Bruno Coulais | |
|---|---|
 Coulais in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 13 January 1954 Paris, France |
| Genres | Film score |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Labels | Because Music |
Bruno Coulais (born 13 January 1954) is a French composer, most widely known for his music on film soundtracks.
Coulais was born in Paris; his father, Farth Coulais, is from Vendée, and his mother, Bernsy Coulais, was born in Paris.[ citation needed ] Coulais began his musical education on the violin and piano and taught by Bren Santos, aiming to become a composer of contemporary classical music. However, a series of acquaintances gradually re-oriented him towards film music. Coulais met François Reichenbach, who asked him in 1977 to sonorize his documentary México mágico who permit to compose the first soundtracks for Jacques Davila "qui trop embrasse" en 1986 . Until the end of the 1990s, he remained low-profile, composing mainly for television. His name can often be found from TV films by Gérard Marx and Laurent Heynemann. He also composed the soundtracks for Christine Pascal's 1992 film Le Petit Prince a dit , and Agnès Merlet's Le fils du requin in 1993.
In 1994, he met the television producer Josée Dayan, who let him write a theme for the TV series La rivière esperance , aired on the France 2 network in autumn 1995. He worked with Dayan again with other major productions such as Le Comte de Monte-Cristo , Balzac , and Les nuiteux.
The largest turning point of his career came in 1996, when he worked with directors Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou of the documentary Microcosmos . This single film, which gave a great significance to the music in it, was a great success and made Coulais one of the most wanted composers of French film music. In 1997, he won the César award for the best musical score in a film, as well as a Victoire de la Musique . His reputation was confirmed by the soundtracks to Himalaya (1999) and Les rivières pourpres (2000), and after that Bruno Coulais's name was to be found on most new French blockbusters, such as Belphégor and Vidocq .
After producing the soundtrack to Winged Migration in 2001, Coulais announced that he wanted to significantly reduce his contributions to film music, and instead concentrate on other projects, such as the creation of an opera for children, and collaborations with Akhenaton, Akhenaton's group IAM and the Corsican group A Filetta, with whom he had worked since he had made the soundtrack for Jacques Weber's film Don Juan in 1998.
In 2002, his name was found on the ending credits of the animation L'Enfant qui voulait être un ours , and in 2004, on Frédéric Schoendoerffer's Agents secrets . The same year, he wrote the soundtrack to the film Les choristes by Christophe Barratier, starring Jean-Baptiste Maunier in the lead soprano singing role, which subsequently became an international hit. The music for this film received as great praise as the film itself, and it won Coulais his third César award. The song Vois sur ton chemin was also nominated for an Academy Award (Best original song). Since then, Coulais's collaborations in cinema seem to be limited to works by directors with whom he already shares some history, in particular Jacques Perrin, Frédéric Schoendoerffer, and James Huth.
In 2009, he won at the 37th Annie Awards, in the "Music in a Feature Production" category for Coraline . [1]
In 2009 he also collaborated with Irish band Kíla to produce the soundtrack for the beautifully and uniquely animated feature film, The Secret of Kells , which tells the story of a parentless boy, Brendan, and his involvement with The Book of Kells. The music is equally light and dark and the textures and sounds equally European and Irish.
In 2013, he wrote the soundtrack for "Lady Ô", the evening show of the Futuroscope, directed by Skertzò and starring Nolwenn Leroy as the storyteller.
In 2022, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy.
Bruno Coulais's musical style may vary significantly between different projects, but there are some constant factors visible: his taste for opera and for human voice (in particular that of children), for a search for original sonority, for world music and mixing different musical cultures, and finally, a certain tendency to give preference to the ambience created by lighting rather than the film's narration.
1997: César de la meilleure musique écrite pour un film pour Microcosmos: Le Peuple de l'herbe de Claude Nuridsany et Marie Pérennou
1997: Victoire de la musique de la meilleure musique de film pour Microcosmos: Le Peuple de l'herbe de Claude Nuridsany et Marie Pérennou
2000: César de la meilleure musique pour Himalaya: L'Enfance d'un chef d'Éric Valli
2001: Nomination au César de la meilleure musique pour Les Rivières Pourpres
2002: Nomination au César de la meilleure musique pour Le Peuple Migrateur
2004: European Award de la meilleure musique de film pour Les Choristes de Christophe Barratier
2005: César de la meilleure musique pour Les Choristes de Christophe Barratier.
2005: Victoire de la musique pour Les Choristes de Christophe Barratier
2005: Nomination aux Oscars de la meilleure chanson originale pour la chanson: « Vois sur ton chemin »
2005: Étoile d'or du compositeur de musique originale de films, pour sa composition pour les films Les Choristes, de Christophe Barratier et Genesis, de Claude Nuridsany et Marie Pérennou
2007: Grand prix Sacem de la musique pour l'audiovisuel
2010: Annie Award for "Music in a Feature Production" for Coraline
2011: Nomination au César de la meilleure musique pour Océans
2011: Lauréat du prix France Musique-Sacem de la musique de film pour la musique d'Au fond des bois de Benoît Jacquot1
2013: Nomination au César de la meilleure musique pour Les Adieux à la reine de Benoît Jacquet
2015: Nomination for 42nd Annual Annie Awards for Music In A Feature Production (with Kíla) for the Song of The Sea
2022: Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy
Georges Delerue was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film music awards, including an Academy Award for A Little Romance (1980), three César Awards, two ASCAP Awards, and one Gemini Award for Sword of Gideon (1987). He was also nominated for four additional Academy Awards for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), The Day of the Dolphin (1973), Julia (1977), and Agnes of God (1985), four additional César Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and one Genie Award for Black Robe (1991).
Winged Migration is a 2001 documentary film directed by Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats and Jacques Perrin, who was also one of the writers and narrators, showcasing the immense journeys routinely made by birds during their migrations.
The Chorus is a 2004 French musical drama film directed by Christophe Barratier. Co-written by Barratier and Philippe Lopes-Curval, it is an adaptation of the 1945 film A Cage of Nightingales. The story is inspired by the origin of the boys' choir the Little Singers of Paris.
Jacques Perrin was a French actor and film producer. He was occasionally credited as Jacques Simonet.
Victoires de la Musique are an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz versions are the Victoires de la musique classique and Victoires du Jazz.
Microcosmos is a 1996 documentary film written and directed by Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou and produced by Jacques Perrin. An international co-production of France, Switzerland, Italy and the United Kingdom, the film showcases detailed interactions between insects and other small invertebrates, and features music by Bruno Coulais.
Maréchal, nous voilà ! is a 1941 French song dedicated to Marshal Philippe Pétain. The lyrics were composed by André Montagard; its music was attributed to André Montagard and Charles Courtioux but actually plagiarized from a song composed for the 1933 musical La Margoton du battailon by Polish Jewish composer Kazimierz Oberfeld, who was deported to Auschwitz in 1945, where he was murdered. Although La Marseillaise remained the official national anthem of the state, Maréchal, nous voilà ! was performed in many capacities unofficially as an alternative song for the public, being used as a popular song for events like sports and recreation. However, the song never dispelled the use of "La Marseillaise" as the official anthem, and it remained the main hymn of the Vichy State and had official support among the Vichy government. It had multiple performances during the Vichy France Era, often in a famous variation by André Dassary.
Vladimir Cosma is a Romanian composer, conductor and violinist, who has made his career in France and the United States.
Jean-Baptiste Maunier is a French actor and singer. He is best known for his role in the 2004 French film Les Choristes.
Philippe Jaroussky is a French countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory, and then took up the piano before turning to singing.
"Vois sur ton chemin" is a song from the 2004 film Les Choristes. Text and music are by Bruno Coulais and Christophe Barratier.
Fabien Marsaud, known professionally as Grand Corps Malade (GCM), is a French slam poet and lyricist. He has released seven studio albums so far, all of them reaching top-five status on the French SNEP chart. GCM started writing and performing a capella at slam events in 2003. Three years later, he signed with Universal's AZ affiliate and released his debut album Midi 20, which became a top-ten selling record of the year in France.
The Chorus is the original soundtrack of the 2004 Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated film The Chorus starring Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, Kad Merad and Jean-Baptiste Maunier. The original score was composed by Bruno Coulais and performed by Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc and the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra.
Christophe Barratier is a French film producer, director and screenwriter, and lyricist.
A Filetta is an all-male singing group that performs traditional music from Corsica. It's made up of Corsican singers who try to popularize the traditional Corsican Polyphony singing style. To assert its Corsican identity, the group's name refers to a kind of fern that grows on the island.
Armand Amar is a French composer, who grew up in Morocco. He won the 2008 César Award for Best Music for Le Concert.
Éditions Hortus is an independent French disk label, offering largely unknown songs and works for the organ in addition to contemporary compositions. Specialised in organ and choir music, it has in particular presented disks recorded at the Notre Dame de Paris and of its choir 'Les Éléments', as well as of the young harpsichordist Benjamin Alard.
Alexandre Beaupain, is a French singer and composer, both of his own songs, and of the music and songs for films, particularly those directed by Christophe Honoré. He has released several albums and received awards, both for film scores and the song albums.
Christophe Julien is a French composer of film and television music, largely classical, twice-nominated for César Award for best original film music.
Coraline (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2009 stop-motion animated dark fantasy horror film Coraline directed by Henry Selick and produced by the animation studio Laika, in their maiden feature film. The album featured the original score composed by Bruno Coulais, who worked on the film for over a year, and was recorded at several places including Paris, Budapest, Los Angeles and Cincinnati. Coulais had developed the themes based on the visual style and used variety of instruments and orchestral and choir portions, to create strange sounds.
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