To call ‘Downton Abbey Live’ a ‘concert’ would be a serious understatement. Enthusiastic fans from the four corners of the world travelled to Highclere Castle on Saturday, 22 June, to enjoy what can only be described as an immersive Downton Abbey experience.

Set in the shadow of the imposing Highclere Castle, the event had all the ingredients of a fine period drama reenactment: the splendid original music composed by John Lunn and performed by The Chamber Orchestra of London with John himself playing the piano, iconic scenes from the series projected upon the big screen behind the orchestra and of course, everyone’s favourite butler, Mr Carson (Jim Carter), who was our host for the evening.

(And, our minions tell us that the Earl of Grantham himself (Hugh Bonneville) was hiding in the audience as well!)

As the guests made their way onto the castle’s grounds, they were greeted by Manu Brazo’s smooth saxophone pieces piercing the warm air of the gorgeous summer evening.

‘Everybody Sing’ Choir followed shortly with a 35-minute set where they performed their own music. The choir was also chosen to perform the Downton Abbey opening theme together with The Chamber Orchestra of London.

To further set the tone for this thematic event, ‘20s music was played during intervals, foreshadowing the release of the much-anticipated Downton Abbey movie set to release this September.

To the audience’s sheer delight, the ‘Downton Abbey Live’ program commenced energetically with the beloved ‘Downton Abbey Suite’.

Mr Carson then made his way onto the stage and addressed the guests in his signature style, abound with humor and laced with sarcasm and razor-sharp wit.

He introduced the brilliant Chamber Orchestra of London, the masterful conductor, Alastair King, who orchestrated and conducted the entire Downton Abbey series, as well as the upcoming Downton Abbey movie, and of course, the man himself, multi award-winning television and film composer John Lunn.

Throughout the evening, Mr Carson reminisced about some of the most extraordinary events that have taken place over the years at Downton Abbey, taking a most nostalgic audience down memory lane.

With a well-structured program, the night took the audience on an emotional rollercoaster, touching on themes of heartbreak, friendship, family bonds, and love.

The ‘Us And Them’ piece was accompanied by scenes from the life of the staff members living ‘below stairs’.

We were then taken through the trials and tribulations of Mr. Bates and Anna, which were shortly followed by a glimpse into life ‘above stairs’ and the Dowager Countess of Grantham’s tumultuous relationship with Isobel Crawley and Martha Levinson. Needless to say, her tongue-in-cheek remarks had the audience in stitches, as always.

Eurielle then performed an emotional ‘Nothing Will Be Easy’ to mark Lady Mary’s recuperation after the loss of her beloved husband Matthew.

After a brief reminder of the tragedies and trials brought about by the Great War, the tone of the concert shifted towards the fun times that the Crawley family enjoyed on occasion, with baritone Sam Young performing ‘Roses of Picardy’.

As the end of the first half of the concert approached, John Lunn addressed the audience and mentioned that he had wanted to do one scene exactly the way it was done in the TV series, with the exact music that was synced to that particular cue. Even though choosing one hadn’t been an easy task, the composer decided to use the train station scene from episode 1, season 2, when Matthew is walking to the train station to take the train back to the front line of WWI and Lady Mary is waiting for him at the station. The composer revealed that his intention with that piece of music (‘Such Good Luck’) was to have the audience believe without a doubt that Matthew would not be coming home from the war and that this was them saying their final goodbyes. Luckily for the couple, Matthew does come back home from the war, albeit seriously injured.

After the interval, there was a short presentation celebrating John Lunn’s professional achievements, during which the composer was awarded the Trinity Laban Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his contribution to music. The Honorary Fellowship is the conservatoire’s highest honor and was presented to the composer by Trinity Laban Principal Anthony Bowne.

The Honorary Fellowship presentation was introduced by British Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning television producer and executive Gareth Neame OBE, who is also CEO of Carnival Films and Executive Producer of Downton Abbey and a patron of Trinity Laban. He was joined on stage by Trinity Laban’s Director of Music Havilland Willshire.

Following an uplifting ‘A Grand Adventure’, and an emotional performance of ‘Did I Make The Most Of Loving You’ by Eurielle, Mr Carson continued relating anecdotes from the Grantham household, including Rose’s romance with a jazz musician. ‘Modern Love’ was the musical piece that accompanied this story.

‘Love and the Hunter’ was paired with hunting scenes, which were then succeeded by clips showing Lady Mary’s romances throughout the years. They were matched with Sam Young’s performance of a waltz arrangement of ‘If You Were the Only Girl in the World’.

The tale of the three sisters was shortly followed by clips of the Crawleys visiting the MacClare family in the beautiful Scottish countryside. The scenes were accompanied by my absolute favorite composition from the series soundtrack, the piece titled ‘Duneagle’, which was born right out of the composer’s Scottish roots.

As Mr Carson was saying his farewell, Julian Fellowes, the Downton Abbey writer and executive producer took to the stage to interrupt him and to assure the audience that come Autumn, Charlie Carson will have at least one more chance to show how crucial he is to life at Downton. Referring to the Downton Abbey movie which will be released in a few months’ time, he stressed, to our excitement, that although it has been an incredible journey, it isn’t quite over yet.

The concert ended with an abridged version of ‘Did I Make The Most Of Loving You’, performed by Eurielle.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Tommy Pearson, the writer and producer of this event and his collaborators, ‘Downton Abbey’, the most successful British drama ever created got its rightfully iconic concert experience. The stunning event was nothing short of a flawless adventure, to be remembered and kept in our hearts for a long time.

(This article was originally published on SoundTrackFest.com, on 27 June, 2019)

June 12 brought with it a special evening. A special and important evening. An evening celebrating the work of some of the most brilliant contemporary female composers for film, TV, and video games.

Organized by Manners McDade, ComposHER showcased work from composers Carly Paradis, Jessica Jones, Anne Nikitin, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Kate Simko, Jessica Curry, Jocelyn Pook, Nainita Desai, Imogen Heap, Alev Lenz, Claire M Singer, and Amelia Warner, most of the performances being either introduced or accompanied by the composers themselves. Their music was masterfully performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Hugh Brunt and included performances by SHE Choir and EERA.

The event sought not only to showcase the work of these 12 incredible composers but also to inspire the next generation of female composers and ultimately make this area of the industry as inclusive as possible for future generations.

With staggering stats revealing that only 1% of the composers hired to work on the top 100 fiction films at the US box office between 2007 and 2017 were female, it is crucial now more than ever to break the glass ceiling in the industry once and for all.

The lovely EartH Theatre in London proved to be a most fitting venue for this occasion and boasted a full house of visual media music enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, Jessica Curry and Imogen Heap were not able to make it, although both of them sent short messages for the audience.

After a short introduction by Hugh Brunt (London Contemporary Orchestra) and Harriet Moss (Manners McDade), the concert commenced with a few pieces by Claire M Singer (Music from ‘Tell It To The Bees’, directed by Annabel Jankel and awarded BCN Festival Castell de Peralada Award For Best Music), Alev Lenz (‘Fall Into Me’ from the ‘Black Mirror’ episode ‘Hated In The Nation’) and Nainita Desai (Music from ‘Untamed Romania’, nominated for Best Film Score at the GOPO Romania Film Awards and music from the upcoming video game ‘Telling Lies’).

Having been a composer for over two decades, Nainita was excited to hear her music played live for the very first time. We hope that this is only the beginning and that we shall get to hear her exquisite and emotional music live more often.

Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch and Anne Nikitin were then introduced by Edith Bowman. Edith is the host of Soundtracking, a weekly podcast where she chats with directors, actors, writers, producers and composers. This week’s episode features Carly Paradis, Amelia Warner, and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, where you can find out more about the composers’ work.

Emilie and Anne both performed at the piano and the audience had a chance to listen to some of the music Emilie wrote for ‘Only You’ (Harry Wootliff’s debut feature, nominated for a Sutherland Award for First Feature Competition at the London Film Festival, 2018) and ‘Found God’, which Anne wrote for the BBC series ‘Mrs Wilson’ (starring and Executive Produced by Ruth Wilson).

Jessica Curry’s ‘I Have Begun My Ascent’ from the video game ‘Dear Esther’ was a hauntingly beautiful successor to Emilie’s soft piano pieces.

After the interval, the audience was greeted by SHE Choir (a collaborative women’s pop choir based in London), which performed Imogen Heap’s ethereal ‘Hide & Seek’.

Jenna Fentimen (Women Composers Forum) and Thomas Mikusz (Alliance for Women Film Composers) addressed their mission to increase inclusion and visibility of women composers in film music, TV, and video games, stressing that the organizations they represent are not strictly for women composers, but that men can get involved as well.

They then introduced the following three composers and their beautiful music: Jocelyn Pook (music from ‘The Wife’), Jessica Jones (playing music from an upcoming BBC production) and Kate Simko (‘Dark Delirium’ and ‘Moving Forward’ from ’20 Weeks’).

Chandler Poling of White Bear PR got up on stage and introduced the last two composers of the evening: Amelia Warner, whose elegant music from ‘Mary Shelly’ was nominated at the World Soundtrack Awards for ‘Discovery of the Year’, and Carly Paradis, who performed music from the Netflix Original ‘The Innocents’ (featuring EERA), which won a Hollywood Music in Media Award, as well as music from BBC hit drama ‘Line of Duty’ (the soundtrack was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award).

The programme ended quite appropriately with the familiar ‘Line of Duty Finale’, which some of the guests ended up humming on their way out of the theatre.

Through their sheer talent, skill and comprehensive range of stylistic voices, intertwining classical composition with electronic sounds, vocal performance and sound effects, these incredible women prove time and time again that they are a force to be reckoned with.

It’s time to put the spotlight on women composers. It’s time to balance the gender equality scales. It’s time for change.

This event was organized with the support of Spitfire Audio, ASCAP, P&G, Manners McDade, Production Music Awards, WMP Studios, Alliance for Women Film Composers, Art Council England, Women Composers’ Forum, Free The Bid, NFTS, shesaid.so, SHE Choir and LCO.

(This article was originally published on SoundTrackFest.com, on 15 June, 2019)

People from around the world traveled to London on Saturday to revel in Hans Zimmer’s legendary cinematic masterpieces. Part of the The World of Hans Zimmer – A Symphonic Celebration tour, the concert took place at the SSE Arena in Wembley, which boasted a full house of enthusiastic fans.

Zimmer is one of the very first composers to take the wondrous world of film music out of the cinema and bestow it to the masses, thus propelling his name into the ranks of celebrity rock bands and pop stars. Shining a bright light on the power and timeless beauty of film music, Zimmer demonstrated time and again during his long career that a film score is not necessarily a mere tool that supports a director’s vision, but an art form in its own right, which does not require visual reinforcement.

Even though the composer wasn’t in attendance himself, one could feel the love and reverence abounding in the venue every time he would make an appearance on the screen behind the orchestra. The composer pre-recorded a few messages and interviews with a number of his long-time collaborators in his studio in Santa Monica which were projected onto the screen in between performances.

Ever the humorous and down-to-earth fellow, Zimmer reminisced of various experiences during past collaborations while chatting with the likes of Ron Howard, Nancy Meyers and Lebo M.

The concert featured never-before-heard symphonic arrangements of some of Zimmer’s much-loved pieces. The composer spent months transforming his legendary themes into grand concert suites, and the rich arrangements bear testimony to his hard work.

The performance commenced en-force with a reimagined version of The Dark Knight, building up tension by means of Zimmer’s powerful signature percussion. The strings were briefly caressed by drifting guitar riffs, which were then met by the recognizable and bold brass section.

Having built up momentum and excitement, the programme then proceeded with the marching rhythms of King Arthur. In contrast to the ‘Hans Zimmer Live’ tour, which featured abstract visuals, the audience was able to enjoy projections of film scenes that accompanied the music. The sequences were hand-picked by Zimmer himself and represent scenes that were important to him.

As soon as the orchestra and choir finished performing the King Arthur Orchestra Suite, Zimmer made his first appearance on the screen saying a few words about the tour and introducing his old friend, Gavin Greenaway, who is the conductor leading the Symphony Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, Belarus on this tour.

The next piece was the suite from Mission Impossible 2, a beloved theme which Zimmer had been asked on numerous occasions to perform live, but was unable to until now, due to the logistical requirements involved. (Did someone say ‘big orchestra?!’)

The romantic solo guitar notes were introduced by the dexterous fingers of Amir John Haddad, who is the extraordinaire guitarist of this tour. Under the masterly direction of Gavin Greenaway’s baton, the musicians were then guided into a passionate orchestral flamenco that drenched the arena in Spanish joie de vivre.

A most gracious Lisa Gerrard made her appearance for the second half of the suite, enshrouding the venue with her distinct dark operatic timbre.

The Pearl Harbour suite took the audience on a 5-minute melancholic journey, only to be contrasted by a somber suite for Rush.

The first half of the show ended with a 20-minute long orchestral suite of The Da Vinci Code. Following a brief appearance on screen together with Ron Howard, Zimmer disclosed that he decided to share his version of The Da Vinci Code with the world. Referring to the piece as his ‘whole sketchbook’, he claims that this was the way he had thought of the story, which is not linear to the script, but does have all his experiments in it.

The suite was divided in four parts, soprano Katharina Melnikova opening the first piece with her angelic voice. A myriad of blue lights revealed the choir which had remained hidden behind the orchestra on a tall scaffolding until then.

The first two parts had a liturgical and familiar, yet somehow otherworldly character to them, suggestive of a Judgement Day trial.

Part three started with a more melancholic feel to it, led by Rusanda Panfili on violin and Marie Spaemann on cello.

The fourth and last piece was a slightly-altered version of Chevaliers De Sangreal, ending part one of the show.

Following a 20-minute long intermission, the programme continued on a cheerful and uplifting tone with an orchestra version of Madagascar’s ‘Best Friends’, the suite from Spirit, an orchestra version of ‘Oogway Ascends’ from Kung Fu Panda, as well as an orchestral suite for The Holiday.

To stay in tune with the concert’s tendency to take the audience on an emotional rollercoaster, the arena suddenly turned scarlet red and Marie Spaemann began performing the theme from Hannibal on cello. The love theme, which was originally written for 28 celli, is recounting the ill-fated love story between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling.

The programme then proceeded with a suite from The Lion King. According to the composer, the 9-minute composition contained the pieces he wrote about his own experience, which was his father dying when we was very young, and that is what the film was all about for Zimmer. Consequently, it had become a requiem to his father. The piece starts with ‘We Are All Connected,’ journeys through ‘Stampede’ and ‘Mufasa Dies,’ then culminates with Circle of Life.

To the sheer delight of the audience, Lisa Gerrard appeared on stage to sing her iconic pieces in the 3-part suite for Gladiator. She was joined on stage by singer and composer Asja Kadrić for the last part titled ‘We Are Free’. I think it’s safe to say that by the time the two singers finished their performance, every single person in the audience had goosebumps.

‘Time’ from Inception was of course a nice touch. And because no one could hope to replace Zimmer on stage to play his piano, a recording of the composer was projected upon the screen, with the camera rotating around him as he played the tune.

The concert concluded with Pirates of the Caribbean, which saw everyone at the front of stage showcasing their instrumental prowess: Eliane Correa on accordion, Amir John Haddad on guitar, Rusanda Panfili on violin, Marie Spaemann on cello and of course, the one and only Pedro Eustache on flute.

With its rich orchestral arrangements, carefully-curated film sequences and visuals, stellar musicians, and splendid conductor, The World of Hans Zimmer is a delightful symphonic experience in its own right that is not to be missed.

(This article was originally published on SoundTrackFest.com on 9 April, 2019)

Last night brought us together for the premiere live performance of Gavin Greenaway’s new album titled ‘Woven,’ which was launched on February 15.

Hidden away on an uphill North London street, Lauderdale House provided the ideal intimate setting for Gavin’s delicate musical story.

As the fog was slowly settling over Highgate, we made our way into the arts centre and were greeted by the welcoming staff. After about half an hour of conversing with other guests and admiring the beautiful photography adorning the building’s walls, we were lead upstairs towards the Long Gallery where the performance was set to take place.

The dimly lit chamber was dominated by the imposing grand piano, which seemed to hold on to the composer’s most intimate secrets, as only one’s closest confident would.

‘Woven’ is Gavin Greenaway’s highly anticipated second solo album, following his widely acclaimed first album titled ‘Il Falco Bianco’, which was released in May 2016.

After having worked in the music business for about three decades writing and conducting music for other people, the prolific Emmy ® award-winning composer, pianist and conductor felt that he was never spending enough time writing music for himself. And so, as he approached 50, he decided to write something personal. This prompted him to release his first solo album ‘Il Falco Bianco’, followed by ‘Woven’ and, we hope, many more beautiful albums.

After a brief introduction, Greenaway makes his appearance and commences to play ‘A Beginning’, which is the first piece on the album. He takes us on a musical journey through the story of his album, briefly pausing after every piece.

He performs the playful ‘We Danced For Seven’ flawlessly and jokes that the piece which was written in 7/8 time was said to be ‘impossible to play’.

The composer stops for a brief moment after playing ‘Autumn Came So Soon’, letting us know that Side A of the record has ended. He reminisces about the feeling one gets when they need to take a short pause while physically having to get up and flip the vinyl to the other side.

‘Woven’ stems from the composer’s love for the concept album, where one puts a piece of music on and that takes them on a journey for about 45 minutes.

As his album didn’t feature any lyrics, Greenaway contemplated as to how he would tell the story, and thus, decided to tell it through the titles of the pieces.

He wanted the titles to tell the story, but not to be so specific that the listener couldn’t then relate and hear their own story. This is the same reason why he is reticent about saying what his story of a particular piece is. He says that the individual pieces are not as important as the journey it takes you on.

‘Woven’ stems from the composer’s love for the concept album, where one puts a piece of music on and that takes them on a journey for about 45 minutes.

Observing the other guests in the room, it was very clear that Greenaway had been successful in taking each and every guest on their own unique and equally relevant journey.

Greenaway continues his performance with Side B of the album, playing ‘The Fall’, ‘Adrift’, and ‘The Melting’ without taking a break in between. The melancholic ‘The Fall’ transitions into a dreamy ‘Adrift’, and concludes with a mesmerizing ‘The Melting’, much like Autumn falls into Winter, which is then met by Spring, filling the listener’s heart with hope. Watch the beautiful performance of the three pieces below.

For this album, Greenaway used various fabrics and materials to ‘prepare’ his upright piano. All of the sounds on the album, from delicate sustains to unusual percussive timbres, are derived from the piano.

The actual techniques used on this album came about from the composer’s need to give his ears some rest, while still playing loudly. His idea came from the practice pedal found on the upright pianos, which puts a sheet of felt between the strings and the hammers. Greenaway found a piece of felt and tweaked his piano. This resulted in a sound that captivated the composer, which was very soft and had a specific sustain.

One of the techniques used on this album was placing a foam earplug between the strings. The result dampened it all down, creating an almost muted guitar sound. The composer would end up multi-tracking all of the album’s pieces, with some of them having two layers, and others up to seven or eight.

A good example of that is ‘Singing Old Songs’, which you can hear in the video below, in which the composer took three English folk songs and ‘wove’ them together, which is part of the whole concept of the album. It’s the idea of weaving things together and telling a story that is made up of textures and layers. Each of the tunes in this piece has a slightly different treatment.

Naturally, given the techniques used, a live performance would have presented itself with a myriad of challenges. The composer revealed to me after the concert that three weeks ago he wasn’t even thinking about putting together a live performance of ‘Woven’ due to these logistical challenges.

When Greenaway finally decided to put together a live performance, he even contemplated using four different pianos and pianists. In the end, he managed to felt the grand piano found in Lauderdale House just like the upright he used in ‘Woven’. This resulted in a beautiful and successful first performance.

After playing ‘Singing Old Songs’, the composer proceeded by playing ‘We Travelled Far’ and ‘Goodnight My Love’ without pausing.

In an interview Greenaway gave last week, the composer revealed that the slightly Eastern sound and his inspiration for ‘We Travelled Far’ was the Sakura Season in Japan. This piece was originally named ‘Mono No Aware’, literally translated as ‘an empathy toward things’. It is a recognition of beauty and of the fact that things don’t last forever, just as the beautiful blossoms of the cherry tree only last for a short amount of time.

To the joy of the audience, Greenaway ended Friday night’s performance with a well-known piece from ‘Il Falco Bianco’, titled ‘Smoke’.

He concluded by thanking his collaborators and teared up as he thanked his wife for her support. Greenaway lovingly joked that if she doesn’t like a piece, it doesn’t make it onto the album.

After the performance, everyone made their way towards the venue’s café, where a most humble and friendly Gavin Greenaway came to say hello and engaged in conversation with everyone.

The composer revealed that he is in the process of deconstructing the album into the layers and that this is a project that should happen at some point this year. This is definitely something we shall all be looking forward to.

After about an hour we said our goodbyes and walked out into the foggy night, our most recent memories still being drowned in the delicate piano textures that had us travel through space and time, even for just a few brief moments.

‘Woven’ is available for purchase on vinyl, CD and in digital format on a number of music distribution platforms, including the composer’s website. You can purchase your own signed copy of the CD or vinyl from the official store at https://www.musicglue.com/gavingreenaway/

We will see Gavin Greenaway on stage once more on March 23, this time conducting Hans Zimmer’s ‘The World of Hans Zimmer – A Symphonic Celebration’ at the SSE Arena Wembley in London, in a tour that will start on March 17 in Krakow (Poland) (read more).

(This article was originally published on SoundTrackFest.com on 24 February, 2019)