Brian May (composer)

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Brian May
Born(1934-07-28)28 July 1934
Adelaide, Australia
Died25 April 1997(1997-04-25) (aged 62)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genres Film score
Occupation(s) Composer, conductor
Instruments Piano, violin
Years active1957–1997

Brian May (28 July 1934 – 25 April 1997) was an Australian film composer and conductor who was a prominent figure during the Australian New Wave. He is perhaps best known for his scores to Mad Max and Mad Max 2 . [1]

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

The Australian New Wave was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began in the early 1970s and lasted until the mid-late 1980s. The era also marked the emergence of Ozploitation, a film genre characterised by the exploitation of colloquial Australian culture.

<i>Mad Max</i> 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller

Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller, produced by Byron Kennedy, and starring Mel Gibson as "Mad" Max Rockatansky, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns, and Roger Ward. James McCausland and Miller wrote the screenplay from a story by Miller and Kennedy. The film presents a tale of societal collapse, murder, and revenge set in a future Australia, in which an unhinged policeman becomes embroiled in a violent feud with a savage motorcycle gang. Principal photography took place in and around Melbourne, Australia, and lasted six weeks.

Contents

Life and career

May was born in Adelaide on 28 July 1934. He trained at the Adelaide Elder Conservatorium as a pianist, violinist and conductor. He joined the ABC Adelaide in 1957 and was asked to form and conduct the ABC Adelaide Big Band, a full-blown ensemble that was rated as the best of the ABC state-based bands. He moved to Melbourne when he was 35 to arrange and conduct the ABC's Melbourne Show band. The Show Band made its radio debut on the First Network on 13 March 1969. Background music for Australian television had previously been taken from records. May changed this by writing and arranging the themes for television programmes, including Bellbird , Return to Eden , The Last Frontier, A Dangerous Life and Darling of the Gods.

Adelaide City in South Australia

Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth-most populous city of Australia. In June 2017, Adelaide had an estimated resident population of 1,333,927. Adelaide is home to more than 75 percent of the South Australian population, making it the most centralised population of any state in Australia.

Bellbird was an Australian soap opera serial set in a small fictional Victorian rural township of the show's title. The series was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at its Ripponlea TV studios in Elsternwick, Melbourne, Victoria. The opening title sequence was filmed at Daylesford, Victoria.

<i>Return to Eden</i> Australian drama and soap opera television series

Return to Eden is an Australian television drama series starring Rebecca Gilling, James Reyne, Wendy Hughes and James Smillie. It began as a three-part, six-hour mini-series shown on Network Ten on 27 September 1983. Gilling and Smillie, now joined by Peta Toppano would reprise their roles for a 22-part weekly series screened on 21 September 1985.

A breakthrough for May was the drama series Rush , set on the 19th-century Victorian goldfields. The theme was composed by Australian George Dreyfus, but May's arrangement of the theme was recorded by the Show Band and quickly reached the top of the Australian charts, selling more than 100,000 copies. This type of success was usually reserved for pop groups such as Sherbert and Skyhooks. May also composed the theme to the highly successful Countdown television series launched by the Melbourne Show Band. He left the ABC in 1984 and his interests turned to film music. He composed more than 30 feature film scores, including Gallipoli , Mad Max , Mad Max 2 , Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare , Dr. Giggles and one episode of Tales from the Crypt . May preferred to orchestrate his scores himself.

Victorian gold rush

The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capital for Melbourne, which was dubbed "Marvellous Melbourne" as a result of the procurement of wealth.

George Dreyfus AM is an Australian contemporary classical, film and television composer.

Sherbet was one of the most prominent and successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. The 'classic line-up' of Daryl Braithwaite on vocals, Tony Mitchell on bass guitar, Garth Porter on keyboards, Alan Sandow on drums, and Clive Shakespeare on guitar provided their teen-orientated pop style. In 1976 Shakespeare left and was soon replaced by Harvey James. Sherbet's biggest singles were "Summer Love" (1975) and "Howzat" (1976), both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. The band was less successful in the United States, where "Howzat" peaked at No. 61. As The Sherbs they also reached No. 61 in 1981 with "I Have the Skill". The group disbanded in 1984. Subsequent re-unions have occurred since 1998.

Death and legacy

May died in Melbourne on 25 April 1997 at the age of 62. [2] At the time of his death, May left his collection of music manuscripts to Queensland University of Technology. The manuscripts have since been preserved by the National Library of Australia. [3]

Melbourne City in Victoria, Australia

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,992.5 km2 (3,858.1 sq mi), comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities, and is also the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of approximately 4.9 million, and its inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians".

Queensland University of Technology university in Australia

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area: Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The university in its current form was founded in 1989, when the then Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT) was granted university status by the 'Queensland University of Technology Act' passed in 1988 and also by the subsequent merger of Brisbane College of Advanced Education with QUT in 1990. QUT was a member of the Australian Technology Network of universities and had withdrawn participation since 28 September 2018 onwards.

National Library of Australia national reference library in Canberra, Australia

The National Library of Australia (NLA) is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the Australian people." In 2012–13, the National Library collection comprised 6,496,772 items, and an additional 15,506 metres (50,873 ft) of manuscript material. It is located in Parkes, Canberra, ACT.

His will established the Brian May Trust, a charitable testamentary trust, to provide a scholarship to promising Australian film composers to study film-scoring at the University of Southern California (USC). The Trustees have determined that the scholarship will be provided for tuition in film-scoring at the USC's Thornton School of Music in the course known as the 'Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television Graduate Certificate'. The Brian May Trust Scholarship was first awarded for the 2003–2004 academic year. [4] The scholarship later relocated to New York University's Steinhardt School. [5]

University of Southern California Private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States

The University of Southern California is a private research university in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1880, it is the oldest private research university in California. For the 2018–19 academic year, there were 20,000 students enrolled in four-year undergraduate programs. USC also has 27,500 graduate and professional students in a number of different programs, including business, law, engineering, social work, and medicine.

New York University private research university in New York, NY, United States

New York University (NYU) is a private research university spread throughout the world. Founded in 1831, NYU's historical campus is in Greenwich Village, New York City. As a global university, students can graduate from its degree-granting campuses in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, as well as study at its 12 academic centers in Accra, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Sydney, Tel Aviv, and Washington, D.C.

The New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development is the secondary liberal arts and education school of New York University. Founded in 1890, is the first school of pedagogy to be established at an American university. Prior to 2001, it was known as the NYU School of Education.

Filmography

<i>The True Story of Eskimo Nell</i> 1975 Australian comedy film directed by Richard Franklin

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<i>Patrick</i> (1978 film) 1978 Australian horror film directed by Richard Franklin

Patrick is a 1978 Australian science fiction horror film directed by Richard Franklin and written by Everett De Roche. The film popularised Ozploitation films in other territories. A remake, Patrick, was released in 2013.

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Snapshot is a 1979 Australian thriller film. It was the first feature directed by Simon Wincer.

Awards

Mad Max won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Score. [6] May won many other awards, including the Golden Award from the Australian Performing Rights Association.

YearCeremonyProjectCategoryResult
1979 Australian Film Institute Awards Mad Max Best Original Music Score Won
1981 Australian Film Institute Awards Roadgames Best Original Music Score Nominated
1982 Australian Film Institute Awards Mad Max 2 Best Original Music Score Nominated
1986 Australian Film Institute Awards Frog Dreaming Best Original Music Score Nominated

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References

  1. ↑ Ivan Hutchinson, "Brian May", Cinema Papers, Feb-March 1985 p47-49, 88
  2. ↑ "About Brian May". Brian May Scholarship. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Hannan, Michael (2010). "The Brian May Collection: Two Decades of Screen Composition" (PDF). Screen Sound Journal (1): 63. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "About the Brian May Scholarship". Brian May Scholarship. Archived from the original on 16 May 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Brian May Scholarship". Steinhardt - Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions. New York University. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Andrew MacLean, Paul (6 May 1997). "Brian May (1934-1997)". Film Score Monthly . Archived from the original on 15 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
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