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Laurence Rosenthal to receive lifetime award

Laurence Rosenthal is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 23rd edition of the World Soundtrack Awards, which takes place as the concluding event of Film Fest Gent on Saturday 21 October.

Rosenthal is a seasoned writer who has written music for over a hundred films and television shows. These include George Lucas’ “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” (1992) and its subsequent TV movies.

Photo credit: Matthew Joseph Peak

Nadia Boulanger and Salzburg

Born in Detroit in 1926, Rosenthal began his music studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Upon graduation, he moved to Paris to study composition with Nadia Boulanger and to Salzburg to learn conducting at the Mozarteum. After his military service, he went back to New York and began composing for Broadway theatre and motion pictures.

Rosenthal’s early work for feature films includes the scores for Daniel Petrie’s “A Raisin in the Sun” (1961) and Arthur Penn’s Oscar-winning film “The Miracle Worker” (1962). In the 60s, he enjoyed a strong creative partnership with actor-director Peter Glenville, for whom he wrote three original film scores. His first was an exotic score for a Broadway theatrical version of the classic Japanese film of Kurosawa, “Rashomon”.

Sherry! album sleeve
The musical Sherry! on Amazon

Awards for TV

Over the years, Rosenthal has also composed extensively for television, winning seven Emmy Awards and two Academy award nominations . His best-known work for television is the triple Emmy-winning music for “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” and its complementary TV films, along with the iconic “Fantasy Island” (1977).

The World Soundtrack Awards

The World Soundtrack Awards were launched in 2001 by the Film Fest Gent (Belgium). The goal was to promote the understanding of film music and celebrate its auteurs. The event takes place yearly in Ghent, with a ceremony that is accompanied by the Brussels Philharmonic under the baton of Dirk Brossé.

Apart from the three main categories, the World Soundtrack Awards recognize other accomplishments in film music, such as:

  • the Discovery of the Year
  • Public Choice Award
  • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Sabam Award for the Most Original Composition by a Young International Composer
  • Major Contribution to the Art of Film Music and Sound
  • Most Creative Use of Existing Material on a Soundtrack
  • Best Original Score of the Year Not Released on an Album
  • Best Original Film Score of the Year,
  • and Best Original Score for a Belgian Production.

The list of 2022 winners included Jonny Greenwood, Nicholas Britell, Eiko Ishibashi and Bruno Coulais.

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nicholas brittel among winners at World Soundtrack Awards

For the 19th year in a row, the World Soundtrack Awards were announced during Film Fest Gent on October 18, 2019. The World Soundtrack Awards are one of the most important film music awards. They focus on special contributors to the world of film music. This year’s winners are Nicholas Britell, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Lady Gaga, Frédéric Vercheval, Michael Abels, John Powell. Frédéric Devreese and Krzysztof Penderecki were both honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The American jazz pianist and composer Pierre Charles was awarded the Sabam Award for the Most Original Composition by a Young International Composer. Charles was received the award from Sabam CEO Carine Libert for the music he wrote for Nicolas Roeg’s dark thriller ‘Don’t Look Now’.

Other winners include “Shallow” from A Star is Born, written by songwriters Lady Gaga, Andrew Wyatt and Mark Ronson, along with Anthony Rossomando. Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir took home the trophy for Best Television Composer of the Year highlighting her outstanding work on Chernobyl

Charles had already made a name for himself playing with jazz greats such as Rodney Whitaker, Michael Dease, Sean Dobbins, Diego Rivera, Randy Napoleon as Brian Lynch, Louis Hayes. In 2016, Charles discovered a new vocation as a composer of film mus. In the space of two years he wrote the music for four short films. At the same time, he took the time to release the experimental music album ‘Better’. A record that immediately found its way into the top 50 iTunes Jazz Charts.

For more about this year’s World Soundtrack Awards.

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Last minute: video game workshop in Brussels

Games industry body to talk creativity and employment

On November 12 a workshop about the European video game industry will take place at an unusual location: the European Parliament in Brussels. This workshop, organised by Creativity Works,  is a chance to get a glimpse at how Europe’s football and video game industries work and what they need to keep creating jobs throughout Europe and remain engines of innovation.

The meeting will bring together:

Stefan Brost, Head of EU Office, Bundesliga (Germany)
Mathieu Moreuil, Head of European Public Policy, Premier League
Richard Glynn, CEO of Studio Powwow
David Sweeney, Senior Counsel, ISFE
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Industry news

RIP: James Horner

Titanic composer dies in plane crash


Sad news from Southern California: the Oscar-winning composer James Horner died in a plane crash on June 22, 2015.  Horner was the composer of several major movies, notably “A Beautiful Mind”, “Troy”, “Avatar” and “Apollo 13”.  Horner’s soundtrack to the James Cameron movie “Titanic” earned him two Oscars, for the soundtrack and for best song. It also earned him two Grammys and two Golden Globes.

The 61 year-old was flying one of his light planes when it crashed in the early morning. There were no other casualties.  His assistant Sylvia Patrycja commented: “We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart, and unbelievable talent.”

Horner was working on the score to the two sequels that have been planned to Avatar. His next film to be released will be “Southpaw”, a boxing drama starring Jake Gyllenhall and Rachel McAdams. Other projects include “The 33”, a film based on the 2010 Chilean mining disaster, that will be in released in November.