Benjamin Wallfisch
Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch (born 7 August 1979) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist.[1] Since the mid-2000s, he has composed and contributed to music for over 60 feature films.[2] His compositions include original scores for A Cure for Wellness, Hidden Figures, Lights Out, Desert Dancer, It, Blade Runner 2049, Shazam!, and It Chapter Two. In 2017, he was jointly nominated with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer for Best Original Score at the 74th Golden Globe Awards for his work on Hidden Figures, and a BAFTA Award and Grammy Award for Blade Runner 2049.[3]
Benjamin Wallfisch | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch |
| Born | 7 August 1979 London, England, U.K. |
| Genres | Film score |
| Occupation(s) | Composer conductor orchestrator producer |
| Instruments | Piano keyboard synthesizer |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Associated acts | Hans Zimmer |
| Website | benjaminwallfisch |
In 2014, Wallfisch was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. He is also a member of Remote Control Productions, a company by Hans Zimmer.[4][5]
Early life
Wallfisch was born on 7 August 1979 in London, England, the son of Elizabeth Wallfisch (née Hunt), an Australian Baroque violinist, and Raphael Wallfisch, a British cellist. He is the eldest of their three children. His paternal grandparents are pianist Peter Wallfisch and cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was a member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. They were Jewish emigrants from Breslau.
Career
Composer of Andy Muschietti's It and It Chapter Two, David F. Sandberg's Shazam!, Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man and co-composer of Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 (with Hans Zimmer), Benjamin Wallfisch has worked on over 75 feature films and received Golden Globe, BAFTA, 2x GRAMMY and EMMY nominations. He is currently scoring Simon McQuoid's Mortal Kombat for New Line Cinema/Warner Bros.
Other recent projects include Neil Marshall's Hellboy, Academy Award Best Picture nominee, Ted Melfi's Hidden Figures (in collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer) and David F. Sandberg's box office hit Annabelle: Creation. On the invitation of Hans Zimmer, he contributed music based on Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations for Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk.
In recent years, Benjamin has also scored Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness, the Steven Spielberg produced short film Auschwitz, directed by James Moll, James Marsh's King of Thieves, starring Michael Caine, and Steven Knight's Serenity, starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway.
With over 25 albums of his music released to date, Benjamin has performed live in over 100 concerts worldwide, leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony at venues including the Hollywood Bowl, Sydney Opera House and Royal Festival Hall. He has collaborated, recorded and performed his music with artists including Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock and Yuja Wang, and has over 50 concert music commissions to his name.
He has collaborated three times with Pharrell Williams, including a live performance at the 2015 GRAMMY Awards and recently partnered with Adele, arranging her 2017 GRAMMY performance of George Michael's 'Fast Love'.
A member of the BAFTA Academy since 2009, Benjamin was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London in 2014. In 2017, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.[6]
Personal life
Wallfisch resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife Missy and daughter Lola.
Discography
Film
As primary score composer
As composer of additional music
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Composer(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Moon | Duncan Jones | Clint Mansell | Stage 6 Films Limelight Pictures Sony Pictures Classics |
N/A |
| 2013 | 12 Years a Slave | Steve McQueen | Hans Zimmer | Summit Entertainment Regency Enterprises Film4 Productions Fox Searchlight Pictures |
N/A |
| 2015 | The Little Prince | Mark Osborne | Hans Zimmer Richard Harvey |
ON Animation Studios M6 Films Netflix |
N/A |
| 2016 | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | Zack Snyder | Hans Zimmer Junkie XL |
DC Films RatPac-Dune Entertainment Cruel and Unusual Films Warner Bros. Pictures |
N/A |
| 2017 | Dunkirk | Christopher Nolan | Hans Zimmer | Syncopy Inc. Warner Bros. Pictures |
Composed the "Nimrod" variation, based on the theme by Edward Elgar |
Television
| Year | Title | Network(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Breaking the Mould | BBC One | Television film |
| 2013 | The Thirteenth Tale | BBC Two | |
| 2014 | The Crimson Field | BBC One | 6 episodes |
| 2015 | The Enfield Haunting | Sky Witness | 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Hostile Planet | National Geographic |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Peter Pan | Ben Harrison | London / San Francisco |
References
- "Benjamin Wallfisch - Concerts, Biography & News - BBC Music". BBC. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- "Benjamin Wallfisch". Cool Music. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- "Blade Runner 2049: How Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch followed up the most influential sci-fi score of all time". FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music. 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- "Hans-Zimmer.com - Benjamin Wallfisch". www.hans-zimmer.com. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- "Benjamin Wallfisch". GRAMMY.com. 2017-11-21. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- "Benjamin Wallfisch". IMDb. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- "Benjamin Wallfisch to Score David F. Sandberg's 'Shazam!' | Film Music Reporter". Retrieved 2019-01-17.
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