FilmMusicSite.com: Composer Talk

Composer Jeff Beal is a Five-time EMMY® winner who is born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jeff was a self-taught pianist and spent countless hours in the library learning music theory and composition on his own. At the age of 17 he composed a trumpet concerto. Jeff writes music for the concert hall but also for film and television. He worked with directors such as Ed Harris, Lauren Greenfeld, David Fincher, Oliver Stone and Rob Reiner. He wrote music for films and television shows such as Pollock, Appaloosa, House of Cards, The Putin Interviews, The Queen of Versailles, Shock and Awe, Blackfish, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Sequel, Rome, Carnivàle and many more. This year he wrote the music for the film Rule Breakers.In this new episode of Composer Talk Jeff Beal talks about the 20th anniversary of his score for the HBO series Rome. We go back and talk about how it was to write this great score for this epic series. Next to that we talk about his beautiful score for the film Rule Breakers and the song he wrote for the film We Believe in Hope. A song that was was honored by the UN for the International Day of Hope this year.Enjoy listening!

Austin Wintory is an American composer who started with music at a very young age. After nearly a decade scoring independent films and games, Austin’s career took a leap forward on the back of thatgamecompany’s hit PS3 title Journey. The soundtrack album debuted on the Billboard charts higher than any prior game’s original score, and in December 2012 became the first game score ever nominated for a GRAMMY. He is a 3x GRAMMY-nominated and BAFTA-winning composer who writes music for film and videogames. Music for films such as Captain Abu Raed, Grace, The Last Movie Star and videogames such as Journey, ABZU, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Aliens Fireteam Elite, LEGO Fortnite, Towerborne, and many more. Recently he rejoined forces with studio Giant Squid, with whom Wintory collaborated for beautiful gaming experiences like ABZU and The Pathless, on a new game called Sword of the Sea.In this new episode of Composer Talk Austin Wintory takes us in his creative process when he was writing the score to Sword of the Sea, a new game from Giant Squid. We also talk in detail about his music for Towerborne, a game developed by Stoic. For that game he wrote a big classical score!Enjoy listening to this new Composer Talk!

Debbie Wiseman grew up in a vibrant cultural environment in north west London, where she discovered an early passion for music and started composing at only eight years old.Wiseman is also known for her regular collaborations with British directors Peter Kosminsky, John Hay, Brian Gilbert, Simon Hunter and the late Lewis Gilbert. Her work has been recognized with wins and nominations at the Grammys and the Ivor Novello Awards. Wiseman has been Composer in Residence at the UK's number 1 classical music station Classic FM since 2015. Debbie is know for her scores to Wolf Hall, Arsène Lupin, Wilde, Flood, Father Brown, and many more. Wiseman doesn’t just operate in the constraints of film and television, as she is frequently asked to compose albums for special occasions. She composed The Music of Kings and Queens, an album honouring the 95th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, and was the official composer and musical director of the Platinum Jubilee Celebration at Windsor in May 2022. It was in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2018 that Wiseman was awarded the OBE for her services to music. Wiseman was commissioned by His Majesty the King to compose the two Gospel Alleluias which were performed in Westminster Abbey at the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla. A brand new album with her music for film and television will be released in October this year for the World Soundtrack Awards. In this new edition of Composer Talk I have had the opportunity to talk to her just before the start of the recording sessions for that album with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dirk Brossé. She talks about her passion for music, her music for Wilde, Mythos and Arsène Lupin. How it was writing music for the coronation and off course the new album that has been recorded for the WSA.Enjoy listening!Photo credit: Film Fest Gent / Anne Vandepitte

Sam Slater is a composer and producer working at the intersection of experimental music, sound design, and contemporary storytelling. His musical journey began in his teens with record production, followed by studies in Experimental Composition at Leeds University. He started his professional career in Germany, initially collaborating with Johann Johannsson as a principal musical sound designer and creative engineer. He is a two-time Grammy Award winner, his work has shaped critically acclaimed projects including Joker, Chernobyl and Battlefield 2042. He has also received the SCL Award for Battlefield 2042, the Icelandic Music Award for Producer of the Year, and the Filmfare Award for Best Original Soundtrack for Netflix’s The Railway Men. His recent project, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, created with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov, integrates frontline documentary footage from Ukraine with immersive spatial sound design.In this new episode of Composer Talk Sam talks about writing the music for the award winning documentary 2000 Meters to Andriivka. He takes us into his composing process and how he created this unique mix of sound and score. Next to that we also talked about OSMIUM, a music collective he is apart of together with his wife Hildur Guðnadóttir, Rully Shabara and James Ginzburg.Enjoy listening to this new episode of Composer Talk!Photo: Camille Blake

Dara Taylor is a composer who lives in the USA. Dara Taylor has emerged as a fresh voice in the world of film and television scoring, as evidenced by her work on Amazon Studios’ The Tender Bar, directed by Academy Award - winner George Clooney, and Universal Pictures’ Strays, starring Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx. Her most recent scoring project is the Netflix film Straw directed by Tyler Perry. Dara is also the composer for Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated series Ironheart. Dara is a proud Governor of the Recording Academy’s Los Angeles Chapter and a member of the Alliance of Women Film Composers.In this new episode of Composer Talk, Dara Taylor talks about her music for the Marvel series Ironheart, which is currently on Disney+. She also talks about the Netflix film Straw and how she composed the music.Enjoy listening to this Composer Talk!

Composer Michael Abels is well known for the opera, Omar, and his genre-defying scores for the Jordan Peele films Get Out, Us, and Nope. The score for Us won a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, and was named "Score of the Decade" by The Wrap. Both Us and Nope were shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Original Score, and Nope won Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film at the 2023 Society of Composer & Lyricist Awards. Most recently, Michael Abels has scored Netflix's Sirens starring Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy and Milly Alcock; he also scored the Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte which won the NAACP Award for Outstanding Original Score. In this new episode of Composer Talk Michael Abels talks about writing the music for the Netflix series Sirens and how he created the theme’s for the show. We look back at his music for the Acolyte and how it felt to write music for a Star Wars series.Enjoy listening to this new episode of Composer Talk!

As protégé of Randy Newman, Rivera earned a DMA in Composition at USC's Thornton School of Music,where he studied with Donald Crockett and Stephen Hartke. Carlos is a 3 time Emmy Award winner who writes music for Film, TV and Performing Arts. He wrote the music for the immense popular Netflix limited series The Queen’s Gambit. He worked on Apple TV’s series Lessons in Chemistry, Netflix Griselda, The Netflix film Chupa and AMC’s Network’s Monsieur Spade. Recently he worked again with director Scott Frank’s Dept. Q. In this new episode of Composer Talk, Carlos Rafael Rivera talks about working with writer director Scott Frank. We zoom in on their work for The Queen’s Gambit, Dept Q and Monsieur Spade. This results in an open and fun conversation with the composer which makes this episode of Composer Talk worth while listening to. Enjoy listening!

Marcelo Zarvos is a composer who writes music for film and television. The subtle nuances of composer Marcelo Zarvos’ style are exemplified in his recent scores for Hulu’s Good American Family, Netflix’s critically acclaimed The Diplomat, May December directed by Todd Haynes, and Nonnas starring Vince Vaughn. Zarvos’ musical training began by studying classical music followed by exploring jazz, rock and world music. This expansion inspired Zarvos to create his trademark sound – a seamless blend of classical, orchestral, rock, electronic and various ethnic elements, including his Brazilian roots which fueled emotionally charged music for film, TV, and the concert stage. Zarvos became the go-to composer for filmmakers including Todd Haynes, Antoine Fuqua, Nicole Holofcener, Tod Williams, Ross Katz, Cary Fukunaga and Barry Levinson.In this new episode of Composer Talk, composer Marcelo Zarvos gives you an inside look in his score for the Netflix film Nonnas. He also talks about the challenges on writing the music for Hulu’s Good American Family.Enjoy listening to this Composer Talk!

Max Aruj is a Los Angeles based composer known for his work in film, television, and video games. A graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music, he began his career working under Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe, and Rupert Gregson-Williams, contributing to Top Gun: Maverick,Mission: Impossible-Fallout, Black Widow and The Crown. Among his varied projects, Aruj has written music for ,Crawl, Lansky, The Ice Road, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids, MoviePass, MovieCrash and Mech Cadets.Alfie Godfrey cut his teeth at 14th Street Music in Los Angeles under the leadership of Lorne Balfe who co-owned the company with Hans Zimmer. Alfie worked his way up the ranks working in various music department roles on dozens of projects, notably Top Gun: Maverick, Ron Howard’sRebuilding Paradise, Disney Plus hit Dopesick, Rowan Atkinson comedy Man vs Bee, and many more. Alfie has frequently collaborated with writer and director Nick Love, working on Sky TV’s A Town Called Malice, and recently Danny Dyer rom-com Marching Powder. Recently Max and Alfie wrote the score together for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. In this new episode of Composer Talk both composer talk in-depth about their music for this new Mission: Impossible film.listening to this Composer Talk!

Raphaelle Thibaut is a French composer who started already playing the piano at the age of 4. She graduated the music conservatory of Lille in 2002. 2021 was a landmark year for her because she wrote the score for the Emmy Award-winning Disney+/National Geographic nature docuseries Secrets of the Wales. She continued with projects such as the documentary Introducing, Selma Blair, Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History, Tomb Hunters, Wild Dogs, Three Mothers and many more. In 2023 she wrote music for the Netflix series Heart of Invictus and Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford for Lucas film and Disney+. Recently she worked on the Disneynature film Sea Lions of the Galapagos which is released on Disney+.In this episode of Composer Talk Raphaelle Thibaut talks about how she got into filmscoring. We talk in-depth about her music for the Disneynature film Sea Lions of the Galapagos. She told me how she created this beautiful score. Enjoy listening this episode of Composer Talk!

Raashi Kulkarni is a composer, classical pianist, and flautist based in Los Angeles. She has established a distinct compositional voice that can be heard across a variety of genres including drama, comedy, science fiction, adventure, thriller, action, and animation. Raashi’s global perspective, study of different music disciplines, and passion for storytelling have been instrumental in the compositions she has developed for a vast spectrum of film and television projects. She has written music for films such as Wedding Season, Barefoot Empress, World’s Best, the documentary iFine: Beauty and many more. Her latest film is A Nice Indian Boy, directed by Rohan Sethi.In this edition of Composer Talk Raashi talks about her passion for music and how it was to work on different superhero series with Blake Neely. We also zoom in on her music for the film A Nice Indian Boy, a blend of Western orchestral traditions and added with rich Indian musical elements.Enjoy listening to this new episode of Composer Talk!Photo credit: Betsy Newman

Filmmusicsite.com has had the opportunity to talk to composers Diego and Lionel Baldenweg. he siblings Diego Baldenweg with Nora Baldenweg & Lionel Baldenweg are a Swiss/Australian composer team. The Baldenwegs are a very versatile team and have composed unique scores for a wide range of different film genres. Their contemporary sound often blends theme based orchestral compositions with a palette of unique instruments and electronic sound scapes. In 2019 they were nominated for a Public Choice Award at the WSA for the film Zwingli. In 2024 they were nominated twice for a WSA with the film In the Land of Saints and Sinners. One time for a Public Choice award and one time for the Discovery of the Year Award. They have written music for films and series such as The Life Underground, The Unlisted, Head Full of Honey, Born to Spy, In the Land of Saints and Sinners, Home is the Ocean, Aiming High and many more. One of their latest films is The Safe House, a film which had it’s world premiere at the Berlinale Film Festival.In this new edition of Composer Talk Diego and Lionel Baldenweg talk in-depth about their music for the film The Safe House (La Cache). You’ll get to know from where the idea came to create a jazz score and how it was developed. Check out this really interesting conversation with the Baldenweg brothers.Photo credit: Jeroen Willems

Tom Howe is a UK born composer who is a multi-instrumentalist. He writes large-scale orchestral scores, which he can easily combine with his talents in writing pop and rock music, and electronic sound design. Tom is not only a composer but also a songwriter who co-wrote f.i. the Emmy-nominated Ted Lasso theme, with Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons. Tom Howe has scored over 100 projects for film and television. His projects include Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso and Shrinking, Amazon Prime’s Daisy Jones and the Six, Focus Features’ Polite Society and Book Club: The Next Chapter, and Paramount+ series Knuckles. He worked together with the Aardman animation studio on films such as Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon and Early Man. He has most recently scored the Dreamworks’ animated film Dog Man. In this new edition of Composer Talk composer Tom Howe talks in-depth about his music for the animation film Dog Man. A film which is two weeks in a row number one at the box office. Next to Dog Man Tom also talks about his work for season two of the Apple TV+ serie Shrinking. Enjoy listening to Composer Talk

Hannes De Maeyer is one of Belgium’s most versatile composers, best known for his collaboration with director duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. They worked together on films such as  Patser, Rebel, Black, Gangsta. Hannes also collaborated with director Dries Vos on projects such as the drama Professor T, both the Belgian as the English version. His work ranges from contemporary electronic scores such as Women of the Night and The Racer with pop and hip hop influences, to rich, orchestral and symphonic works such as Torpedo and Immenhof. Hannes wrote the score of the psychological thriller series The Couple Next Door, which just premiered on Starz. Hannes De Maeyer also co-wrote the music for the Channel 4 crime series Patience with composer Ruben De Gheselle. On February 19th the sequel to Gangsta will be released for which Hannes wrote the music. In this new episode of Composer Talk composer Hannes De Maeyer talks about his music for The Couple Next Door. He also talks about working with composer Ruben De Gheselle on the music for Patience. Next to that he tells what to expect from Patsers, the sequel to Gansta (Patser)! You can listen to a short exclusive clip from that score. Enjoy listening to this new Composer Talk!

Atli Örvarsson is an acclaimed Icelandic film and TV composer, conductor, and musician, with a vast body of work spanning film, television and video games. He has collaborated with artists including Hans Zimmer, RZA, Ólafur Arnalds, Khalid, and Talos. Örvarsson’s film credits include the political thriller 'Vantage Point,' Netflix’s ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga,’ ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ and its sequel ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.’His television composing credits including Apple TV’s ‘Defending Jacob’ and long-running procedurals like NBC’s ‘Chicago Fire’, ‘Chicago P.D.’, ‘Chicago Med’, and ‘Chicago Justice’, along with the CBS ‘FBI’, ‘FBI: International’, and ‘FBI: Most Wanted.’ In 2023 he wrote the music for the acclaimed Apple TV+ series Silo. Now airing on Apple TV is the show’s second season for which Atli wrote the music. In this new episode of Composer Talk Atli Örvarsson talks about his music for the Apple TV+ serie Silo, about how it was to build the musical world for Silo. We also talk about his initiative INNI and his collaboration with SinfoniaNord orchestra. Enjoy this new episode of Composer Talk! 

Ruben De Gheselle is an award-winning film and television composer who lives in Belgium. With a background in contemporary classical music, he knows how to create magic with just a few notes. With his intimate and hypnotic scores, he has contributed to several international productions, such as “Clara Sola,” which was selected for Cannes, the DOC NYC-nominated film “A Cops and Robbers Story,” the Golden Horses Awards-nominated “Tiong Bahru Social Club” and the Cannes-series-winning series “Lockdown. His most recent projects include the Belgian-Irish co-production series “Northern Lights,” the documentary “A Cautionary Tale,” or “There Was, There Was Not”. Moreover, Ruben just finished the music for the brand new British crime series 'Patience' (in co-composition with Hannes De Maeyer) for Channel 4 and is currently working on the music for the German series 'Verlangen' (co-composition with Eloi Ragot) and the Irish children's series 'Showkids' by Hugh O’Conor. Recently he wrote the music to Young Hearts, his first ever full feature film directed by Anthony Schatteman. In this new episode of Composer Talk Belgian composer Ruben De Gheselle talks about his score for the film Young Hearts. He wrote a beautiful score for this coming of age story. Next to that Ruben is very busy with other projects like Patience, Showkids and Verlangen. He gives us a preview on what to expect. Check out this first Composer Talk of 2025!

Dave Metzger is a seasoned composer and a true Disney veteran, Dave’s extensive experience as an orchestrator and composer includes projects such as Wish, Frozen (1&2), Moana, Tarzan and Brother Bear. He is also a highly regarded song arranger and orchestrater, having crafted the songs for many films, including the Academy Award winning “Frozen”, “Tarzan”, “Frozen 2”, “Moana”, “Wish”, and “Spirited”. Many of the songs, film soundtracks and Broadway cast albums that Dave has worked on have won Academy, Grammy, and Tony Awards – among them “Let It Go” from “Frozen”, “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”, “You’ll Be In My Heart” from “Tarzan”, the “Tarzan” and “Frozen” soundtracks, and the cast album from “The Lion King”. Dave Metzger was the perfect choice to write the music for Mufasa: The Lion King Composer Talk Dave Metzger talks about his score for Mufasa: The Lion King but we also go back to the beginning when he got the job to work on the Broadway Musical of the Lion King. Dave talks about his music for the Disney Animation Studio film Wish and the many songs he worked upon in the past. Enjoy this Composer Talk!

John Powell is an Oscar nominated composer who writes music for film. He is born in the UK and lives in Los Angeles. He has written music for more than 90 films and worked with directors such as John Woo, Ron Howard, Paul Greengrass, Joe Wright, James Mangold, George Miller, Doug Liman, Dean Deblois and many more. He wrote music for films such as Face Off, the Jason Bourne trilogy, Solo: A Star Wars Story, the 3 How to Train Your Dragon movies, Ferdinand, Mr and Mrs Smith, Still and many more. This year John wrote the score to the animation films Thelma the Unicorn and That Christmas. John also worked on the music for the hit musical Wicked for which the first part has just been released and is already becoming the highest grossing musical in America and the film is loved all around the world. In this new episode of Composer Talk composer John Powell talks in-depth about his music for the hit musical Wicked! We deepdive in his Christmas score for the Netflix film That Christmas and look forward to 2025 for his score to Wicked part 2 and How to Train Your Dragon (live action). Enjoy listening to Composer Talk! Photo credit: Rebecca Morellato

Mark Mancina is a three-time Grammy Award Winning American film composer and Tony Nominated music producer. Mancina has scored over sixty films and television series including Speed, Bad Boys, Twister, Training Day, Con Air, Criminal Minds, Blood+, Shooter, August Rush, Planes, and recently Clint Eastwood drama Juror #2. He has collaborated with Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), composing scores for Moana, Brother Bear, and Tarzan. He also produced the original songs written by Elton John and Tim Rice for the 1994 blockbuster The Lion King. He also produced songs for upcoming prequel Mufasa. One of his latest scores is the music for the film Moana 2, which is currently playing in cinemas everywhere. In this new Composer Talk Mark talks about his work on Moana to and how it was to collaborate with Opetaia Foa’i and Emily Bear. He also gives us an insight on working with Clint Eastwood on Juror #2 and the upcoming songs he worked upon with Lin-Manuel Miranda for Mufasa. Next to that we look back at his work on The Lion King Musical! Enjoy listening to this new Composer Talk Photo credit: Larry Mah

Lorenz is classically trained in composition and he is a multi-award-winning composer,  renowned for his versatility, creating music for film, concert performances, and ballet. After the early success of his score to Tim Fehlbaums Thriller “Hell”, he showed his stylistic range in movies of different genres, among them “A Fortunate Man” by Bille August, “Me and Kaminski” by Wolfgang Becker and the epic family drama “Dying” by Matthias Glasner for which he won his third German Film Prize for Best Music. Recently he worked on the music for the film September 5, a film directed by Tim Fehlbaum. In this new edition of Composer Talk, Lorenz talks about his very interesting score for the thriller September 5 and about the family drama Sterben (Dying). Enjoy listening!