Monday, July 29, 2013

BEAR McCREARY: Nominated for 2nd Emmy: DA VINCI’S DEMONS Main Title Theme.

Via cinemedia, official pr:



Nominated for Second Emmy for DA VINCI’S DEMONS Main Title Theme

Named Composer of MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.

Comic Con Appearances Including Performance of BLACK SAILS and Appearances on Three Panels

 (July 29, 2013 – Culver City, CA) The week of July 15th may be Bear McCreary’s best week ever as a composer.  The week began with the announcement that he would be performing at Comic Con as part of the sneak preview screening of BLACK SAILS, his second television series with STARZ, set to launch January 2014.  Later that day Entertainment Weekly revealed that McCreary is the composer on the highly anticipated ABC TV series MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. And on that Thursday it was announced that McCreary earned his second Emmy nomination for the DA VINCI’S DEMONS Main Title.

"Collaborating with David S. Goyer and composing music for DA VINCI’S DEMONS was a richly rewarding experience that forced me to rethink my creative process on a fundamental level,” said McCreary  “I am very proud of the work we created, and honored to be recognized in the main title category, alongside some of the best composers writing today."

McCreary’s sweeping orchestral score for DA VINCI’S DEMONS was meticulously researched to accurately represent the time period, without being bound to it.  His score combines full orchestra, Renaissance instrumentation, choir and ethnic soloists with the renowned Calder Quartet and surging contemporary synthesis.

“For DA VINCI’S DEMONS, I looked to the real-life Leonardo for inspiration.  He famously wrote backwards and forwards, so I decided to do (try) the same thing with his theme!” said McCreary.  “It was a nice idea at the time, but proved rather difficult to produce anything with emotional meaning. It took a while, but ultimately, I think the end result works beautifully.  It's emotional, and fits Leonardo's character beautifully.  Yet, at the same time, it feels like a palindrome.”

It’s this sort of out-of-the-box thinking that led WIRED Magazine to call McCreary a “Secret Weapon” in a recent issue.  His unique combination of atypical instrumental background (he is a professional accordionist) with rigorous classical training prepared him to compose for disparate genres.  By the age of 24, McCreary was launched into pop culture history with his groundbreaking score to Syfy’s hit series Battlestar Galactica, for which he composed “the most innovative music on TV today” (Variety). It “fits the action so perfectly, it’s almost devastating: a sci-fi score like no other” (NPR).  Io9.com declared Bear McCreary one of the Ten Best Science Fiction Composers of all time, listing him alongside legends John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann.

McCreary continues to write for the television show The Walking Dead.  Recently he lent his talents to Syfy and Trion World’s groundbreaking entertainment experience, Defiance, a combined launch of a MMO videogame. His film projects include Europa Report (currently available On Demand and in theaters on August 2nd) and Knights of Badassdom.  His other credits include critically acclaimed scores for series such as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Eureka and The Cape. His swashbuckling score for Human Target featured the largest orchestra ever assembled in the history of series television and earned him his first Emmy nomination.  His videogame credits include SOCOM 4 and Dark Void.

What will this week hold for McCreary?  It’s off to a great start – with the release of the soundtrack for his music to CAPRICA on Tuesday and the release of the soundtrack for EUROPA REPORT on Friday, coinciding with the film hitting theaters.

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www.bearmccreary.com

Friday, July 26, 2013

Playfest (Video Game and Animation Music Festival) announces line-up

Press release via CineMedia Promotions:



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PLAYFEST MOVES TO MÁLAGA, SPAIN

Unique Video Game and Animation Music Festival Announces Line-up 

Featuring Music From Star Trek Video Games, and Composers Kevin Kiner, Jason Graves, Oscar Araujo, Cris Velasco, and Lorne Balfe

(July 25, 2013—Úbeda, Spain) –  The second annual PlayFest -- Music, Animation and Videogames Festival, moves to Fuengirola in Málaga, Spain from September 5-8, 2013.  Playfest is a unique event dedicated to one of the fastest growing industries today that will bring together leading artists, composers and companies to participate in master classes, conferences, screenings and concerts.

This year’s concert will spotlight music from Star Trek Video Games (presented by BuySoundtrax Records) and conducted by Kevin Kiner (Star Trek: Borg), the works of composers Jason Graves (Dead Space, Tomb Raider) Oscar Araujo (Castlevania), and Cris Velasco (God of War, Mass Effect 3).  The headliner of the concert will be a special presentation of the music Lorne Balfe (Assassin’s Creed 3, Beyond: Two Souls), which he will conduct -- portions of which will be selected by you – the fans!  The concert will be presented at the Fuengirola castle – a magical place for art and music to merge. 

Scottish composer Lorne Balfe invites fans to help shape his program.  Lorne Balfe is a Grammy award winning and BAFTA nominated film composer from Inverness, Scotland.  His video game credits include titles in the Assassin’s Creed franchise (Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Assassin’s Creed 3, and Assassin’s Creed: The Tyranny of King Washington), the Skylanders franchise (Skylanders: Giants, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure), Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2, Crysis 2 and the upcoming Beyond: Two Souls.

Balfe invites fans to offer suggestions on what themes to include in his performance by tweeting their suggestions to @LorneBalfe with the #PlayfestLB.

PlayFest is organized by Leitmotiv Music, with the cooperation of the City of Fuengirola and the Málaga Provincial Council, BuySoundtrax Records and BSOSpirit. Playfest will take place in Málaga, Spain from September 5-8, 2013.

Leitmotiv wishes to acknowledge the support of the Mayor of Fuengirola and the City Councilor of Culture, Esperanza Oña and Rodrigo Romero, respectively, as well as the vice president of the Provincial Council of Málaga, Ana Mata, BuySoundtrax Records, and all the public and private organizations that support PlayFest.

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Young composers rescore Scorsese's short film 'The Big Shave' ('68) - LAST CALL FOR REGISTRATIONS


Young composers rescore
Scorsese's short film 'The Big Shave' ('68)

Young European film music talent will have another chance to win the highly sought after SABAM Award For Best Young European Composer.

This award was created by the World Soundtrack Academy and is worth € 2 500 and the live performance of the three finalists’ compositions by the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé during the presentation of the World Soundtrack Awards on 19 October at the venue ‘t Kuipke in Ghent. This is the official closing ceremony of the 40th Ghent Film Festival (8 - 19 October 2013).

Candidates must be younger than 36 years old and must be European or have been born in Europe. 


Every year, the Ghent Film Festival offers young talent the chance to win renown as a film music composer. This year is the eleventh award ceremony and the fourth time the event includes the whole of Europe. Candidates can follow in the footsteps of last year’s winner, Valentin Hadjadj and countless other important composers who attended previous editions of the festival, such as Angelo Badalamenti, Dario Marianelli, Gustavo Santaolalla, Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Alberto Iglesias, Elliot Goldenthal and many others.

The winning entry of last year, by Valentin Hadjadj:


The three finalists will be invited at a fantastic three-day visit in Ghent where they will have the opportunity to meet important people of the film music industry.

Candidates must be under 36 and will be asked to compose music for ‘The Big Shave’, a short film directed by Martin Scorsese in 1968. The Italian-American director has a very special connection with Belgium: he received his very first honour at the festival of experimental film in Knokke organised by the Royal Belgian Film Archive, where this shocking short film was a prize-winner. Scorsese gave the festival organisation permission to have a fragment of this legendary short film rescored for this composition contest.


The composition must be submitted by 12 August. A professional jury made up of people from the film and music worlds that also have international experience will judge the compositions. The Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by maestro Dirk Brossé, will perform the compositions of the three finalists at the 13th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards ceremony on October 19th at ‘t Kuipke in Ghent. Afterwards, the winner of the contest will be announced.



Registration information: Valerie Dobbelaere (tel. +32 9 242 80 74 - valerie@filmfestival.be)

13th World Soundtrack Awards & Concert Alexandre Desplat

The Ghent Film Festival is delighted to welcome the French composer Alexandre Desplat to the traditional film music concert during the second part of the World Soundtrack Academy award ceremony which will bring the 40th film festival to a festive end.

We have had the pleasure of his company at several previous WSA concerts but this will be the first time that Desplat, the most celebrated composer of his generation, will perform a selection of his incredibly rich and varied film compositions at ‘t Kuipke Ghent in front of an audience of 3,000 people and film music fans. Alexandre Desplat continues to amaze with the sheer volume of compositions he produces, yet without compromising quality and imagination in the slightest. Last year, he wrote remarkable music for no fewer than eight (!) feature films: the Oscar winning Argo by Ben Affleck, Zero Dark Thirty by Kathryn Bigelow, Rise of the Guardians by Peter Ramsey, Renoir by Gilles Bourdos, Reality by Matteo Garrone, De Rouille et d’Os by Jacques Audiard, Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson and Cloclo by Florent-Emilio Siri. This year’s Cannes Film Festival programme features two more films for which Desplat has written scores: Venus in Fur by Roman Polanski and Zulu by Jérôme Salle.

Since his debut in the late eighties, Desplat already has 143 scores to his name and his international career includes collaborations with such leading directors as Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Roman Polanski (The Ghost Writer, Carnage), George Clooney (The Ides of March), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Jonathan Glazer (Birth).

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented during the award ceremony of the WSA concert goes to the Italian composer Riz Ortolani, born in 1931 in Pesaro, Italy. Together with Ennio Morricone and the late Carlo Rustichelli and Nino Rota, Ortolani is one of the greats of Italian film music from the golden era of Italian cinema.

13th WSA & concert
Saturday 19 October at 8 p.m. at ’t Kuipke in Ghent
Performance by the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé
accompanied by film scenes projected onto a big screen