At the 25th World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert, the centrepiece of Film Fest Gent in Belgium, leading and emerging voices in screen composition were honoured. German composer Volker Bertelmann, also known as Hauschka, was named Film Composer of the Year for his scores to Conclave and The Amateur, reaffirming the inventive sensibility that earned him an Academy and BAFTA for All Quiet on the Western Front.
British talent Daniel Blumberg received the Discovery of the Year Award for his haunting score to Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, further consolidating his reputation as a bold new presence in international film music.
Theodore Shapiro claimed Television Composer of the Year for his unnerving score to Severance (Apple TV+), while Emilia Pérez’s fiercest anthem, “El Mal”, written by Clément Ducol, -Camille– and Jacques Audiard, took Best Original Song.
Audience acclaim went to Laetitia Pansanel‑Garric, whose Hola Frida intertwined Mexican influences with orchestral lyricism. Lorien Testard earned the Game Music Award for the painterly sound world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Ruben De Gheselle was named Belgian Film Composer of the Year for Young Hearts and There Was, There Was Not.
South Korean composer Bongseop Kim won the Young Composer Prize for his score to a scene from The Elephant Man. Lifetime Achievement honours went jointly to Philip Glass and Michael Nyman, saluted for five decades of transformative, minimalist sound.
Full details on worldsoundtrackawards.com
(Michael Leahy. Photo: (c)Jeroen Willems / World Soundtrack Awards)
