Rob Simonsen | |
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Born | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | March 11, 1978
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Website | robsimonsen |
Rob Simonsen (born March 11, 1978) is an American composer and conductor. He is best known for his scores in films such as 500 Days of Summer (2009), The Age of Adaline (2015), Gifted (2017), The Only Living Boy in New York (2017), Tully (2018), Love, Simon (2018), The Front Runner (2018), The Way Back (2020), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), The Adam Project (2022), The Whale (2022), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), and It Ends with Us (2024), and the television series Life in Pieces (2015–2019). He also collaborates with the directors Marc Webb, Jason Reitman and Shawn Levy.
Simonsen began playing the piano by ear at an early age. His grandmother was a voice teacher and music was around him in his family home. He later studied music at Southern Oregon University, the University of Oregon and Portland State University. [1]
Rob's first break into film composing was the independent feature Westender in 2003. In 2004 he teamed up with composer Mychael Danna and has provided additional music and arrangements on Surf's Up , Fracture , Moneyball , and the Oscar-winning Life of Pi . Simonsen and Danna co-wrote the score of (500) Days of Summer , and Joss Whedon's television series Dollhouse . Simonsen's work includes the Sundance Film Festival features The Way, Way Back and The Spectacular Now; [2] the Lionsgate feature film The Age of Adaline ; and most recently Love, Simon, The Way Back, and Stargirl.
In 2009 he opened his own studio, and The Hollywood Reporter named him one of the "15 Composers Primed to Take Their Place on the A List." [3]
Simonsen's music can be heard in nearly all iPhone 5 ads, and he appears in them as the conductor.[ citation needed ] "Red", one of his tracks for iPhone 5, has gained wide recognition. His music was featured in Coca-Cola's 2018 Super Bowl TV spot, "The Wonder of Us". [4]
On September 6, 2019, Simonsen released his first solo album, Rêveries, on Sony Masterworks. [5] [6]
Studio albums
Mychael Danna is a Canadian composer of film and television scores. He won both the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Score for Life of Pi. He has also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special in his work on the miniseries World Without End.
Ramin Djawadi is an Iranian-German film score composer, conductor, and record producer. He is known for his scores for the HBO series Game of Thrones, for which he was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2018 and 2020. He is also the composer for the HBO Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon (2022–present). He has scored films such as Clash of the Titans, Pacific Rim, Warcraft, A Wrinkle in Time, Iron Man and Eternals, television series including 3 Body Problem, Prison Break, Person of Interest, Jack Ryan, Westworld, and Fallout and video games such as Medal of Honor, Gears of War 4, Gears 5, and System Shock 2. He won two consecutive Emmy Awards for Game of Thrones, in 2018 for the episode "The Dragon and the Wolf" and in 2019 for "The Long Night".
Jeff Danna is a Canadian film composer. He has composed or co-composed scores for a wide range of films and television, including The Boondock Saints (1999), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Silent Hill (2006), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), The Good Dinosaur (2015), Storks (2016), The Breadwinner (2017), The Addams Family (2019), Onward (2020), Guillermo Del Toro’s Tales of Arcadia (2019-2021), Nora Twomey’s My Father’s Dragon (2022) and Julia (2022).
Pinar Toprak is a Turkish-born American composer, conductor, and musician, who specializes in creating thematic scores.
Carly Paradis is a Canadian-born British composer, songwriter and pianist. She composes soundtracks for movies, TV series and solo albums.
The Way, Way Back is a 2013 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash in their directorial debuts. It stars Liam James as Duncan, an introverted 14-year-old who goes on summer vacation to Wareham, Massachusetts, with his mother and her overbearing boyfriend. It also stars Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, and Maya Rudolph, with Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet, Faxon, and Rash in supporting roles.
Vivek Maddala is a four-time Emmy-winning composer who focuses on writing music for feature films, theater and dance productions, and television. He is known for composing music scores for films such as Kaboom, Highway, and the Peabody-winning American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, as well as for silent film restorations for Turner Classic Movies, including a 90-minute score for the Greta Garbo film The Mysterious Lady (2002). Additionally, Maddala writes, produces, and performs as a multi-instrumentalist with various recording artists. He is a Sundance Lab Fellow for film composition, and has had work premiere at the Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, and Sundance film festivals. Maddala has received six Emmy nominations, with four wins, in the category of "Outstanding Music Direction and Composition."
Nicholas Britell is an American film and television composer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and a Grammy Award. He has received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score for Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up (2021). He also scored McKay's The Big Short (2015) and Vice (2018). He is also known for scoring Battle of the Sexes (2017), Cruella (2021), and She Said (2022).
Benjamin Schiff Platt is an American actor and singer. The son of film and theater producer Marc Platt and philanthropist Julie Platt, he began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of The Sound of Music (2006) and The Book of Mormon (2012–2015), rising to prominence for originating the title role in the Broadway coming-of-age musical Dear Evan Hansen (2015–2017). His performance in the latter earned him multiple accolades, including the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, a Daytime Emmy, and a Grammy Award. Platt reprised the role of Evan Hansen in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical, produced by his father. He then played Leo Frank in the 2022 New York City Center Gala production of Parade, which transferred to Broadway in 2023 and earned him another Tony nomination and another Grammy nomination.
Kristopher Bowers is an American composer, pianist and documentary director. He has composed scores for films, including Green Book, King Richard, The Color Purple, and The Wild Robot and television series, among them Bridgerton, Mrs. America, Dear White People, and When They See Us.
The Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in an Animated Film is one of the annual awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA). It is presented to the composers who have composed the best "original" score, written specifically for an animated motion picture.
Life of Pi is the soundtrack album to the 2012 film of the same name directed by Ang Lee. It consists of music entirely composed and produced by Mychael Danna. The album was released in November 2012 by Sony Classical and went on to win a number of awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Two soundtrack albums were released for the film (500) Days of Summer. The first of the two soundtrack albums titled 500 Days of Summer: Music from the Motion Picture featured various pop songs from the film whose tracklist was released on June 24, 2009, and the soundtrack released through Sire Records launched on July 13, 2009. The second album titled 500 Days of Summer: Score from the Motion Picture features original score composed by Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen. It was released on August 3, 2009.
The Good Dinosaur (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album to the 2015 Disney/Pixar animated film of the same name. The film score is composed by Mychael Danna and his brother Jeff Danna, thus becoming the first Pixar film to be scored by two composers. The score was recorded during April and October 2015, and various instruments were used, including pre-Columbian instruments, to reflect the landscape around the characters, which was an important part of the storytelling. Walt Disney Records released the soundtrack on November 20, 2015.
Where the Crawdads Sing (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2022 film of the same name released on July 15, 2022 by Mercury Classics. It features the original score composed by Canadian composer Mychael Danna, and an original song "Carolina" written and performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. According to Danna, the score's "unique instrumentation creates haunting melodies that are directly inspired by the North Carolina marshlands, and meticulously crafted to foster an almost fable-like sense of time and place".
The Addams Family (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album to the 2019 film of the same name directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan based on the characters created by Charles Addams. The film's original music is composed by Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna, released by Lakeshore Records on October 11, 2019 alongside the film. The film also featured two songs: "My Family" recorded by Migos, Karol G, Snoop Dogg, and Rock Mafia, and "Haunted Heart" by Christina Aguilera released as singles on September 13 and 27, but not in the film's soundtrack. On January 24, 2020, the soundtrack was published in double vinyl by Enjoy The Ride Records and Mondo.
Onward (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2020 Disney/Pixar film of the same name. The score is composed by Mychael and Jeff Danna, in their second Pixar film, following The Good Dinosaur (2015). The scoring was held at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. in Los Angeles which required a 30-member choir and 92-member orchestra.
Moneyball (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album to the 2011 film Moneyball, directed by Bennett Miller and featuring music composed by Mychael Danna, who previously worked with Miller on his 2005 film, Capote. The album featuring 21 cues, as well as two songs: "The Mighty Rio Grande" by the rock band This Will Destroy You from their eponymous 2008 studio album commissioned by Danna for the film and a cover of Lenka's "The Show", performed by actress-singer Kerris Dorsey. Madison Gate Records released the album on September 19, 2011, four days before the film's release.
Hulk (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack accompanying the 2003 superhero film Hulk, directed by Ang Lee based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The soundtrack featured musical score composed by Danny Elfman and the song "Set Me Free" by Velvet Revolver; the album was released through Decca Records on June 17, 2003.
Foxcatcher (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album to the 2014 film Foxcatcher directed by Bennett Miller starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo. The soundtrack featured music composed by Rob Simonsen, West Dylan Thordson and Mychael Danna, and also featured songs from Bob Dylan, Arvo Pärt amongst several others. Madison Gate Records released the soundtrack on November 11, 2014.