Dave Hewson (composer)

Last updated

Dave Hewson
Born
David Graham Hewson

(1953-11-25) 25 November 1953 (age 70)
Wandsworth, London, England
Nationality British
OccupationTelevision composer
Years active1972–present

David Graham Hewson (born 25 November 1953 in Wandsworth, London, England) is a British composer of scores for television and films. His work includes a collaboration to develop scores for ITV News. [1] Hewson works from his composing studio in East Sussex. At Trinity College of Music, Hewson was a pupil of Richard Arnell. They worked together on films including Dilemma (1981), Doctor in the Sky (1984), Toulouse-Lautrec (1986), and The Light of the World (1989). [2] Hewson has written several works with Brian Sibley. [3]

Contents

Background and education

Hewson began composing at the age of 11, influenced by his primary school music education, which had been based entirely on the Schulwerk. This influence stayed with David and shaped a lot of his much later music. During his time in primary school, he also started to receive piano lessons from the renowned classical concert pianist and teacher Christine Gough.

In his late teens he studied composition with Professor Richard Arnell, a former pupil of John Ireland at Trinity College of Music, London, and enrolled in a part-time courses on electronic music with Tristram Cary at the Royal College of Music. After gaining his BEd (Hon) he taught music for six years, and during this time built up a large repertoire of compositions, for chamber solo and instrumental combinations including vocal music.

Compositions

His television commissions have covered a wide spectrum. He is mostly called upon to score Drama-Documentary, particularly covering human aspects and emotional content. He is a very prolific writer. His KPM Library music CDs are used all over the world to score an enormous variety of productions. He is also well known for his arrangements and versions of the music for the ITV News at Ten, and all of the regional news broadcast by ITV in England, Southern Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands.He was commissioned to create the title theme music for the coverage of the wedding of Prince Harry for ITV, and recently was commissioned to provide the title theme music for the ITV coverage of the Funerals of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and most recently the title music for the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Awards and nominations

David was awarded the Mark Award in 2020 and the Music Production Award in 2019. He was also nominated for the Music and Sound Award in 2021.

Overview of works

Theme tunes and film scores

  • Central News (Central Television/ITV)
  • CNN Future Watch (CNN/Turner Broadcasting System)
  • The Selina Scott Show
  • Summer with Selik (NRK Norway)
  • First Edition (Channel 4)
  • English Villages (Reader's Digest)
  • The U-Boat War (Discovery Channel)
  • If I Ruled the World (BBC)
  • The Storm (Channel 4)
  • Two the Ends of the Earth (Discovery)
  • Mysteries of the Mummies (Discovery)
  • Homicide in Kennewick (Channel 4 Equinox)
  • The Windsor's (Channel 4)
  • In the Footsteps of Elizabeth David (Arts and Entertainment channel)
  • Hunting Hitler (Arts and Entertainment channel)
  • A Biography of Princess Margaret (Channel 5)
  • Air Rage (Channel 5)
  • James Bulger (Channel 5)
  • Talk TV (Channel 5)
  • ITV News at Ten – 1992, 2008, 2013 and 2016 (ITN/ITV)
  • ITV News – 1995, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2013 (ITN/ITV)
  • News and Views (ITN News Channel/ITN)
  • Self Experimenters (Channel 4 Equinox)
  • History of the Future
  • Lifeline (Carlton)
  • Election 1992 (ITN/ITV)
  • Election 2001 (ITN/ITV)
  • Election 2005 (ITN/ITV)
  • Election 2010 (ITN/ITV)
  • Election 2015 (ITN/ITV)
  • Don Roaming (Channel 4)
  • The Michael Watson Story
  • Search for the North West Passage (Channel 4)
  • Blitz (Channel 4)
  • I Shouldn't Be Alive (Discovery Channel)
  • Howard's Way (BBC)
  • Morley Brothers (Channel 4)
  • Heaven Man Earth (Channel 4)
  • Six into One (Channel 4)
  • The MTM Story (Channel 4)
  • The Scars of War (Channel 4)
  • Police Action Live (ITV)
  • Century
  • Willie's War
  • Speed Kings
  • BBC Arabic TV and Radio
  • Kroll Show (Comedy Central)
John Halas animated films
  • Dilemma (with Richard Arnell)
  • Doctor in the Sky (with Richard Arnell)
  • Toulouse-Lautrec (with Richard Arnell)
  • Light of the World (with Richard Arnell)
  • Electronic Animation (with Richard Arnell)

Some of Dave Hewson's production music albums

  • KPM 757 Man, Myth & Magic
  • KPM 754 Music for Documentaries
  • JM 40 Stratovarios
  • KPM 689 Close to the Edge
  • JM 17 Global Warming
  • KPM 587 New Directions
  • KPM 557 Science of Uncertainty
  • KPM 502 Metamorphosis 5
  • KPM 503 Metamorphosis 6
  • KPM 392 Metamorphosis 1
  • KPM 393 Metamorphosis 2
  • KPM 354 Beatspeak
  • KPM 317 Horror, Mystery & Imagination – 1
  • KPM 318 Horror, Mystery & Imagination – 2
  • KPM 319 Horror, Mystery & Imagination – 3
  • KPM 273 The Human Experience Part 1
  • KPM 274 The Human Experience Part 2
  • KPM 270 Textures
  • KPM 237 Media Themes
  • KPM 225 Research and Development Part 2
  • KPM 200 Disappearing Earth
  • KPM 185 Research and Development
  • KPM 176 Classic Fantastic
  • KPM 156 the Competitive Edge KPM 462 20th Century Sketchbook
  • KPM 410 The Dark Side – Part 1
  • KPM 513 Observing Eye

Concerts

  • Concerto for Oboe - Sinfonia Serenata written for the Oboist Philip Cull
  • War God II (Richard Arnell) at St. John's Smith Square, London (contributor)
  • Twenty-Four Hours in TT Scale (co-writer with Richard Arnell)

Works with author and broadcaster Brian Sibley

  • The Man and the Snake
  • Nostradamus
  • The Autumn People (public performance at the BMIC)
  • The Fox at the Manger (BBC Radio 4)
  • Miss Hargreaves (BBC Radio 4)

Producer

Dave Hewson has worked extensively as a music producer and performer notably for:

Poeme Electronique

In the 1980s, Dave Hewson created an electronic trio with Sharon Abbott and Julie Ruler called Poeme Electronique. "The Echoes Fade", the one and only single they released, is widely considered to be the "holy grail" of minimal electronic music, with rare copies often selling for hundreds of pounds.[ citation needed ] [4] [5]

Twins Natalia

Twins Natalia are an electro-pop group combining an early '80s musical approach (analogue drum machine sounds, way of sequencing, etc.) with the latest recording technology. Poeme Electronique are involved with the group, with additional compositions, arrangements and performances by Dave Hewson in his recording studio in East Sussex, and with lyrics added by Sharon Abbott, performed by both Sharon and Julie Ruler.

Techno Twins

Hewson was a key contributor to the musical output of the Techno Twins in the 1980s, writing and creating most of their material for several albums. He performed on many of their other recordings and was integral in the creation of the only hit they had, "Falling in Love Again". He invented their unique sound concept and arrangements, all created in his four track studio in south London.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITN</span> British-based news and content provider

Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaus and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washington, D.C.

<i>Through the Keyhole</i> British comedy panel show (1987–2019)

Through the Keyhole is a British comedy panel game show created by the TV producer Kevin Sim and originally presented by Sir David Frost in the studio and Loyd Grossman on location. The location presenter goes around celebrities' houses and a panel of other celebrities in the studio try to guess who the famous homeowner is.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Bennett</span> British musician

Brian Laurence Bennett, is an English drummer, pianist, composer and producer of popular music. He is best known as the drummer of the UK rock and roll group the Shadows. He is the father of musician and Shadows band member Warren Bennett.

ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since continued to produce all news programmes on ITV. The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the ITV Evening News held the title of "RTS News Programme of the Year". The flagship ITV News at Ten has won numerous BAFTA awards, and also being named "RTS News Programme of the Year" in 2011, 2015, 2021 and 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Burnet</span> British journalist

Sir James William Alexander Burnet, known as Alastair Burnet, was a British journalist and broadcaster, best known for his work in news and current affairs programmes, including a long career with ITN as chief presenter of the flagship News at Ten; Sir Robin Day described Burnet as "the booster rocket that put ITN into orbit".

<i>ITV News at Ten</i> British evening news programme

ITV News at Ten is the flagship evening news programme on British television network ITV, produced by ITN and founded by news editor Geoffrey Cox in July 1967. The bulletin was the first permanent 30-minute news broadcast in the United Kingdom, and although initially scheduled for only thirteen weeks due to fears that its length would turn viewers off, the bulletin proved to be highly popular with audiences and became a fixture of the ITV schedule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Stewart</span> English former journalist and newscaster

Alastair James Stewart OBE is an English former journalist and newscaster.

<i>ITV Evening News</i> Television news programme

The ITV Evening News is the evening news programme produced by ITN on the British television network ITV. It airs Monday to Friday from 6:30pm, covering British national and international news stories and is presented by Mary Nightingale.

White Noise are an English experimental electronic music band formed in London in 1968, after American-born David Vorhaus, a classical bass player with a background in physics and electronic engineering, attended a lecture by Delia Derbyshire, a sound scientist at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, then both former members of electronic music project Unit Delta Plus, joined Vorhaus to form the band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Arnell</span> English composer (1917–2009)

Richard Anthony Sayer Arnell was an English composer of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonies and six string quartets. At the Trinity College of Music, he "promoted a pioneering interest in film scores and electronic music" and jazz.

John Valmore Pearson was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist. He led the Top of the Pops orchestra for sixteen years, wrote a catalogue of library music, and had many of his pieces used as the theme music to television series.

William Alan Hawkshaw was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for movies and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company in the 1950s to the 1970s, composing and recording many stock tracks that have been used extensively in film and TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Owen (journalist)</span> British journalist

Nicholas David Arundel Owen is an English journalist, television presenter and radio presenter. He previously presented on the BBC News channel and BBC One, and hosts a weekly programme on Classic FM radio.

Andrew William Langmanis Diey is an English electronic musician, sound designer and record producer. As a solo artist, he is best known as Black Faction, or his previous moniker Foreign Terrain.

Keith Mansfield is a British composer and arranger known for his creation of prominent television theme tunes, including the Grandstand theme for the BBC.

<i>5 News</i> British news programme

5 News at 5, also known as Channel 5 News, is the flagship news programme of British broadcaster Channel 5. It is produced by ITN from its main newsroom on London's Gray's Inn Road, and has been broadcast since Channel 5's launch in March 1997.

ITN World News was a newscast shown during the late 1980s and most of the 1990s. It was either shown on cable or satellite television, or shown internationally. The newscast was broadcast from London, England, and was produced by Independent Television News. A domestic national version was also shown in the United Kingdom on terrestrial television.

David Charles Walter, was a British journalist and a former Political Correspondent for Independent Television News programmes on ITV from 1980 to 1986, then on ITN's Channel 4 News from 1986 to 1988, followed by Paris Correspondent for BBC News, a BBC television and radio producer and presenter, and a Liberal Democrat contender for a seat in the British Parliament. He was a direct descendant of John Walter, the founder of The Times newspaper, whilst his mother was a cousin of former Home Secretary William Whitelaw.

This is a timeline of the history of ITN, a British production company providing news programmes for British broadcasters.

References

[6] [7]

  1. "Themes set tone for election night". News.bbc.co.uk. 6 May 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  2. Richard Arnell obituary Richard Arnell: Unjustly neglected composer who has found a new audience through recent recordings by Lewis Foreman, 9 May 2009, The Independent
  3. Sibley, Brian (10 June 2012). "BRIAN SIBLEY : his blog: A DAY AT THE DARK CARNIVAL". Briansibleyblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  4. "Poeme Electronique - The Echoes Fade / V.O.I.C.E." Discogs.com. 3 September 1982. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  5. "Poeme Electronique - The Echoes Fade / V.O.I.C.E. (Vinyl, UK, 1982) For Sale | Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. "In Conversation: David Hewson (Poeme Electronique)" . Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  7. "Introducing TWINS NATALIA | The Electricity Club". 21 November 2013. Archived from the original on 21 November 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2020.