Michael Edwards (Australian composer)

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Michael Edwards (born 18. February 1974) is an Australian composer and pianist based in Berlin. He composes music for Film, TV and Theatre. Edwards is also known for his work with Lisa Gerrard, Dead Can Dance, Skye Edwards, Patrick Cassidy, Darren Hayes, Christian Tschuggnall and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Berlin Capital of Germany

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,748,148 (2018) inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and contiguous with its capital, Potsdam. The two cities are at the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, which is, with about six million inhabitants and an area of more than 30,000 km², Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.

Lisa Gerrard Australian musician, singer and composer

Lisa Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. In addition to singing, she is an instrumentalist for much of her work, most prolifically using the yangqin.

Dead Can Dance English-Australian neoclassical dark wave band

Dead Can Dance is an Australian-British musical project formed in 1981 in Melbourne by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated from Melbourne to London in May 1982. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance's style as "constructed soundscapes of mesmerising grandeur and solemn beauty; African polyrhythms, Gaelic folk, Gregorian chant, Middle Eastern mantras, and art rock."

Contents

Biography

Edwards was born in Melbourne, Australia. He studied viola at the Queensland Conservatorium and played in the Queensland Youth Orchestras. In 1993 he won the Australian national Nescafe Big Break Award whilst studying jazz piano at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane. He graduated with a music degree from QUT in 1994 and a graduate diploma in philosophy from the University of Sydney in 1998. [6]

Viola bowed string instrument

The viola (; Italian pronunciation: [ˈvjɔːla]) is a string instrument that is bowed or played with varying techniques. It is slightly larger than a violin and has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the violin family, between the violin (which is tuned a perfect fifth above) and the cello (which is tuned an octave below). The strings from low to high are typically tuned to C3, G3, D4, and A4.

Queensland Youth Orchestras (QYO) is the state's leading organisation for orchestral training and performance and is based at the Old Museum building in Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

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.

His sister is author and columnist Kasey Edwards. [7]

Kasey Edwards Australian writer

Kasey Edwards is an Australian feminist author and columnist.

Career

Music and television

After relocating to Sydney Edwards began his composition career writing music for advertising and television including writing the theme for the news program Today Tonight . [8]

<i>Today Tonight</i> television series

Today Tonight is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It airs in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced before being cancelled in February 2014.

In 2003 he relocated to London, where he was one half of the production duo Lief, together with Adrian Watkins. They had UK Top 10 chart success with their remixes "Put 'Em High" for StoneBridge and "Cannot Contain This" for Moloko. [9] [10] Some years later Lief completed their own debut album "Photogenic", released in 2017 on Native Music.

Put Em High single by Therese Grankvist and StoneBridge

"Put 'Em High" is a song by Swedish producer StoneBridge from his album Can't Get Enough (2004). The song was released on Hed Kandi in the UK and features vocals from Therese. The radio edit by JJ reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, number 26 in Ireland, and number 33 in Australia.

Sten Hallström, also known by his stage name StoneBridge, is a Swedish DJ and record producer.

Moloko Anglo-Irish electronica/trip-hop duo from Sheffield, England

Moloko were an English-Irish duo formed in Sheffield, England. consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of trip hop, electronica, and dance, they are best known for UK top 10 hits such as "The Time Is Now" (2000) and "Familiar Feeling" (2003), as well as the 1999 Boris Dlugosch remix of "Sing It Back" which became an international hit.

Film

Edwards moved into composing for film after meeting Lisa Gerrard. First collaborating with her on the film Whale Rider. Further collaborations include Layer Cake, the Japanese film Ichi, and the albums The Silver Tree and The Black Opal . [11] [12] [13]

<i>Whalerider</i> (soundtrack) album by Lisa Gerrard

Whalerider is the soundtrack album to the film Whale Rider, by the Australian singer/musician Lisa Gerrard. The album was released on the 4AD label in 2003.

<i>Layer Cake</i> (film) 2004 film by Matthew Vaughn

Layer Cake is a 2004 British crime film directed by Matthew Vaughn, in his directorial debut. The screenplay was adapted by J. J. Connolly from his novel of the same name. The film's plot revolves around a London-based criminal known as XXXX, played by Daniel Craig, working in the trade of cocaine who wishes to leave the drug business. The film also features Tom Hardy, Colm Meaney and Sienna Miller.

<i>The Silver Tree</i> album by Lisa Gerrard

The Silver Tree is a 2006 album by Lisa Gerrard. It was her first solo album release since The Mirror Pool (1995). The album was initially released in digital format; followed by CD versions at the end of 2006, first in Australia by Rubber Records, followed by releases by Nettwerk in Europe, Sonic Records in Poland and Storm Creation in the United Kingdom. A U.S. release by Rubber in 2007 contained an extra track, "Entry".

In 2009 he scored the film The Tomb, starring Wes Bentley. Other notable films featuring his music are The Front Line, Fuga Per La Liberta, Kill the Irishman , Calvary and 1916: The Irish Rebellion, all of which he composed in collaboration with Patrick Cassidy. [14] [15]

His score to the award-winning film The Clockmaker's Dream won him Best Music at Los Angeles Cinefest 2016 and a nomination for the Deutscher Filmmusikpreis 2016. [16] [17] [18]

Orchestral work

Edwards relocated to Berlin in 2009 focusing more heavily on orchestral composition. In 2017 he was commissioned to compose for the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin for which he and co-composer Christian Tschuggnall won multiple international nominations and prizes, including the Music and Sound Awards 2017, Golden Award of Montreux, Deutscher Preis für Onlinekommunikation, and Gold at the Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards 2017. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

With Tschuggnall, Edwards runs the music studio "unheard" in Berlin. [25]

Theatre

Edwards has composed music for multiple theatre-productions. He has worked with Ice and Fire Theatre London and the network Actors for Human Rights in Germany (Bühne für Menschenrechte). His work includes the original score for the documentary theatre pieces Rendition Monologues, Asylum Dialogues and NSU-Monologues. [26] [27]

Pianist

As a live performer and pianist Edwards toured with Dead Can Dance in 2005 and with Skye and Darren Hayes from 2006 till 2008. [28] [29]

Discography

Albums

Feature films

Singles

Short films

Television

Plays

Awards

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References

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