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.