in piano performance with pianist David Korevaar, and as part of her Master's degree thesis at University of Colorado at Boulder, she wrote a research paper about Ingmar Bergman's powerful employment of Brahms' music in the film "Faithless", which solidified and encouraged her interest in composing for picture. Dika has composed and produced original music for a number of award winning short films, most notably Knife Point (Sundance FF 2009) by Carlo Mirabella-Davis, Down in Number 5 by Kim Spurlock, Notes on Being Young by Michael Masarof, and feature film Memories of Overdevelopment by Miguel Coyula (Sundance FF 2010). She also received Outstanding Original Score Award for Knife Point from the Maurice Kanbar Institute for Film and TV.
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Andy Garfield
From major Interactive releases from DreamWorks to working closely with James Cameron on ground-breaking internet projects, Andy has a remarkably diverse portfolio of credits. Andy’s most recent projects include the upcoming Showtime series: Look, numerous trailers for Lionsgate, and scores and sound design for several feature films, including Frozen and the cult horror film Hatchet. Andy provided full music and sound post services for the MTV/American Eagle Outfitters productions It’s a Mall Mall World (directed by HEROES star MiloVentimiglia) and Winter Tales. Andy’s other work in Television includes several animated series on Fox Kids and Fox Family, The Jeff Corwin Experience on Animal Planet, and numerous Discovery and Travel Channel documentaries and specials. Andy contributed to the $80 million Men in Black: Alien Attack!, opened in 2000 at Universal Studios Orlando, and Paramount Parks attractions Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Firefall!, Survivor: The Ride! and the original Christmas theme music for Universal Studios around the world. Andy’s upcoming projects include Hatchet 2, Coffee and Donuts, Chill-O-Rama, District III and other major film projects with Ariescope and 1492 Productions.
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Joel Goodman
Joel Goodman has scored over 75 films that have gone on to win 1 Oscar Award, 4 Oscar Nominations, 10 Emmy Awards, over 20 Emmy Nominations as well as appearing at every major film festival in the world. He has worked with an impressive array of distinguished directors and producers, including Wong Kar-wei, Kevin Spacey, Albert Maysles, Andrew Jarecki, John Penotti, Barbara Kopple, Mark Zwonitzer, Michael Epstein, Oren Jacoby, Irene Taylor Brodsky, Marshall Curry and Fisher Stevens. For more information, please visit www.joelgoodman.com.
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Nicholas Greer
Born in Montana, Nick was raised and currently works in Salt Lake City. He attended Brigham Young University and studied composition there, as well as with distinguished guest composers including Joan Tower, Mario Davidovsky, Melinda Wagner, and Christian Wolff. Professionally he's worked for almost ten years as a copyist and orchestrator preparing music for films, commercials, and various solo albums. Nick's score for 8: The Mormon Proposition will World Premiere at Sundance '10.
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Liam Howe
Liam's musical career began in London, when he founded the influential electronica band Sneaker Pimps in 1995. The group have enjoyed world wide acclaim for their filmic qualities and unique take on modern pop music. Liam co-wrote and produced the songs “6 Underground” and “Spin Spin Sugar,” which were hits both sides of the Atlantic, the former receiving an ASCAP award for songwriting. Liam has worked with influential directors including Wim Wenders, Tarsem and Alfonso Cuaron, and in 1997, Liam felt a veritable calling for sound track composition when Danny Boyle commissioned him to write a piece to picture for his film A Life Less Ordinary. Since Sneaker Pimps Liam has been a full time music writer and producer. Working with the likes of Marilyn Manson, Neneh Cherry, Echo and the Bunnymen, and more recently, the bands Marina and the Diamonds and Ellie Goulding. Liam was approached by director Diane Bell to write his first full score for the Sundance nominated Obselidia. Feeling a great synergy with Bells 'indie' and uncompromisingly creative approach, he has written a charming and unconventional score which sits effortlessly with the movie’s understated originality.
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Jan Kaczmarek
Academy AwardR Winner JAN A.P. KACZMAREK (Composer) has written the scores for over 50 feature films and documentaries including The Visitor, Unfaithful, Aimee and Jaguar, War and Peace, Total Eclipse, Washington Square, The Third Miracle, and Lost Souls. His upcoming projects include Get Low directed by Aaron Schneider and starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray, Hachiko directed by Lasse Hallstrom starring Richard Gere and City Island, winner of the Audience Award at Tribeca Festival, directed by Raymond de Felitta, starring Andy Garcia.
He began touring Europe in the 1970s with The Orchestra of the Eighth Day. In 1982, Kaczmarek recorded his debut album, titled Music for the End. He relocated to America in 1989 and began composing for theatre, winning two New York theatre awards in 1992. After his success for the stage, he returned to film composition. In 2005, he won his first Oscar for Finding Neverland, as well as The National Board of Review's award for Best Score. He was nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA's Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music. Currently, he is establishing the Rozbitek Institute in his native Poland. The Institute will serve as a European center encouraging creative work in film, theatre, music, and new media.
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Keith Kohn
Recently Keith produced the score for "Climate Refugees", a 2010 Sundance Film Festival Spotlight Film and is currently completing work on another film. Also, he has been hard at work collaborating with fellow ASCAP writer Ramiro Fauve on songs for various new artists.
Early on in his music career Keith had the good fortune of working as an assistant engineer for multi-Grammy winner Jon Smeltz (Al Green, The Roots, Usher).
After being given a half-working drum machine he realized creating his own music is what he really wanted to do. Then, when sampling other people's music was no longer fulfilling, it was time to learn the keys.
Moving to Los Angeles from New Jersey in the early 90's with a demo cassette and an mpc 60, Keith found work doing Hip Hop demos .During the next ten years, while producing and playing live in the Trip Hop band Morphic Field and Rocktronica band Suckerpump, he began writing for music libraries and has had music placed in such shows and films as C.S.I, Two and a Half Men, Sex in the City and Zoolander.
It was also during this time Keith began getting involved in the world music scene in Los Angeles. While doing live sound for various singers and instrumentalist, he discovered a love for exotic instruments and eastern music.
Driven by his love of music and technology, Keith enjoys his work and seeks opportunities to learn every chance he gets, devoted to the life long journey of creating music.
For more info check out his website at www.keithkohn.com
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Ljova
Hailed by Billboard Magazine as "one of New York's fastest-rising composers and instrumentalists", LJOVA (Lev Zhurbin) stands at the forefront of his generation as the premiere bridge between the world's musical cultures. Ljova was born in 1978 in Moscow, Russia, and moved to New York with his parents, composer Alexander Zhurbin and writer Irena Ginzburg, in 1990. He divides his time between performing as a violist in diverse groups ranging from his own LJOVA AND THE KONTRABAND, to string quartets, jazz combos and Gypsy bands; studying and arranging music for Yo-Yo Ma, the Kronos Quartet, Jay-Z and others; and composing original music for film, TV, dance, and the concert stage.
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David Majzlin
David Majzlin's score for Sins Of My Father will have its U.S. Premier at Sundance 2010. Other film credits include Stille, (Best Score - Avignon Film Festival), Being Reel, (Grand Prize - Project Greenlight Competition), Herb and Dorothy, (Audience Award Winner - Silverdocs, Hamptons Film Fest), and Youth Knows No Pain (HBO Films).
David also wrote additional music for Sunshine Cleaning (starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, and Alan Arkin), The Ghost Writer (dir., Roman Polanski, starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan), All Good Things (dir., Andrew Jarecki, starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella), and The Joneses (starring Demi Moore, David Duchovny, and Lauren Hutton).
His music can be heard in numerous television projects and promos including Ugly Betty, CSI, The Cleaner, The Ghost Whisperer, Greys Anatomy, CNN, Desperate Housewives, and the theatrical trailer for Is Anybody There?, starring Michael Caine.
A multi-instrumentalist who enjoys melodies and an organic approach to writing, David's compositional style reflects the unique needs of each individual story. He is also unashamedly addicted to sushi and anything that can be made in a blender.
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Justin Melland
Composer Justin Melland’s command over a wide array of musical styles has quickly placed him among today’s most sought after film composers. After finishing his Master’s Degree in music composition at UCLA and UC Berkeley, one of his first composing positions was to write an original score for The Death of Kevin Carter, Casualty of the Bang Bang Club, which was nominated in 2006 for an Oscar and distributed by HBO. With over 30 feature and documentary film credits to his name, Justin has also scored Oscar contender Under Our Skin, and Life 2.0, which is screening at Sundance 2010. In addition, he has scored seven successful television series: Live Through This (Fuse), Inside (National Geographic/PBS), Undercover History (National Geographic), City Confidential (A&E), Frontline/WORLD (PBS, Discovery/Times), Human Weapon (History) and Snapped (the Oxygen Networks highest rated show). Justin also creates his own autonomous music both for recording and live performance. His style employs a fusion of modern rhythms, Electic and Resonator Guitars, Hurdy Gurdy, Musical Saw, and an arsenal of orchestral and ambient electronic textures. He also works very closely with world-renowned photographer and art film maker Aaron Hawks, scoring his truly unique works. Justin creates his scores at his studio in Venice, Ca.
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Joshua Myers
A glance at the credits of Honorary Emmy Award-winning composer Joshua Myers would suggest the career of an experienced, seasoned veteran. Experience he has, but seasoned veteran? Not really-he's only 33. Still, Myers has achieved more success in the music world than most composers do in a lifetime.
Soon after finishing his Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition from California State University in 2000, Myers was making a name for himself in Hollywood, composing music for landmark TV shows such as Friends (NBC) and America's Got Talent (ABC). At the same time, he was working as a record producer in the indie rock world, crafting critically acclaimed albums for Sufjan Stevens, Jeremy Enigk (Sunny Day Real Estate, The Fire Theft), and Rosie Thomas (Sub Pop). Being a classically-trained composer and an indie rock staple gives Myers a truly unique approach to creating music, allowing him to keep his feet in both worlds and consistently bring the best of both to the table. As Myers puts it: "It's all about connecting with audiences and communicating feelings through music, no matter who you're working for."
Myers has also seen great success in various business endeavors. In 2004 he co founded Cinecue, a music licensing company that currently boasts over 2,500 broadcast-ready instrumental tracks. And in 2009, Myers formed Burn The Stereo, a collective of composers from the rock/pop world that specializes in original music for advertising. Most recently, Burn The Stereo crafted the music and sonic identity of the popular, long-running "Flo" campaign for Progressive Insurance.
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Ryuichi Sakamoto
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Marc Streitenfeld
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Jason Torbert
Jason Torbert is an American indie electronica artist based out of San Diego, California. Since 2004, Torbert has been nominated for three San Diego Music Awards, licensed music for television and film, released two full-length albums on London’s 99X/10 Records (run by former The Cure keysman Roger O’Donnell) and has been featured in San Diego CityBEAT, Music Matters Magazine and The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Julian Wass
Julian Wass scores films and commercials in addition to producing records. His most recent work includes the LOGO feature "Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom" and the debut and follow up records from Los Angeles band Fol Chen (whom he is also a member of). His music is powered by a deep love of Mark Mothersbaugh, Scritti Politti and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. A graduate of the Music, Science and Technology program at Stanford University, Julian currently lives with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles.
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Philip Sheppard
Philip Sheppard is a film composer, solo cellist and a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Recent soundtracks include The Pat Tillman Story which receives its premiere here at Sundance, the Apollo lunar missions documentary In the Shadow of the Moon (which won numerous awards including the World Documentary Prize at Sundance), Henry Mind of a Tyrant for David Starkey's landmark C4 series, and the documentary feature Sergio (which has been shortlisted for the Academy Awards). Philip has been commissioned to compose the soundtrack to the PBS series God in America which will be broadcast throughout 2010.
He was commissioned to compose and produce the music for the London 2012 Handover sequence at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony featuring Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis. This included devising a new Buckingham Palace-approved arrangement of the UK National Anthem.
Philip has produced the music for two recent BBC TV live events; The Manchester Passion and The Liverpool Nativity. Philip was awarded the BBC award for Best Music Production of the year for his arranging and directing work on the Passion Project.
His stage works include the ballet Sacred Monsters for Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan, and the theatre dance piece In-I starring Khan and the actress Juliette Binoche. His track Rain, Steam and Speed was featured in Complicite's adaptation of The Elephant Vanishes.
He regularly writes and plays with UNKLE and has written and arranged tracks with numerous rock musicians including Scott Walker, Jeff Buckley, Jimmy Page, and Jarvis Cocker.