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

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!

Mick Giacchino is a composer for film and television in both live-action and animated mediums. He is the son of Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino. Since his debut with Jim Henson’s “Turkey Hollowin” 2015, Mick has contributed to projects such as Disney’s Zootopia+, Netflix’s animated feature Extinct,”The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell,” and additional music for “The Batman.” In 2021, he released his first instrumental EP, “Perseverance.” His recent work includes the HBO/DC original series “The Penguin,” Disney’s “The Muppets Mayhem” and AMC+’s “That Dirty Black Bag.” Coming up for Mick is the Disney+ Star Wars series Skeleton Crew which will start airing as of December 3rd 2024 on Disney+.

In this episode of Composer Talk Mick Giacchino talks about the popular HBO series The Penguin. We analyse the theme's he wrote of the show. We talk about the fun he had on writing music for The Muppets Mayhem. He also gives us a small insight on what to expect for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, the new Disney+ Star Wars series that will start airing soon.

Enjoy listening to this episode of Composer Talk!

Coming from a musical background (he is Benjamin Britten’s godson), Martin scored his first TV drama, Eureka Street in 2002. He has won 2 BAFTAs, 5 Ivor Novello Awards and received multiple Emmy nominations for writing music to many of the most interesting television series of recent years. These include the BBC’s War and Peace, Hugo Blick’s The Honourable Woman, Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror, Amazon Studios series Solos starring Morgan Freeman and seasons 3 – 6 of the The Crown. In 2023 he wrote the music to Ridley’s Scott’s epic Napoleon. Martin Phipps is nominated this year for the Television Composer of the Year award for his music for season 6 of The Crown. 

In this Composer Talk composer Martin Phipps talks about his work for the television series The Crown. He also talks in-depth about the score he wrote for Napoleon.

Enjoy listening!

Elliot Goldenthal is an American born composer of filmmusic. As a composer Goldenthal has worked with famous directors such as Gus Van Sant, Michael Mann, David Fincher, Julie Taymor and Neil Jordan. He has composed music for films such as Interview with A Vampire, Michael Collins, Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, A Time to Kill, Frida, Sphere, Alien 3, Titus , Final Fantasy, and Public Enemies. Elliot Goldenthal will receive this year at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent a Lifetime Achievement Award.

In this edition of Composer Talk Elliot Goldenthal talks about receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award during the WSA and the recording of his album with the Brussels Philharmonic. We also talk about how it is to work with a director who is also your spouse, Julie Taymor.

Enjoy listening to this new Composer Talk.

Photo credit: Jeroen Willems - Film Fest Ghent

The 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. This year they are 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. 

In this new Composer Talk Diego and Lionel talk about their music for In the Land of Saints and Sinners and 2 new documentaries Home is the Ocean and Aiming High.

Enjoy listening to this Composer Talk

Photo credit: Jeroen Willems - Film Fest Ghent

As protege of Oscar-nominated composer John Powell, Anthony has contributed additional music to many of Hollywood’s major franchises including: How to Train your Dragon, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Jason Bourne and Rio. The BAFTA-nominated composer Anthony Willis became quickly one of the most highly sought after new voices in Hollywood. Anthony composed the score to Oscar-winning writer/director Emerald Fennell’s drama thriller Promising Young Woman. He also worked on the horror hit M3gan. Recently he joined forces again with director Emerald Fennell for the highly acclaimed film Saltburn.

I've had the opportunity to talk to Anthony Willis during the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent. He talked about his great score for Saltburn and some other work. He was nominated for 3 World Soundtrack Awards this year with his music for Saltburn. Public Choice Award, Discovery of the Year Award and Composer of the Year Award.

Photo credit: Jeroen Willems - Film Fest Ghent 2024

This year on October 16th 2024 the 24th World Soundtrack Awards will be held during the 51st edition of the Film Festival in Ghent. The World Soundtrack Awards are Film Fest Ghent prestigious film music prizes honouring excellence in composing for screen. One of the esteemed guests will be French composer Philippe Rombi. American composer Elliot Goldenthal will receive a Life Time Achievement award. Last year Simon Franglen won the Discovery of the Year Award and his music for Avatar: The Way of Water will be performed live! In this composer Talk I am talking to Sophie Joos, she is the music projects coordinator of the Film Festival and Wim De Witte who is the program director.

In this Composer Talk we focus on the upcoming World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent and you will get some background about the WSA. Elliot Goldenthal will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award and a special album has been recorded for that occasion.

Marco Beltrami is a two-time Oscar nominated and Emmy winning composer. He has collaborated with many iconic film directors including Kathryn Bigelow, James Mangold, Robert Rodriguez, Tommy Lee Jones, and John Woo. He established an early reputation as a genre innovator with his non-traditional horror scores for the Scream franchise. Recently he proved again to be a champion in the genre with his scores for the Fear Street trilogy. Marco Beltrami has written music for films such as 3:10 to Yuma, Logan, The Hurt Locker, Ford v. Ferrari, A Quiet Place I and II and many more. Most recently, Beltrami worked again with director John Woo on his action spy-thriller The Killer.  

In this new edition of Composer Talk we talk to composer Marco Beltrami about this latest film The Killer. We talk in-depth about the music but also about the song Introuvable that he co-wrote. Next to the Killer Marco talks about his scores for the Fear Street trilogy.

Enjoy listening!

Rob Simonsen is a composer who lives in the USA. His first break into film composing was the independent feature “Westender” in 2003 which caught the attention of composer Mychael Danna. In 2004, he teamed up with Danna and provided additional music and arrangements on Surf's Up, Fracture, Moneyball, and the Oscar®-winning Life of Pi. Since then, Rob Simonsen has continued relationships with leading directors. He has worked together with directors like Darren Aronofsky (The Whale), Jason Reitman (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer), and Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Nerve). His relationship with director Shawn Levy includes The Way Way Back, Stranger Things Season 4, and The Adam Project starring Ryan Reynolds. His latest film is the smash hit Marvel film Deadpool & Wolverine for which he teams up again with Shawn Levy.

In this new edition of Composer Talk Rob talks about his work on Deadpool and Wolverine. How it was to write a theme for Deadpool and to balance the score with all the songs in the film. He talks about how it was to be at San Diego Comic Con and meet the fans.

Enjoy this Composer Talk!

Nick Chuba is a composer living and working in Los Angeles. After studying at USC’s Thornton School of Music, he began working for Atticus Ross and has collaborated on numerous projects with him since 2014. Most recently, Chuba composed the score for the feature film Thelma, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Festival. Other recent credits include Dr. Death (Peacock) and The Girl from Plainville (Hulu) with Leopold Ross, Appendage (Hulu), and Operation Varsity Blues (Netflix) and Shogun (FX) with Atticus Ross and Leopold Ross. 

In this latest edition of Composer Talk Nick talks about his score for Thelma, which is a mix between mission impossible and an emotional family movie. Next to that we also talked about his collaboration with Atticus Ross and their work for Shogun (FX).

Enjoy listening to this new episode!

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

Andrea Datzman is a composer of filmmusic who lives in California. Over the years, Datzman's work has run the gamut from major features (Zooptopia, Spiderman: Homecoming, Let Me In, Cars 2, Speed Racer) several TV series (Lost, Alcatraz, UnderCovers) as well as video games (Up, Ratatouille). She most recently scored Carl’s Date which premiered in front of Elemental in June of 2023. This short followed her work on Pixar’s animated series from Disney+, Dug Days, which follows the humorous misadventures of Dug, the lovable dog from Up. She also wrote the music for the Paramount Star Trek short, Ask Not. She has just scored her first theatrical release with her score for the Pixar hit film Inside Out 2.

In this episode of Composer Talk Andrea Datzman takes us inside the composing process for her film Inside Out 2. Inside Out is for the moment the biggest film hit of 2024 and has already passed the 860 million mark.

Enjoy listening!

John Debney is an Oscar-nominated and multi-Emmy-winning composer. Debney is an agile jack-of-all-genres, composing for comedies (Bruce Almighty), sci-fi action (Predators), horror (Dream House) and romance (Valentine’s Day) with the same confidence and panache. Debney is also known for his work in such films as Princess Diaries, Elf, Sin City, Liar Liar, Spy Kids, Cutthroat Island, The Emperor’s New Groove, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Hocus Pocus, The Jungle Book, The Greatest Showman and The Passion of the Christ. Debney’s most recent releases include Paramount’s 80 for Brady and Disney’s Hocus Pocus 2. His most recent project, the Kevin Costner directed Horizon: An American Saga, is now playing in theatres everywhere.

In this new episode of Composer Talk composer John Debney talks in-depth about his music for Horizon: An American Saga part 1. We also look back at Hocus Pocus 2 and Elf in Concert. He drops the name of soundtrack of his that will receive an expanded release this summer from La-La Land Records.

Enjoy listening this Composer Talk

Amelia Warner is a British female composer for film. Her debut major scoring project, a British short film ‘Mam’, which won several awards, was the launch of her career as a composer for film. In 2018 she scored the Irish-American film Mary Shelley for director Haifa al-Mansour, for which she wrote an otherworldly music for an orchestra haunted by ethereal female vocals. In 2022 she wrote a contemporary classical score for the period romantic comedy ‘Mr Malcolm’s List’ for which she received a Public Choice Award at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent and a breakthrough Composer of The Year at the International Film Music Critics Association. Coming up for her is the Jerry Bruckheimer produced Disney film ‘Young Woman and the Sea’, starring Daisy Ridley.

In this Composer Talk Amelia Warner talks about working the Disney production Young Woman and the Sea but also about her earlier work like Mary Shelley.

Alex Heffes is a Golden Globe, BAFTA and 3 x Ivor Novello nominated composer who has scored over 70 feature films and TV projects. He has worked with many of cinema’s top filmmakers including Steven Frears, Kevin Macdonald, Catherine Hardwicke, Mira Nair, Michael Keaton & J J Abrams. He has written music for films such as The Last King of Scotland, State of Play, Queen Of Katwe, Escape Plan, Knox Goes Away. Recently he has written the music for series such as The Regime for HBO and Shardlake for Hulu and Disney+.

In this episode of Composer Talk Alex Heffes talks about his music for the HBO series The Regime and the Disney+ show Shardlake. We get an inside view on how Alex has written the music for these 2 great series.

Enjoy this new Composer Talk!

Rachel Portman is a British composer who became the first woman composer to win an Academy Award, which she received for her work on Emma. She is also the first woman composer to win a Primetime Emmy Award, for her work on Bessy. She has written music for films such as Chocolat, Emma, The Cider House Rules, Their Finest, Godmothered and many more.  

Jon Ehrlich is a highly accomplished composer with a prolific list of scoring credits encompassing a broad range of projects. He has nearly a thousand primetime television episodes scored and three Primetime Emmy nominations. He has written music for tv shows such as House, M.D., Roar, The Agency, Goliath, White Collar and many more. 

Recently both composers have been working on Hulu’s Holocaust series We Were The Lucky Ones. We get a front seat look on how the score was composed and more info on the recording process.

Enjoy this Composer Talk!

Gareth Coker is a British composer and producer working out of Los Angeles. He is known for his melodically driven scores, unique soundscapes, and attention to detail and execution. Gareth has won multiple awards like f.i. the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Video Game Score and multiple Game Audio Network Guild awards. He wrote the music to many acclaimed video games such as Ori and the Will of the Wisps and  Ori and the Blind Forest (2020 / 2015) but also the popular ARK franchise. Recently Gareth wrote the score to ARK: THE ANIMATED SERIES for Paramount. The first episodes can be seen on Paramount+. 

In this Composer Talk we get an in-depth view from Gareth on the composing process and how it was to record 7 hours of music at Abbey Road Studios with a big orchestra.

Check out this new Composer Talk!

Chris Benstead is a British composer of filmmusic, he is a versatile multi-instrumentalist and achieved a First-Class honours in music and sound recording from the University of Surrey. He won an Academy and BAFTA Award for his mixing skills on the film Gravity. Recent additions to his impressive portfolio include scoring the action thrillers Jericho Ridge and Rupture directed by Hamza Jamjoom. Chris has worked extensively with director Guy Ritchie and wrote music to his films Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, The Covenant. This year he worked on Guy Ritchies Netflix series The Gentlemen and film The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

In this new Composer Talk Chris talks about his work on Gravity, the songs for the Disney Live action films Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. The main focus is on the Guy Ritchie Netflix series The Gentlemen and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Enjoy this new Composer Talk!

David Fleming is an American Born composer who began his career in New York writing music for commercials and creating ringtones tones. In 2017 David composed the score for the BBC's internationally acclaimed Blue Planet II alongside Hans Zimmer, which marked the start of a collaborative relationship with the Academy Award-winning composer, encompassing music for films such as Dune, Hillbilly Elegy and Top Gun: Maverick. Recently David wrote the music for the HBO series the last of us, together with Gustavo Santaolalla. He also wrote the music to the Amazon series Mr and Mrs Smith. Netflix just released the film Damsel, a film starring Millie Bobby Brown for which David wrote the score.

In this edition of Composer Talk David Fleming talks about a few of his scores such as Hillbilly Elegy, The Last of Us, Mr & Mrs Smith and Damsel. He gives us an insight on his way of writing music.

Photo credit: Amy Peel

Blair Mowat is a composer from Scotland, Edinburgh who writes music for television and film. He studied at Durham university and Bristol University. He is a BAFTA nominated, award-winning composer with over 15-years’ experience,His work includes Class, an acclaimed 8-part Doctor Who spin-off series on BBC One, ITV’s international hit show McDonald & Dodds and SKY’s The Amazing Mr. Blunden. He composed the score to Russell T Davies’s latest drama Nolly, starring Helena Bonham Carter, with the collaboration then leading on to Men Up, a film Russell exec-produced, airing on BBC1 in late 2023. He also worked on the Hammer Studios film Doctor Jekyll starring Eddie Izzard which came out end of 2023.

In this Composer Talk Blair gives us an insight view on how he wrote the scores for Nolly and Doctor Jekyll. He also shares his plans of what soundtrack releases we can expect in the nearby future.

Photo Credit: Lorimer Macandrew

Hildur Guðnadóttir is an Icelandic composer, cello player and singer who writes music for film, television, video games, theatre, dance and art installations. With her music for the film Joker she has won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Bafta Award and the Composer of the Year Award at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent. She has written music for films such as Joker, Women Talking, Tár, the television series Chernobyl and the videogame Battlefield 2042. Recently she worked on the Hercule Poirot story A Haunting in Venice with director Kenneth Branagh.

In this episode of Composer Talk Hildur talks in depth about her music for A Haunting in Venice and how it was to work with director Kenneth Branagh. She gives us an analysis on how she approached this film musically. Next to that she gives a small hint on Joker: Folie à Deux and we go deeper into her work for the movie Tár.

Enjoy listening to this Composer Talk!

Photo credit: Camille Blake

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

Jon Everist is a multi award-winning and ASCAP-nominated composer for games and film. He has written music for franchises such as Overwatch 2, Shadowrun and BattleTech. Recently Jon worked on the video game The Lamplighters League. The score for this game was recorded at the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

In this new episode of Composer Talk composer Jon Everist talks in-depth about his music for the video game The Lamplighters League.

Enjoy listening!

Simon Franglen is an English composer of classical and film music. He is also a record producer and former musician. His credits include four of the list of top grossing films and six of the list of best-selling albums of all time.

Over the last year, Simon was credited as the composer for his first two films Avatar: The Way of Water and Notre-Dame on Fire, though he is in no way a newcomer to the industry or the film music world. In his 30 years in the industry, Simon has worked with iconic composers and musicians including James Horner, Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Howard Shore; has produced, arranged, programmed, and/or contributed music to films including Titanic, Avatar, Se7en, Moulin Rouge, Bodyguard, and The Amazing Spiderman; and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work on Avatar, won a Record of The Year Grammy as a producer on 'My Heart Will Go On,' and won an ASCAP Award for the completion of The Magnificent Seven score after James Horner's tragic passing.

His Avatar: The Way of Water score is over three hours long, was recorded with over 100 musicians, and has over 500-million streams for both OST and expanded score album together, not including the streams for the original song he co-wrote with The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia, 'Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength).' He won this weekend the Discovery of the Year Award at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent with his score to Avatar: The Way of Water.

In this new episode of Composer Talk the composer talks about how he started out as a composer for filmmusic. He also talks in depth about his music for Avatar: The Way of Water.

Enjoy this new episode of Composer Talk

Pinar Toprak is a Turkish-American Emmy-nominated composer, conductor and performer. At the age of 5 she enrolled in the local music conservatory in Istanbul learning to play the violin and the guitar. At the age of 17 she moved to Chicago in the United States. She started at the Berklee College of Music in Boston to study jazz. Pinar Toprak has written music for video games, television series and films. She has written music for video games such as Ninety-Nine Nights and Fortnite. She wrote the score to the Marvel Studio blockbuster Captain Marvel, the Sandra Bullock movie The Lost City, the Netflix film Slumberland and recently PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. Pinar Toprak is the first female composer to score both a film and video game with gross revenues of over $1 billion (Captain Marvel) and $5 billion (Fortnite) respectively. 

In this new episode of Composer Talk Pinar talks about her passion for filmmusic, how she came to be the composer for the Marvel film Captain Marvel and her latest film PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie.

Dascha Dauenhauer is a composer who is born in Russia. She began composing and playing the piano at the age of five and studied composition at the Moscow Music Conservatory as a child. Her family moved to Berlin and continued her studies there. In 2006, she began her diploma studies in music theory at the UDK Berlin and subsequently completed her master’s program in film music at the Film University in Babelsberg. She has written music for Berlin Alexanderplatz, Evolution, Blood Red Sky, the series The Swarm and Souls. Recently she wrote the music to the film Golda which recently opened in cinema’s.

In this new episode of Composer Talk Dascha talks about her latest films Golda and Tatami. She gives us a better view on the way she works and her passion for combining orchestral music with electronic and acoustic sounds.

Check out this new episode of Composer Talk

In this episode of Composer Talk you can listen to an interview with Brazilian composer Marcelo Zarvos. He has written music for over more than 60 films. We talk about his score to The Equalizer 3, the latest action hit starring Denzel Washington and directed by Antoine Fuqua. Marcelo is having a busy second half of 2023 because he has also worked on the films such as Flamin' hot, directed by Eva Longoria, the film Cassandro and the latest Todd Haynes movie May December which has had it's premiere during the film festival in Cannes.

Check out this new Composer Talk!

In this new episode of Composer Talk I talk to composer Michael Abels. Michael Abels is an Emmy- and Grammy-nominated composer. He is best known for 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, multiple critics awards, and was named “Score of the Decade” by The Wrap. Both US and NOPE were shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Original Score. Other recent media projects include the films BAD EDUCATION, NIGHTBOOKS, and the docu-series ALLEN v. FARROW. Currently he worked on the score to Chevalier. Michael composed, arranged, and/or produced all of the music that was performed on-screen. Kris Bowers composed the underscore. 

In this new Composer Talk we talk about how it was to work on the film Chevalier and also about the importance of this story in history. Michael talks about his working relationship with director Jordan Peele. We zoom in on some of the most exiting tracks from Us and Nope and there are some sound clips for you to enjoy.

Check out this new episode of Composer Talk.

American-born composer Susan DiBona and her Italian composing partner Salvatore Sangiovanni have worked on nearly 50 original film and television scores as well as music for commercials, opera, games, top 40 pop music, musical theater, and ballet since creating The Villa Studios Praia a Mare in southern Italy. Susan DiBona is a seasoned film composer and multi-instrumentalist who began studying piano and writing music at the age of seven. Salvatore Sangiovanni, born in Italy, is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso concert and jazz pianist whose composing skills range from classic Italian opera to American big band and beyond. Both composers wrote the music for films such as Une Seule Danse, Bad Habits Die Hard, 4Halloween, Ismene,… Recently they wrote the music for the western Bloody Fury which premiered on May 4th 2023.

Mychael Danna is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning film composer who has composed over 80 film scores and is recognized for his blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. He composed the transculturally inspired, 2013 Oscar and Golden Globe winning film score for Ang Lee's Life of Pi. Danna also composed the scores for Ang Lee's The Ice Storm and Ride With the Devil. Other well-known films Danna has composed music for include the Pixar films The Good Dragon and Onwards. Recently Mychael Danna has written music for Return to Space, Where the Crawdads Sing and My Father’s Dragon.

In this episode of Composer Talk Mychael talks about how he began his career with Tim Clément in writing music for nature. We talk about Where the Crawdads Sing and My Father’s Dragon. He talks in length about working together with his brother Jeff. This June he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at Soundtrack 20 in Cologne, Germany. Mychael reflects on this honor.

Enjoy this new informative episode!

In this new episode of Composer Talk we talk to English composer Laura Rossi. She is a composer for film, TV and concert music. Her music has been described as ‘hauntingly atmospheric with emotional depth and beauty’ Her credits include Battle of the Somme, London to Brighton, Song for Marion, BFI Silent Shakespeare, The Cottage, Hurricane and ITV 6-part drama Redemption. In 2016-17 one hundred orchestras worldwide performed her score, to the UNESCO listed Battle of the Somme film. Watched live by over 37,000, performed by 4,200 musicians, and televised live on BBC1 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Laura is also lecturer for film music at the London Film Academy and Guildhall School of Music and regularly gives masterclasses about film composition. 

Enjoy listening.

In this new episode of Composer Talk you can listen to an interview with the talented Rachel Portman. She has written music for more than 100 films, television shows and theatre productions. In 1997 she was the first female composer to win an Oscar for Best Original Score for the film Emma. She has written music for films such as Emma, The Cider House Rules, The Duchess, The Legend of Bagger Vance, A Dog's Purpose, Chocolat, Never Let Me Go and many many more. Recently Sony Classical has released an album with 20 tracks containing piano suites of her best film work. It's called Beyond the Screen – Film Works on Piano.

In this Composer Talk she talks about that new album but also about Julia, a documentary about tv chef and author Julia Child. We also talk about the importance female composers can play in the filmmusic industry.

Check out this new episode and enjoy listening!

Photo credit: Giles Keyte

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!

Filmmusicsite.com had the opportunity to talk to composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Gustavo Santaolalla is a talented musician, composer and producer who is born in Argentina. He started to play the guitar at the age of five. He performed music and worked with a lot of artists such as Malta Vecindad, Julieta Venegas, Los Prisioneros and many more. By the year of 2000 he started his career as a composer for film. He forges a lasting friendship with director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu for whom he composes the original score for his films “Amores Perros”, ”21 Grams”, “Babel” and “Biutiful”. He is also the third composer in history to win two Oscar awards consecutively, for the Ang Lee film “Brokeback Mountain' in 2006, and Iñarritu for 'Babel' in 2007. In 2013 he writes the music to the videogame The Last of Us. It’s the first videogame he worked on and I became a massive success. In 2020 he worked on the follow up The Last of Us II. Now HBO created a television series of The Last of Us. Gustavo Santaolalla wrote the music together with David Fleming.

In this new episode of Composer Talk Gustavo talks about winning twice an Oscar. We go in-depth about his music for The Last of Us and he talks about his goals for the future.

So check out this new interesting Composer Talk!

Photo credit: Piper Ferguson

Filmmusicsite.com talked to composer Paul Leonard-Morgan. He is a composer who writes music for film, television and video games. His unique cinematic style of fusing orchestra with electronica has put him in high demand as a score composer & band producer, as well as a performer and artist in his own right. His film scores include DREDD, LIMITLESS, LAST BREATH, GIGI & NATE and the upcoming BOSTON STRANGLER, starring Keira Knightley, directed by Matt Ruskin. He has won a BAFTA award and was nominated for an Emmy and Ivor Novello.

In this new episode  of Composer Talk Paul talks passionate about his music for the film Boston Strangler. He goes into detail on how he created the score and what for him the essence of this film is. He also talks about the 10 year anniversary of his score to DREDD. 

So check out this really great interview with the talented Paul Leonard-Morgan!

Photo credit: Diana Feil 

In this new episode of Composer Talk we talk to composer Mark Tewarson. He is a composer living in L.A. who has written the music for the film Assassin. The film is directed by Jesse Atlas starring Bruce Willis and Andy Allo. In this interview Mark talks in-depth about his music for this film. We go into his composing process and how he created the theme's. He's a talented composer who started from a very young age playing the piano and viola. If you want to know more check out this interesting conversation with Mark Tewarson. 

In this new Composer Talk Swedish Composers Jon Ekstrand and Carl-Johan Sevedag talk about their latest film Opponent. This film had just its world premiere during the Berlinale film festival in Berlin, Germany. They talk about how they worked together on writing the music for this film. They give us an in-depth look in there working process.

About:

Jon Ekstrand and Carl-Johan Sevedag are filmmusic composers both born in Sweden. Jon Ekstrand began his career under the mentorship of acclaimed sound designer Owe Svensson. In 1998 he attended the Stockholm Film School where he met director Daniel Espinosa. The two formed a creative relationship which continues to this day. Jon has written music for films such as Easy Money trilogy, Child 44, Life, Hilma and the Marvel film Morbius.

Carl-Johan Sevedag is a composer/multi-instrumentalist who started his career as a producer and songwriter. His sound was often playful and melodic. At the age of 23 he composed the music for the Emmy-winning documentary “Clouds over Cuba”. He recently wrote the music for the Netflix original Red Dot and Bartosz M. Kowalski’s latest horror film Hellhole.

Both composer have worked together on films such as Borg vs. McEnroe, Horizon line and ALEX. Recently they wrote the music for the film Opponent which premiered at the 2023 Berlinale film festival.

Jason Graves is a composer who has written music for Video Games, Film and television. He is a two-time British Academy Award-winning composer. He has written music for video games such as Dead Space 1 + 2, Tomb Raider, Moss and Moss: Book II. Recently he has worked on The Dark Pictures Anthology which includes titles such as Man of Medan, Little Hope, House of Ashes and the most recent one The Devil in Me. 

Joris Hermy is een componist die muziek schrijft voor tv, theater, radio en film. Hij woont in het West-Vlaamse Izegem. Hij schreef muziek voor o.a. de Studio 100 reeks Kosmoo en de VTM series Gina & Chantal. Werkte aan succesvolle kortfilms zoals Boxcar, Oxygene en The Chromakey Man. Deze maand kan je in de Belgische bioscoop tevens ook luisteren naar zijn muziek voor zijn allereerste langspeel film namelijk De Zonen van Van As - De Cross.

Composer Alastair McNamara writes music for TV, video games and documentaries. He’s studied composition for Film & TV at the National Film and Television School. He has an eclectic musical background as a composer. He can easily weave electronic, vocal and orchestral styles. He has written music for the short award winning documentary Tease. He has worked on the music for TV shows such as season 2 of The Capture for BBC One and season 3 of War of the Worlds. Recently he has written music for the feature documentary The Other Fellow.

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

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!

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!