Name	Harry Gregson-Williams
Background	non_performing_personnel
Birth name	Harry Gregson-Williams
Born	December 13, 1961
Origin	United Kingdom
Genre	Film scores, video game music
Occupation	Composer, Conductor, music producer
Instrument	Piano and percussion
Years active	1993–present

Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a prominent Grammy Award nominee British composer, orchestrator, conductor, and music producer. He is best known for his many film scores, of which he has composed over sixty using electronic music and orchestral pieces. He is also well known for his collaborations with director Tony Scott, having scored all his films since the 1998 film Enemy of the State and for composing the music of the Metal Gear games saga. Gregson-Williams is one of the most recognized, renowned and respected film score composers for his musical style, combining electronic music with orchestral and classic music elements.

Life and career

Early in his career, Gregson-Williams held a position in the 1980s as a music teacher at the Amesbury School in Hindhead, Surrey, England (his brother Rupert Gregson-Williams, also a film composer, also taught at Amesbury School during this period). Also, in the 1980s Harry was an estate agent for Palmer Snell in Wells Somerset.

He later taught music at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he had been a pupil, and also for a short period in Egypt and other African states.

In addition to scoring a number of motion pictures including Kingdom of Heaven, , , The Rock, Shrek, Chicken Run, Antz, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Domino, and , Gregson-Williams has also worked on the video games , , , and . His arrangement of the original Metal Gear Solid Main Theme was one of many works he created for the Metal Gear Solid productions that involved both orchestral and electronic textures.

In his score to the Ridley Scott film Kingdom of Heaven, he introduced a mix of operatic and Middle Eastern themes. One track, Ibelin, was reprised as the closing credits theme with singer Natacha Atlas performing Arabic lyrics.

Gregson-Williams scored , as well as the second installment in the series, . (David Arnold is under contract for .) Gregson-Williams also composed the soundtrack for the latest film in the X-Men film series, .

Gregson-Williams has also worked with the electronic music group Hybrid. In 2004, he produced a track called The Drop (Man On Fire Edit) for Hybrid Present Y4K. He and Kirsty Hawkshaw worked with Hybrid on their 2006 album, I Choose Noise.

Gregson-Williams was a member of Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions (formerly known as Media Ventures) along with John Powell, Lisa Gerrard, Trevor Rabin, Geoff Zanelli, Klaus Badelt, and Mark Mancina. During his first years in Media Ventures, he was mentored by Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie-Smith which he has very close and great friendships with them. He is also good friends with fellow film composers and musicians Martin Tillman, Heitor Pereira, Klaus Badelt, John Powell, along with his musical assistants David Buckley, Stephen Barton, Welsh band Hybrid and producers and film directors Andrew Adamson and Tony Scott. He was a favorite of Hans Zimmer and considered as the most talented and prominent apprentice during his time in Media Ventures. Thanks to Zimmer's teachings and his own great creative ideas, Gregson-Williams began a close collaboration with Zimmer by making additional music and giving ideas for his music along of conducting many of his scores. Zimmer was so satisfied with the results that he decided to put Gregson-Williams in charge as conductor of both the orchestra and choir for many projects and became his protegé. Thanks to the experiences he shared with Zimmer, Gregson-Williams began mentoring several musicians such as Steve Jablonsky, Stephen Barton, David Buckley and Marc Streitenfeld among others. Also, he's the first Media Ventures composer working in the video games industry and he stated that it was very different compared to his work but interesting and fun at same time. Now as an independent contractor he has his own studio called Wavecrest Music where he teaches and works with colleague musicians and music mixers such as:

Toby Chu

Stephen Barton

David Buckley

Halli Cauthery

Justin Caine Burnett

Meri Gavin

Peter DiStefano

Martin Tillman

Malcolm Luker

Alan Meyerson

Lisbeth Scott

Costa Kotselas

Anthony Lledo

Hugh Marsh

Ladd McIntosh

Christopher Willis

His most recent project was in the 2010 film The Town, directed by Ben Affleck which received widespread acclaim and extraordinary reviews for both story and original score. It was recently confirmed that Gregson-Williams will be composing the score of the upcoming film Cowboys & Aliens directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Ana de la Reguera and Harrison Ford. It was confirmed too that Gregson-Williams will compose the score for the next film of the Twilight book series; .

Filmography

1993

White Angel

1994

Broken Heart

1995

Hotel Paradise

1996

The Rock (with Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie-Smith)

The Whole Wide World (with Hans Zimmer)

Muppet Treasure Island (with Hans Zimmer)

1997

The Borrowers

Deceiver

As Good as It Gets (Music conductor)

Smilla's Sense of Snow (with Hans Zimmer)

1998

Enemy of the State (with Trevor Rabin)

Antz (with John Powell)

Armageddon (with Trevor Rabin)

The Replacement Killers

1999

Light It Up

The Match

Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?

2000

Chicken Run (with John Powell)

King of the Jungle

The Tigger Movie

The Magic of Marciano

2001

The Hire: Powder Keg (uncredited)

Shrek (with John Powell)

Spy Kids

2002

Phone Booth

Spy Game

Passionada

2003

The Rundown

Veronica Guerin

2004

Shrek 2

Man on Fire

Return to Sender

2005

(Golden Globe nominee)

Kingdom of Heaven

Domino

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (Music producer. Score composed by Stephen Barton)

2006

Déjà Vu

Flushed Away

Seraphim Falls

I Choose Noise (producer, along with Kirsty Hawkshaw & Hybrid)

2007

Gone Baby Gone

Jolene

Shrek the Third

The Number 23

The Riches

Shrek the Halls

2008

Jolene

Eleventh Hour (Opening Theme)

2009

The Taking of Pelham 123

Em

Urban Thriller (Music producer. Original Score composed by David Buckley).

2010

(main themes, producer, music composed by David Arnold)

Shrek Forever After

Unstoppable

The Town

Twelve

2011

Cowboys & Aliens

Life in a Day

Emma's War (Unconfirmed)

2012

Potsdamer Platz (unconfirmed)

Videogames

2001

(with Norihiko Hibino)

2002

(White Sorter Edition)

2004

(with Norihiko Hibino)

2006

(Themes and samples only) (Uncredited)

2007

Plasma Pong

(main theme and music producer. Original score by Stephen Barton)

2008

(with Nobuko Toda)

Awards and nominations

Awards

1999 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Antz (with John Powell)

1999 BMI Film & TV Awards - Antz (with John Powell)

1999 BMI Film & TV Awards - Enemy of State

2001 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Chicken Run (with John Powell)

2001 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music Score an Animated Feature Production - Shrek (with John Powell)

2001 BMI Film & TV Awards - Chicken Run (with John Powell)

2002 BMI Film & TV Awards - Shrek (with John Powell)

2005 BMI Film & TV Awards - Shrek 2

2005 BMI Film & TV Awards - Man on Fire

2005 Hollywood Film Award for Composer of the Year

2006 BMI Film & TV Awards - BMI Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement

2005 Satellite Award for Outstanding Original Score - Kingdom of Heaven

2009 BMI Film & TV Awards -

2009 BMI Film & TV Awards - Eleventh Hour (with Graeme Revell and David E. Russo)

2009 Brooklyn International Film Festival Certificate of Excellence - Em (with Jim Jermanok, Jesse Biltz and Britt Napier)

Nominations

1997 Saturn Award for Best Music - The Rock (with Nick Glennie-Smith and Hans Zimmer)

1999 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production - Antz (with John Powell)

2001 Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Score - Chicken Run (with John Powell)

2002 Saturn Award for Best Music - Shrek (with John Powell)

2002 Golden Satellite Award for Best Original Score - Spy Game

2002 BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music - Shrek (with John Powell)

2004 Annie Award for Outstanding Music in an Animated Feature Production -

2004 World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year - Shrek 2

2004 World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year - Shrek 2

2005 Annie Award for Music in an Animated Feature Production - Shrek 2

2006 Golden Globe for Best Original Score - Motion Picture -

2006 World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written for Film - "Can't Take It In" from (with Imogen Heap)

2007 Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media -

2007 World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Score of the Year - Shrek the Third

2007 World Soundtrack Award for Film Composer of the Year - Deja Vu, Shrek the Third, The Number 23 and Flushed Away

2010 Saturn Award for Best Original Score - Unstoppable

References

External links

Artist profile at OverClocked ReMix

An interview with Harry Gregson-Williams

Epicenter Games Interviews Harry Gregson-Williams, an interview with Harry Gregson-Williams regarding Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, from EpicenterGames

Harry Gregson-Williams at scorereviews.com

Category:1961 births Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Category:British film score composers Category:English film score composers Category:Living people Category:Shrek music Category:Video game composers

Name	Hans Zimmer
Landscape	yes
Background	non_performing_personnel
Birth name	Hans Florian Zimmer
Born	September 12, 1957
Origin	Frankfurt, Germany
Instrument	Piano, keyboard, guitar
Genre	Film score
Occupation	Film composer
Years active	1977–present
Label	Remote Control Productions
Url	http://www.hans-zimmer.com

Hans Florian Zimmer (born September 12, 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. For nearly three decades he has composed music for over 100 films including some critically acclaimed film scores, such as The Lion King, Gladiator, and The Dark Knight. Some of his recent works are Frost/Nixon (2008), Angels & Demons (2009), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Inception (2010), and Megamind (2010).

Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He is the head of the film music division at DreamWorks studios, and works with other composers through the company which he founded, Remote Control Productions.

His works are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. He has received four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Classical BRIT Award, and an Academy Award. Zimmer is also ranked Number 72 on the list of the "Top 100 living geniuses", published by The Daily Telegraph.

Early life and career

Zimmer was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and moved to London as a teenager, where he attended Hurtwood House school. In an interview with the German television station ZDF in 2006, he commented: "My father died when I was just a child, and I escaped somehow into the music and music has been my best friend." Zimmer began his career playing keyboards and synthesizers. He worked with The Buggles, a New Wave band formed in 1977 with Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, and Bruce Woolley. Zimmer can be seen briefly in The Buggles' music video for the 1979 song "Video Killed the Radio Star". After working with The Buggles, he started to work for the Italian group Krisma, a New Wave band formed in 1976 with Maurizio Arcieri and Christina Moser. He was a featured synthesist for Krisma’s third album, Cathode Mamma. He has also worked with the band Helden (with Warren Cann from Ultravox). In the 1980s, Zimmer partnered with Stanley Myers, a prolific film composer who wrote the scores for over sixty films. Zimmer and Myers co–founded the London–based Lillie Yard recording studio. Together, Myers and Zimmer worked on fusing the traditional orchestral sound with electronic instruments. Some of the films on which Zimmer and Myers worked are Moonlighting (1982), Success is the Best Revenge (1984), Insignificance (1985), and My Beautiful Launderette (1985). Zimmer's first solo score was Terminal Exposure for director Nico Mastorakis in 1987, for which he also wrote the songs. Zimmer acted as score producer for the 1988 film The Last Emperor, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Hollywood film scoring

A turning point in Zimmer's career occurred with the 1988 film Rain Man. In the score, Zimmer uses synthesizers (mostly a Fairlight CMI) mixed with steel drums. Zimmer explained that "It was a road movie, and road movies usually have jangly guitars or a bunch of strings. I kept thinking don't be bigger than the characters. Try to keep it contained. The Raymond character doesn't actually know where he is. The world is so different to him. He might as well be on Mars. So, why don't we just invent our own world music for a world that doesn't really exist?". Zimmer’s score for Rain Man was nominated for an Academy Award in 1989, and the film won four Academy Awards including Best Picture.

A year after Rain Man, Zimmer was asked to compose the score for Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy which, like Rain Man, won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Driving Miss Daisy’s instrumentation consisted entirely of synthesizers and samplers, played by Zimmer. According to an interview with Sound On Sound magazine in 2002, the piano sounds heard within the score come from the Roland MKS–20, a rackmount synthesizer. Zimmer joked: "It didn't sound anything like a piano, but it behaved like a piano."

1991's Thelma & Louise soundtrack by Zimmer featured the trademark slide guitar performance by Pete Haycock on the "Thunderbird" theme in the film. As a teenager, Zimmer was a fan of Haycock, and their collaboration on film scores includes K2 and Drop Zone.

For the 1992 film The Power of One, Zimmer traveled to Africa in order to use African choirs and drums in the recording of the score. On the strength of this work, Disney Animation Studios approached Zimmer to compose the score for the 1994 film The Lion King. This was to be his first score for an animated film. Zimmer said that he had wanted to go to South Africa to record parts of the soundtrack, but was unable to visit the country as he had a police record there "for doing 'subversive' movies" after his work on The Power of One. Disney studio bosses expressed fears that Zimmer would be killed if he went to South Africa, so the recording of the choirs was organized during a visit by Lebo M. Zimmer won numerous awards for his work on The Lion King, including an Academy Award for Best Music (Original Score), a Golden Globe, and two Grammys. In 1997, the score was adapted into a Broadway musical version which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1998.

Zimmer's score for Crimson Tide (1995) won a Grammy Award for the main theme, which makes heavy use of synthesizers in place of traditional orchestral instruments. For The Thin Red Line (1998), Zimmer said that the director Terrence Malick wanted the music before he started filming, so he recorded six and a half hours of music. Bruckheimer wanted Zimmer to rescore the film, but due to his commitments on The Last Samurai, the task of composing and supervising music for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was given to Klaus Badelt, one of Zimmer's colleagues at Media Ventures. Zimmer provided some themes that were used in the film, although he is not credited on screen. Zimmer was hired as the composer for the two subsequent films in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and (2007).

Zimmer is also noted for his work on the scores of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), on which he collaborated with James Newton Howard. Zimmer succeeded in reversing the decision not to nominate The Dark Knight in December 2008, arguing that the process of creating a modern film score was collaborative, and that it was important to credit a range of people who had played a part in its production. Zimmer explained his approach to scoring with other musicians in an interview with Soundtrack.net in 2006:

"Originally I had this idea that it should be possible to create some kind of community around this kind of work, and I think by muddying the titles - not having "you are the composer, you are the arranger, you are the orchestrator" - it just sort of helped us to work more collaboratively. It wasn't that important to me that I had "score by Hans Zimmer" and took sole credit on these things. It's like Gladiator: I gave Lisa Gerrard the co-credit because, even though she didn't write the main theme, her presence and contributions were very influential. She was more than just a soloist, and this is why I have such a problem with specific credits."

Zimmer works with other composers through his company Remote Control Productions, formerly known as Media Ventures. His studio in Santa Monica, California has an extensive range of computer equipment and keyboards, allowing demo versions of film scores to be created quickly. His colleagues at the studio have included Steve Jablonsky, James Dooley, Geoff Zanelli, Henning Lohner, Harry Gregson-Williams, Mark Mancina, John Van Tongeren, John Powell and Thomas J.Bergersen.

In October 2000, Zimmer performed live in concert for the first time with an orchestra and choir at the 27th Annual Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent. He has received a range of honors and awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in film Composition from the National Board of Review, the Frederick Loewe Award in 2003 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, and BMI's Richard Kirk Award for lifetime achievement in 1996. Recent work includes the Spanish language film Casi Divas Sherlock Holmes and The Burning Plain (2009). He composed the theme for the television boxing series The Contender, and worked with Lorne Balfe on the music for , which was his first video game project.

In December 2010, Zimmer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He dedicated the award to his publicist and long term friend Ronni Chasen, who was shot dead in Beverly Hills the previous month.

Zimmer lives in Los Angeles with his wife Suzanne, and has four children.

Discography

Composer

{| style="width:100%;" |- style="vertical-align:top;" | style="width:50%;"| 1982

Moonlighting (with Stanley Myers)

1984

(with Stanley Myers)

Eureka (with Stanley Myers)

Success Is the Best Revenge (with Stanley Myers)

1985

My Beautiful Laundrette (with Stanley Myers)

Insignificance (with Stanley Myers)

1986

Separate Vacations (with Stanley Myers)

The Lightship (with Stanley Myers)

Castaway (with Stanley Myers)

1987

Terminal Exposure (with Stanley Myers)

Going for Gold (TV) - Opening and closing title themes

1988

Burning Secret

Rain Man (Oscar Nomination)

Paperhouse (with Stanley Myers)

Nightmare at Noon (with Stanley Myers)

Maniac City (with Stanley Myers)

A World Apart

First Born (TV Movie)

Taffin (with Stanley Myers)

The Nature of the Beast (with Stanley Myers)

Spies Inc. (with Fiachra Trench)

The Fruit Machine

1989

Black Rain

Driving Miss Daisy

Twister

Diamond Skulls

New Music in Films

1990

Chicago Joe and the Showgirl (with Shirley Walker)

Green Card

Pacific Heights

Fools of Fortune

Days of Thunder

Bird on a Wire

Dark Obsession (with Stanley Myers)

1991

Thelma & Louise

Regarding Henry

Backdraft

K2

White Fang (with Basil Poledouris)

1992

Toys

Radio Flyer

Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (with Mark Mancina)

A League Of Their Own

The Power of One

(with Mark Mancina) - Main Theme

1993

Younger and Younger

The House of the Spirits

True Romance (theme based on Gassenhauer by Carl Orff)

Point of No Return

Calendar Girl

Cool Runnings (with Nick Glennie-Smith)

1994

Drop Zone

Renaissance Man

I'll Do Anything

The Lion King (Golden Globe & Oscar Winner)

The Critic

1995

Nine Months

Beyond Rangoon

Crimson Tide (Grammy Winner)

Two Deaths

Something to Talk About (with Graham Preskett)

1996

The Preacher's Wife (Oscar Nomination)

The Fan

Muppet Treasure Island

The Whole Wide World (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

The Rock (with Nick Glennie-Smith and Harry Gregson-Williams)

Broken Arrow

| style="width:50%;"| 1997

As Good As It Gets (Oscar Nomination)

The Peacemaker

Smilla's Sense of Snow (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

1998

The Thin Red Line (Oscar Nomination)

The Prince of Egypt (Golden Globe & Oscar Nomination)

The Last Days

1999

Chill Factor (with John Powell)

2000

An Everlasting Piece

Gladiator (with Lisa Gerrard) (Golden Globe Winner, Oscar Nomination)

The Road to El Dorado (with John Powell)

2001

Black Hawk Down

Riding in Cars with Boys

Pearl Harbor (Golden Globe Nomination)

Hannibal

Invincible (with Klaus Badelt)

The Pledge (with Klaus Badelt)

2002

The Ring

(Golden Globe Nomination)

2003

The Last Samurai (Golden Globe Nomination)

Something's Gotta Give (Last-minute replacement score, composed with several other composers)

(uncredited, with Klaus Badelt et al.)

Matchstick Men

Tears of the Sun

''Johnny English (theme song co-written with Robbie Williams)

2004

Spanglish (Golden Globe Nomination)

Laura's Star (with Nick Glennie-Smith)

Shark Tale

King Arthur

Thunderbirds

2005

The Weather Man (with James S. Levine)

Der kleine Eisbär 2 - Die geheimnisvolle Insel (with Nick Glennie-Smith)

Madagascar (with Heitor Pereira, James Dooley)

Batman Begins (with James Newton Howard)

2006

The Da Vinci Code (Golden Globe Nomination)

The Holiday

2007

The Simpsons Movie

2008

Casi Divas

The Dark Knight (with James Newton Howard) (Grammy Winner)

Kung Fu Panda (with John Powell)

The Burning Plain (with Omar Rodríguez-López)

Frost/Nixon (Golden Globe Nomination)

2009

Angels & Demons

Sherlock Holmes (Oscar Nomination)

It's Complicated (with Heitor Pereira)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Video Game) (Main Themes - Score Producer)

2010

The Pacific (Main theme only; score composed by Geoff Zanelli and Blake Neely)

Despicable Me

Inception

Megamind (with Lorne Balfe)

How Do You Know

2011

Rango

Kung Fu Panda 2 (with John Powell)

Winnie the Pooh (with Henry Jackman)

Jealous of the Birds (Documentary)

The Dilemma

Ra.One (First Bollywood project)

Sherlock Holmes 2

2012

The Dark Knight Rises (with James Newton Howard)

|}

Executive score producer

{| style="width:100%;" |- style="vertical-align:top;" | style="width:50%;"| 1987

The Last Emperor (Music by Cong Su, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Byrne)

1996

Twister (Music by Mark Mancina)

White Squall (Music by Jeff Rona)

1997

Face/Off (Music by John Powell)

The Borrowers (Music by Harry Gregson-Williams)

1998

Antz (Music by Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell)

Endurance (Music by John Powell)

With Friends Like These... (Music by John Powell)

2002

Live from Baghdad (Music by Steve Jablonsky)

2001

I Am Sam (Music by John Powell)

2003

(Music by Klaus Badelt)

2004

Ella Enchanted (Music by Nick Glennie-Smith)

House of D (Music by Geoff Zanelli)

2005

All the Invisible Children (Music by Ramin Djawadi)

Blood+ (Music by Mark Mancina)

The Island (Music by Steve Jablonsky)

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Music by Julian Nott)

| style="width:50%;"| 2006

Ask The Dust (Music by Heitor Pereira and Ramin Djawadi)

Curious George (Music by Heitor Pereira)

Over the Hedge (Music by Rupert Gregson-Williams)

The Prestige (Music by David Julyan)

Urmel Aus Dem Eis (Music by James Dooley)

2007

August Rush (Music by Mark Mancina)

Bee Movie (Music by Rupert Gregson-Williams)

Transformers (Music by Steve Jablonsky)

2008

Vantage Point (Music by Atli Örvarsson)

Babylon A.D. (Music by Atli Örvarsson)

Running the Sahara (Music by Heitor Pereira)

Iron Man (Music by Ramin Djawadi)

2009

Monsters vs. Aliens (Music by Henry Jackman)

The 4th Kind (Music by Atli Örvarsson)

(Music by Steve Jablonsky)

Sherlock Holmes

2010

Season of the Witch (Music by Atli Örvarsson)

(Music by Harry Gregson-Williams)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (Music by Steve Jablonsky)

Clash of the Titans (Music by Ramin Djawadi)

2011

(Music by Steve Jablonsky)

The Eagle (Music by Atli Örvarsson)

Ironclad (Music by Lorne Balfe)

|}

Awards

Nominations are listed below. Nominations won are listed in bold. {| style="width:100%;" |- style="vertical-align:top;" | style="width:50%;"|

Academy Awards

1989: Rain Man

1994: The Lion King

1997: The Preacher's Wife

1998: As Good As It Gets

1999: The Prince of Egypt

1999: The Thin Red Line

2001: Gladiator

2010: Sherlock Holmes

| style="width:50%;"|

Golden Globe Awards

1995: ''The Lion King

1999: The Prince of Egypt

2001: Gladiator

2002: Pearl Harbor

2003: (Best Original Song)

2004: The Last Samurai

2005: Spanglish

2007: The Da Vinci Code

2009: Frost/Nixon

2011: Inception

|} {| style="width:100%;" |- style="vertical-align:top;" | style="width:50%;"|

Grammy Awards

1991: Driving Miss Daisy

1994: The Lion King (Best Instrumental Arrangement With Accompanying Vocals)

1994: The Lion King (Best Musical Album For Children)

1996: Crimson Tide

2001: Gladiator (Shared with Lisa Gerrard)

2007:

2007: The Da Vinci Code

2009: The Dark Knight (Shared with James Newton Howard)

| style="width:50%;"|

BAFTAS

1992: Thelma & Louise

1995: The Lion King

2001: Gladiator (Shared with Lisa Gerrard)

2009: The Dark Knight (Shared with James Newton Howard)

|} {| style="width:100%;" |- style="vertical-align:top;" | style="width:50%;"|

Saturn Awards

1993: Toys - Shared with Trevor Horn

1996: Crimson Tide

1997: The Rock (Shared with Harry Gregson-Williams and Nick Glennie-Smith)

1999: The Prince of Egypt

2001: The Road to El Dorado (Shared with John Powell)

2001: Gladiator (Shared with Lisa Gerrard)

2006: Batman Begins (Shared with James Newton Howard)

2009: The Dark Knight (Shared with James Newton Howard)

2010: Sherlock Holmes

| style="width:50%;"|

Satellite Awards

1999: The Thin Red Line

2001: Gladiator

2002: Hannibal

2004: The Last Samurai

2007: The Da Vinci Code

2011: Inception

|} {| style="width:100%;" |- style="vertical-align:top;" | style="width:50%;"|

Emmys

2010: The Pacific (Outstanding Music Composition For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special) | style="width:50%;"|

Tonys

1998: The Lion King (musical) (Best Original Score)

|} {| style="width:100%;" |- style="vertical-align:top;" | style="width:50%;"|

Annies

2008: Kung Fu Panda (Music in an Animated Feature Production)

2008: Secrets of the Furious Five (Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form )

| style="width:50%;"|

Classical BRIT Awards

2001: Gladiator (Album of the Year) (Shared with Lisa Gerrard)

2008: The Dark Knight (Shared with James Newton Howard)

|}

References

External links

Interview with Hans Zimmer in Film Score Monthly

Interview with Hans Zimmer about Sherlock Holmes from C Music TV

Focus.De

Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:German film score composers Category:German composers Category:People from Frankfurt Category:1957 births Category:Living people *1

Name	John Powell
Background	non_performing_personnel
Born	September 18, 1963
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Genre	Film scores
Occupation	Composer, Conductor, Music producer
Instrument	Piano, Violin
Years active	1990-present

John Powell (born 18 September 1963) is a British composer, best known for his scores to motion pictures. He has been based in the United States since 1997 and has composed the scores to over fifty feature films.

Life and career

Powell originally trained as a violinist as a child, before studying at London's Trinity College of Music. He later ventured into jazz and rock music, playing in a soul band the Fabulistics. On leaving college, he composed music for commercials, which led to a job as an assistant to the composer Patrick Doyle on several film productions, including Much Ado About Nothing.

In 1995, he co-founded the London-based commercial music house Independently Thinking Music, which produced scores for more than 100 British and French commercials and independent films.

Powell's first film score was for the 1990 film Stay Lucky. He moved to the U.S. in 1997, and scored his first major film, Antz in 1998, the first film produced by Dreamworks Animation which he co-scored with fellow British composer Harry Gregson-Williams. Two years later the two collaborated again to compose the score to Chicken Run, and again the following year on Shrek, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. All subsequent 'Shrek' films however, have been solely scored by Gregson-Williams. During 2001 he also scored Evolution, I Am Sam, Just Visiting, and Rat Race.

In 2002 Powell was hired to score The Bourne Identity, after Carter Burwell left the project, and has gone on to score all of director Doug Liman's subsequent films. He also returned to score the other two films in the series; The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, which were both directed by British director Paul Greengrass.

Following the Bourne films, Powell collaborated with Liman again to score the 2005 film Mr and Mrs Smith. That year, he also scored Robots.

In 2006, he scored Greengrass' United 93. He also composed music for , following David Newman, who scored the first 'Ice Age' film, as well as X-Men: The Last Stand, and Happy Feet, for which he won a Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for an Animated Feature Film. The following year he scored The Bourne Ultimatum. In 2008 he collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer to score Kung Fu Panda, and also wrote music that year for Jumper, Hancock, and Bolt. In 2009 he scored the third, and to date, most popular installment in the 'Ice Age' series; .

In 2010, Powell composed the score to How To Train Your Dragon. This was his sixth score for a Dreamworks Animation film, although the first where he composed the whole score himself. That year, he has also scored Greengrass' Green Zone, and Knight and Day.

Discography

Artist	John Powell
Soundtrack	52

{| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title |- | 1990 | Stay Lucky |- | 1994 | The Wild Heels |- |rowspan="2"| 1996 | High Incident |- | Human Bomb |- | 1997 | Face/Off |- |rowspan="3"| 1998 | Antz (with Harry Gregson-Williams) |- | With Friends Like These... |- | Endurance |- |rowspan="2"| 1999 | Chill Factor |- | Forces of Nature |- |rowspan="2"| 2000 | Chicken Run (with Harry Gregson-Williams) |- | The Road to El Dorado (with Hans Zimmer) |- |rowspan="5"| 2001 | Evolution |- | I Am Sam |- | Just Visiting |- | Rat Race |- | Shrek (with Harry Gregson-Williams) |- |rowspan="5"| 2002 | The Bourne Identity |- | D-Tox |- | Drumline |- | The Adventures of Pluto Nash |- | Two Weeks Notice |- |rowspan="5"| 2003 | Agent Cody Banks |- | Gigli |- | Paycheck |- | Stealing Sinatra |- | The Italian Job |- |rowspan="3"| 2004 | Alfie |- | Mr. 3000 |- | |- |rowspan="3"| 2005 | Be Cool |- | Mr. & Mrs. Smith |- | Robots |- |rowspan="4"| 2006 | |- | United 93 |- | |- | Happy Feet |- |rowspan="3"|2007 | |- | ''Stop-Loss |- | ''PS, I Love You |- |rowspan="5"|2008 | Horton Hears a Who! |- | Jumper |- | Kung Fu Panda (with Hans Zimmer) |- | Hancock |- | Bolt |- |rowspan="1"|2009 | |- |rowspan="3"|2010 | How to Train Your Dragon |- | Green Zone |- | Knight and Day |- |rowspan="4"|2011 | Mars Needs Moms! (taking over as composer from Hans Zimmer) |- | Rio (with will.i.am and Sérgio Mendes) |- | Kung Fu Panda 2 (with Hans Zimmer) |- | The Smurfs

|- Happy Feet 2

Awards and nominations

Awards

1998 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Face/Off

1999 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Antz

2001 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Chicken Run (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

2001 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music Score an Animated Feature Production - Shrek (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

2002 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Shrek (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

2003 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - The Bourne Identity

2004 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - The Italian Job

2005 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - The Bourne Supremacy

2006 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Mr. and Mrs. Smith

2006 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - Robots

2009 Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Feature Production - Kung Fu Panda (with Hans Zimmer)

2009 Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form - (with Henry Jackman and Hans Zimmer)

Nominations

1998 Saturn Award for Best Music - Face/Off

1999 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production - Antz (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

2000 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production - The Road to El Dorado (with Hans Zimmer, Elton John and Tim Rice)

2001 Saturn Award for Best Music - The Road to El Dorado (with Hans Zimmer)

2001 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards for Best Original Score - Chicken Run (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

2002 BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music - Shrek (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

2002 Saturn Award for Best Music - Shrek (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

2005 Golden Satellite Award for Best Original Score - Alfie (with David A. Stewart and Mick Jagger)

2005 World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year - The Bourne Supremacy

2005 World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year - The Bourne Supremacy

2006 World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year -

2007 Saturn Award for Best Music -

2007 Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Feature Production -

2007 BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music - Happy Feet

2007 World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year - Happy Feet

2008 Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media - Happy Feet

2008 Satellite Award for Best Original Score - Horton Hears a Who!

2008 World Soundtrack Award for Film Composer of the Year - The Bourne Ultimatum

2008 Saturn Award for Best Music - The Bourne Ultimatum

2009 Saturn Award for Best Music - Jumper

2009 Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Feature Production - Horton Hears a Who!

2010 Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production -

External links

SoundtrackNet - John Powell Biography

Category:1963 births Category:English film score composers Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Living people Category:Shrek music

{{Infobox Narnia character |image=Aslan2005.jpg |caption=Aslan in the 2005 film , voiced by Liam Neeson. |name=Aslan |race=Talking Lion / deity |nation=Aslan's Country |gender=Male |major1=The Magician's Nephew |major2=The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |major4=Prince Caspian |major7=The Last Battle |film1=1988-90 BBC miniseries: Ronald Pickup (voice) |film2=2005-10 Walden film series: Liam Neeson (voice) and was also used as a title by Seljuq and Ottoman rulers.

Throughout the series, it is stated that Aslan is "not a tame lion", since, despite his gentle and loving nature, he is powerful and can be dangerous. He has many followers, which include vast numbers of Talking Beasts, Centaurs, Fauns, Dryads, Dwarfs, Satyrs, Naiads, Hamadryads, Mermaids, Silvans, Unicorns, and Winged Horses. Lewis often capitalises the word lion, since, at least partially, he represents Jesus.

Biography

In The Magician's Nephew

(This is the first story in the chronology of Narnia, and of its human visitors, but the sixth tale that Lewis wrote, and for most readers, it is not the first meeting with the character.)

Aslan makes his first appearance at the creation of Narnia. When Digory, Polly, Jadis, Uncle Andrew, the Cabby and Fledge inadvertently enter a new world using magic rings, they find it an empty void. Aslan appears, and through the power of his singing, calls the world of Narnia into existence.

While all the characters immediately feel awe for Aslan, Jadis expresses this as fear and hatred, and unsuccessfully assaults Aslan with an iron bar that she tore from a lamp-post in London before fleeing. Aslan is unperturbed, and continues calling plants and animals into existence. The power of his song is so great that even the iron bar, dropped on fertile earth, grows into a functioning lamp post, and toffees sprout into fruit trees. Aslan claims the power of his song will last for a few days.

Aslan then selects certain species from among the beasts that his song has called into existence, and gives them the power of speech and reason. He instructs them to look after the animals. He appoints the Cabby to be King Frank of Narnia, and brings his wife Nellie to Narnia from Earth to be Queen Helen.

Aslan explains that Jadis will pose a great threat to the Narnians, and charges Digory and Polly with a quest to acquire a magic fruit to protect the land. He turns the horse Strawberry into a winged horse named Fledge. When the quest is complete, he crowns the Cabby and Nellie, and advises Digory on how to care for his sick mother.

At the end of the novel, he takes Digory, Polly and Uncle Andrew back to the Wood between the Worlds, without the use of magic rings, and warns them that their Earth is in danger of a similar fate to the dead world Charn which is the world that Jadis (the White Witch) is from.

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

(This is the second Narnia story chronologically, but the first one Lewis wrote, and for many readers their introduction to Aslan.)

Narnia is in the hundredth year of the tyrannical rule of Jadis, the White Witch, who has condemned the land to endless winter, with Narnians lamenting that her rule is "Always winter but never Christmas". The Witch has turned hundreds of Aslan's followers to stone after they failed to swear their allegiance to her, while she has ordered others that they must hand over any Sons of Adam or Daughters of Eve that they see in Narnia. But the Narnians are beginning to anticipate the return of Aslan: in fearful secrecy they repeat that "Aslan is on the move" as a message of hope. The Narnians expect Aslan to bring an end to the White Witch's tyrannical reign.

Four human children from Earth (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) are aided by Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who undertake to lead them to Aslan. But before they set off, Edmund leaves to betray them to the White Witch, having met her on his first visit to Narnia. He soon discovers that she is the true tyrant and bears him no good will. The other children find Aslan leading a large gathering of Narnians preparing for war. Aslan sends some Narnians to attack the Witch and her small entourage, and Edmund is rescued by Aslan's creatures just as the Witch is preparing to kill him. Meanwhile, Aslan makes Peter a knight for slaying Maugrim, chief of the Witch's secret police.

The White Witch comes in parley and demands her right to execute Edmund as a traitor, citing Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time. Aslan offers himself in Edmund's place during a private conversation which nobody else hears, and she accepts his offer. On the Stone Table, as Susan and Lucy watch in secret, the White Witch mocks Aslan and slays him with her knife.

The Witch leaves with her army to attack the Narnians. Lucy, Susan, and a number of mice remove the bonds from Aslan's body; but as dawn breaks they find that his body is gone, and Aslan reappears alive, thanks to a Deeper Magic from before the Dawn of Time. The Witch, having entered Narnia only at the Dawn of Time, had not known of this. Aslan explains that "when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward."

Aslan goes to the Witch's palace and with his Breath brings the statues of her petrified enemies back to life. He leads them all to aid Peter, Edmund, and the Narnian army, who are fighting the Witch's army. At the conclusion of the battle, Aslan leaps upon the witch and kills her.

Aslan crowns the four children as Kings and Queens of Narnia, and then during the celebration he quietly slips away. The children say nothing about it, for Mr. Beaver had warned them, "...one day you'll see him and another you won't." Mr. Beaver's comments serve as a foreshadowing of Aslan's role in the books to follow.

In The Horse and his Boy

The Horse and His Boy is set during the reign of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy in Narnia, the only extended story told of that period.

The Horse and His Boy is about finding one's home. For Bree and Hwin, the talking horses in this story, the home they seek is the land of Narnia, where they were born. For Shasta and Aravis, the two humans who journey with them, finding "home" is more a matter of the heart.

Aslan's repeated influence throughout "The Horse and his Boy" is at first hidden from the characters. Secretly, he delivered the infant Prince Cor of Archenland from his enemies, placing him into the hands of a Calormene fisherman (who gave him the name of Shasta). When Shasta meets Bree, it is Aslan, disguised as a "witless" lion, who forces them into joining up with Aravis and Hwin. Aslan comforts Shasta in the form of a cat when he feels abandoned at the Tombs of the Ancient Kings (although as a lion, he defends him from predatory jackals). It is Aslan who chases Bree and Hwin so that they will reach Archenland in time to warn the king of the impending attack by the Calormene army. He gives Shasta the resolve to help save Archenland and Narnia from the invaders. He slashes Aravis across her back with his claws. The attack is not terrible, however; Aslan explains that it is punishment for her disregard for her servant's safety when she ran away from home. The cuts on her back equal the severity of the servant's whipping.

Eventually, Aslan shows himself directly to the travellers, addressing their fears, or their self-pity, or their condescension towards others, or their pomposity. One day after the victory over Rabadash's army in the Battle of Anvard, Aslan reveals himself to Rabadash in an effort to free him of his arrogant and violent ways. When kind words and forgiveness fail to soften Rabadash who called Aslan the "demon of Narnia," Aslan resorts to an act of severe kindness: he turns Rabadash into a donkey. He leaves Rabadash with a cure for his "condition", requiring that he humble himself before all of his Calormen people: Rabadash must go to the temple of the Calormen god, Tash (since Rabadash had insulted Aslan in Tash's name). There he would be turned back into a man. However, if he walks past a limit, he will be turned back into a donkey permanently.

In Prince Caspian

1,300 Narnian years after the events in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan and the Pevensie children have become near-forgotten myths. Narnia is now ruled by Telmarines, humans who have settled in Narnia. The Telmarines fear native Narnians and their magic, and seek to exterminate them. Miraz, the king of the Telmarines, has usurped his brother's throne and determines to do away with his nephew, Prince Caspian, the rightful heir. He refused to accept that "old Narnians" ever existed, and forbids talk of them at his castle.

Caspian escapes into the forest, where Narnians offer him help and shelter, but his escape is soon detected and Miraz's soldiers soon encounter the Old Narnians, sparking a fierce battle. The Pevensies, recalled into Narnia when Caspian in desperation winds Susan's magical horn, are shown the right way to Caspian by Aslan, and find their faith tested as Aslan does not appear to them until they really try to see him.

Aslan's How, a mound on the site of the Stone Table, serves as the gathering point for loyal Narnians, where Prince Caspian forms his army to fight against his uncle for Narnia. Meanwhile, Aslan re-awakens the spirits of the forest and the river, leading a Bacchanalian revel through the oppressed towns and fomenting a popular revolution.

When the Telmarines are defeated and the Old Order is restored, Aslan creates a door in the air allowing the children (and the Telmarines who did not want to live in a renewed Narnia where animals and humans had equality) to return to Earth. He tells Peter and Susan that they are now too old to return to Narnia, having learned all they can from their experiences there. However, he tells Edmund and Lucy that they may return to Narnia.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Caspian, having established peace in Narnia as the new King, sets out on a voyage in search of the Seven Lost Lords, who had been loyal to his late father and been banished by Miraz after he killed Caspian's father. The talking mouse Reepicheep accompanies him in hopes that their voyage will lead to Aslan's Country in the uttermost East, for he was told by a dryad that his fate lies in Aslan's country.

Edmund, Lucy and their cousin Eustace arrive in the story when they are carried into Narnia through a painting of a ship which transforms into Caspian's ship, Dawn Treader. Lucy and Caspian later come to the conclusion that it was Aslan who summoned the three children into Narnia, as he felt they would be useful on Caspian's quest.

On many of the islands where they stop, a brief glimpse of Aslan, or his image, is enough to guide Caspian and his crew away from danger and folly. When the Eustace is turned into a dragon, Aslan meets with him and pulls the dragon-skin away, leaving him as a human boy and a more pleasant person.

In a magician's house on another island, Lucy attempts to perform a spell that would make her dazzlingly beautiful, despite knowing that this would cause havoc as thousands of men would battle to win her favour. Just as she is about to say the words, however, she sees an image of Aslan snarling at her, frightening her from pronouncing the spell. Aslan also reprimands her for using another spell to see what her friends say about her: Lucy had seen one of her friends renouncing Lucy's friendship, but Aslan tells Lucy that her friend did love her, but feared an older girl who was present. He also assures Lucy that she will once again read a story-spell that she had read in the magician's house, which Lucy felt was the best story ever.

Eventually, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, and Reepicheep reach the world's end, where Aslan appears as a lamb before transforming into a lion (a scene which also contains a direct reference to John 21:12, where Jesus appears after his resurrection and makes a breakfast of fish for the disciples). He shows Reepicheep the way to his country and helps the children return home. He tells Edmund and Lucy that, like Peter and Susan, they have become too old to return to Narnia, and that they must instead come to know him in their world — a relatively direct reference to the Christian theme of the series. However, he does not say that Eustace will not return to Narnia.

In The Silver Chair

The story begins with Eustace Scrubb, who was introduced in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and his classmate Jill. They are unhappy at their school, where bullying is left uncorrected. One day they are beset by bullies, and Eustace suggests that they ask for Aslan's help. They blunder through a temporary gate and find themselves in Aslan's Country, atop an immense cliff. Jill, showing off, moves too close to the edge, and Eustace falls off trying to pull her back.

Aslan appears and saves Eustace by blowing him into Narnia; then he explains to Jill that she and Eustace are charged with the quest of finding Prince Rilian, Caspian's son, who disappeared years before. He tells her that their task has become more difficult because of what she did, but gives her four Signs to guide them on their quest. The fourth and final Sign is that at a key moment they will be asked to do something "in Aslan's name".

According to the Narnian timeline, fifty years have elapsed since The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Aslan then blows Jill into Narnia, where she arrives a few moments after Eustace. They see a very old King Caspian setting sail to search for Aslan one last time, but fail to realise who he is until it is too late, and are unable to speak to him. However, the elderly Lord Regent, Trumpkin the Dwarf, takes them to Cair Paravel. There they are aided by Master Glimfeather the Owl and a Parliament of his fellow talking owls (a pun on Chaucer's Parlement of Foules, and a nod toward "parliament" as a collective noun for owls, as "exaltation" is for larks). The owls explain that Rilian disappeared while searching for the green serpent that killed his mother, and believe that he is now under the spell of an enchantress he had seen in the forest while searching for the serpant who killed his mother. As Jill and Eustace journey toward the far north of Narnia, they acquire a companion and guide, a gloomy but stalwart Marsh-wiggle, fittingly named Puddleglum.

Aslan makes no further appearance until the end of the story, but his Signs prove central to the quest, and belief in Aslan plays a crucial part in defeating the evil force in this book Lady of the Green Kirtle who tries to destroy the children's belief in the reality of Narnia. They also manage to rescue Rilian and return him to Narnia just in time to meet his father who dies shortly afterwards.

In the end, Aslan sends Jill and Eustace back to our world, and aided by a rejuvenated Caspian, helps them repay the school bullies — and make a better school in the process. Aslan himself scares the bullies by breaking down the wall (later repairing it) and letting the bullies see his back, scaring the greatly as they only know him as a lion. As no one else besides Jill, Eustace and Caspian saw this, no one believes them.

In The Last Battle

The ape Shift disguises the reluctant donkey Puzzle as Aslan and fools the Narnians into thinking that Aslan has returned. Shift issues commands in "Aslan's" name and takes advantage of the credulous Narnians.

Shift and the unbelieving Calormene leader Rishda Tarkaan encourage the invading Calormenes and the dispirited Narnians to treat Aslan and the Calormene god Tash as a single, combined being — "Tashlan". Dissenters are thrown into Puzzle's stable, supposedly to meet "Tashlan", where they are murdered by Calormene soldiers.

King Tirian of Narnia calls on Aslan for help, and Jill and Eustace arrive in Narnia. They help Tirian and the remaining loyal Narnians battle the Calormenes and their allies, but are all forced through the stable door along with several Black Dwarfs who, unlike the Red Dwarfs, have lost faith in Aslan and anything redolent of him. They find themselves not within the confines of a stable, but in a paradise: Aslan's Country. Aslan is there, with King Peter and other characters from previous books, and they watch through the stable door as the world of Narnia is destroyed. But the Dwarfs are unable to see Aslan's Country, certain that they are inside an ordinary stable. When Lucy asks Aslan to help them, he tells her that he will show her what he can and what he cannot do. He then growls at the Dwarfs, and makes food magically appear in their hands. This fails to convince them: they think that the growling is a machine and that the food is only what would normally be found in a stable. Aslan tells the children that the Dwarfs shut themselves out from him, and therefore cannot be reached, much like Uncle Andrew in The Magician's Nephew.

Aslan then commands Peter to shut the door on Narnia, and leads them into his country, a platonic ideal of Narnia. He greets Emeth, a devout yet kind Tash-worshipping Calormene, telling him that "I and Tash are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him." As they get "further up and further in," the Narnians find Aslan's country getting bigger and better, eventually encompassing Earth as well. At the very end, drawing close to the Christian theme, Aslan appears no longer as a lion, and the word He (referring to Aslan) becomes capitalised. His country is Heaven and He is Jesus the Christ. Digory, Polly, Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, and Jill learn that they have died, or rather, passed into Aslan's country which is seen as reality.

The Seven Friends of Narnia, as they are called, all died, as did the Pevensies' parents, in a train crash on Earth and now live with Him in eternity. Susan, who was not aboard the train, continued to live in England.

Influences

The theory that the figure of Aslan may have been inspired by a mysterious lion which appears and disappears suddenly at key moments in the novel The Place of the Lion, written by Lewis' close friend Charles Williams, was specifically denied by Lewis in a paper published later in his life.

Christian interpretation

Although Aslan can be read as an original character, there are parallels with the character and story of Christ. In particular, Aslan's sacrifice and subsequent resurrection parallel Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. Aslan also has God-like powers; he created Narnia with a song (The Magician’s Nephew). The Emperor-Over-the-Sea then refers to God the Father, and Aslan’s country (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) to heaven. In The Last Battle a new Narnia is made and also a new Earth, as in the Book of Revelation. Furthermore, there are biblical references of Christ being called a lion, as in Revelation 5:5 "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof" (KJV). When he first appeared at the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he looked like a lamb, which is also a symbol of Christ, who is frequently described throughout the New Testament as being like "a lamb led to the slaughter."

According to the author, Aslan is not an allegorical portrayal of Christ, but rather a different, hypothetical, incarnation of Christ himself: This interpretation is related to J. R. R. Tolkien's concept of "secondary creation" expounded in his 1947 essay "On Fairy-Stories," reflecting discussions Lewis and Tolkien had in the Inklings group.

Aslan's words to the Calormene in The Last Battle (I take to me the services which thou hast done to [the false god]... if any man swear by [him] and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by [Christ] that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him"), ratifying the good deeds the latter did even under the name of Tash, have been the subject of controversy in some Christian circles. See Emeth for details.

Portrayals

In the animated adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe distributed by the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), Aslan is voiced by Stephen Thorne.

Thorne also makes appearances as the Great Lion in the adaptations made in the mid-1990s by BBC Radio.

In all four of the BBC television serial adaptations of the late 1980s and early 1990s (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [two tales told in one package], The Silver Chair), Aslan is voiced by Ronald Pickup and the costume is operated by William Todd Jones, who also appeared as Glenstorm the centaur.

In the Focus on the Family radio adaptations, he is portrayed by David Suchet.

In the 2005 film, , the CGI Aslan is voiced by Liam Neeson. Neeson returned to voice the character in the sequel, in 2008, and the third film in the series, .

Aslan appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Robot Chicken's Half-Assed Christmas Special" voiced by Seth MacFarlane. Appearing in a segment parodying Narnia, he is referred to as "the Jesus-allegory Lion," and is seen talking to a centaur answering if he had seen Equus when his head gets cut off by the nerd riding a unicorn.

The parody film "Epic Movie" portrays Aslan (called Aslo) as a half lion, half man played by Fred Willard.

References

External links

SparkNotes reference to the meaning of Aslan's death

"Aslan is still on the move" Christianity Today editorial, 6 August 2001.

Category:The Chronicles of Narnia characters Category:Fictional deities Category:Fictional kings Category:Fictional lions Category:Jesus in popular culture Category:Fictional versions of real people Category:Talking animals in fiction

Name	Lisa Gerrard
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Lisa Gerrard
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Born	April 12, 1961
Genre	Neoclassical, New Age, Ethereal Wave, Gothic rock
Occupation	ComposerSingerMusician
Years active	1981–present
Instrument	VocalsYangqinAccordion
Notable songs	Now We Are FreeSanveanHost of the Seraphim
Label	Gerrard Records
Associated acts	Dead Can Dance
Url	Lisa Gerrard

Lisa Gerrard (born April 12, 1961) is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry.

Since her career began in 1981, she has been involved in a wide range of projects. Gerrard received a Golden Globe Award for the music score to the film Gladiator, on which she collaborated with Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt. In addition to singing, she is an instrumentalist for much of her work, most prolifically using the yangqin (a Chinese hammered dulcimer).

Early life

Born April 12, 1961 in Melbourne, Lisa Gerrard grew up in the then Greek-Turkish suburb of Prahran with her Irish immigrant parents. On her upbringing, she has said she grew up with "Mediterranean music blaring out of the houses," and that this influenced her music, particularly on later Dead Can Dance albums and in her solo and collaborative works.

Gerrard's first foray into forming bands and creative music-making was the highly experimental Little Band scene. It was at one of these little band events that she first met Dead Can Dance cofounder Brendan Perry. Perry recalls, "It never occured to me that we would one day collaborate musically together because at the time I thought her music was too avant garde. I particularly remember one song that she sang about finding a man in the park and asking her mother if she could bring him home to keep in her wardrobe as she attacked this chinese dulcimer with two bamboo sticks."

Career

Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance originally formed as a quartet in 1981 in Melbourne, but in 1982 moved to London with members Brendan Perry, Lisa Gerrard, and bass player Paul Erikson. Shortly after coming to England, Erikson flew back to Australia, leaving the band as a duo. Dead Can Dance recorded eight albums on the 4AD Records recording label beginning with the 1984 LP, Dead Can Dance. The band split in 1998, but reunited in 2005 for a world tour.

Solo and collaborative career

In 1995 Gerrard recorded and released her first solo album The Mirror Pool. After the release of this album, she continued to work with Dead Can Dance, releasing their final album, Spiritchaser, in 1996. Following this, in 1998 she recorded Duality in collaboration with Pieter Bourke. This album would mark the beginning of an extensive collaboration together for a number of film scores, including The Insider and Ali. Gerrard began a new collaboration with Patrick Cassidy in 2004 with the release of Immortal Memory. Again, this collaboration was furthered in film work, including Salem's Lot.

The following year in 2005, Gerrard contributed to the Ashes and Snow Soundtrack. For the songs "Womb" and "Wisdom," Gerrard and Patrick Cassidy wrote and performed together. Gerrard's collaboration with Cassidy extended to include work with conductor Julie Rogers on the songs "Devota" and "Vespers."

In 2006, Sanctuary, a documentary about the life and work of Lisa Gerrard, was recorded and released in September 2006. It is the work of multi-skilled producer/director Clive Collier and features extensive interviews with Lisa Gerrard and various people who have collaborated and worked with her in the past including Michael Mann, Russell Crowe, Hans Zimmer, and Niki Caro. The documentary was released on DVD by Milan Entertainment on April 24, 2007.

In the same year, Lisa Gerrard released her second solo album The Silver Tree. This album was markedly different from her previous work and was also her first album released outside of 4AD Records. The album was first released on iTunes, with a wider physical release planned at a future date. The album was nominated for the Australian Music Prize for 2006. It is currently shortlisted as one out of nine of the best Australian albums. In 2007 a retrospective album The Best of Lisa Gerrard, a compilation of fifteen songs, was released covering her career in Dead Can Dance, solo work, and film work.

A world tour was undertaken in 2007 beginning in April in Melbourne, Australia. This tour marked the first time Lisa Gerrard had toured in Australia, with a performance in three cities. The tour was followed by performances in Europe and North America. More performances took place in Europe and Russia from October 30 to November 22, 2007. In November 2007, Lisa Gerrard collaborated with German electronic musician Klaus Schulze on the double-album Farscape. The album was released July 27, 2008 and was followed by a European tour.

In 2009 Lisa Gerrard completed work on the documentary by Australian adventurer Tim Cope called On the Trail of Genghis Khan and contributed her voice to the soundtrack, which began airing in 2010, of the Japanese NHK taiga drama Ryōmaden, a story based on the life of Sakamoto Ryoma. Also in 2009, Lisa Gerrard created her own record label, Gerrard Records, which, aside from being a conduit for the release of Gerrard's future works will also act to promote and support unrecognised artists of all genres. In September 2009, Gerrard and Klaus Schulze performed another tour in six European cities - Warsaw, Berlin, Amsterdam, Essen, Paris, and Brussels. This tour coincided with the release of Come Quietly, a joint project between Gerrard and Schulze that was released during the tour.

Lisa Gerrard released her third solo album, The Black Opal in October 2009. The album included collaboration with Michael Edwards, Patrick Cassidy, Pieter Bourke, and James Orr and was the first release to come from Gerrard Records.

In 2010 Gerrard released a new album with fellow composer Marcello De Francisci titled "Departum" from Gerrard Records which was followed by the release of three new singles; "Coming Home" - as featured in , "Entry" and "Come This Way".

Gerrard also collaborated with Prash Mistry from "Engine Earz Experiment" on a track titled "Spirit Guide" which will appear on his upcoming album in 2011.

On 1 December 2010 Gerrard capped off a busy 2010 with the release of a new soundtrack album with Cye Wood titled "The Trail of Genghis Khan" which contains music from the Gerrard/Wood score to the documentary TV series by Australian adventurer Tim Cope.

Vocal style

2009.]]

Lisa Gerrard has a contralto vocal range. Her vocals have been variously described as rich, jaw-dropping, deep, dark, mournful and unique. Her range spans from contralto to dramatic mezzo-soprano on such songs as The Host of Seraphim, Elegy, and Space Weaver. On the other songs Sanvean and Sacrifice, Gerrard performs in the dramatic contralto range.

Gerrard sings many of her songs, such as Now We Are Free, Come Tenderness, Serenity, The Valley of the Moon, Tempest and Sanvean in an idioglossia (an idiosyncratic language) that she has developed since the age of twelve.

Film career

Lisa Gerrard's first experience in composing music for a film came with the 1989 Spanish film El Niño de la Luna, directed by Agustín Villaronga. The film score was composed by Dead Can Dance and the film featured Lisa Gerrard in her first acting role. El Niño de la Luna describes the story of David, a young orphan with special powers, escaping an institution with the help of a fellow institute inmate, Georgina, played by Lisa Gerrard.

Gerrard participated in a number of musical scores but came to fame as a film composer after recording The Insider in 1999, with Pieter Bourke, and Gladiator in 2000, with Hans Zimmer, which received an Academy Award nomination for best music score, although only Zimmer was nominated. It did, however, win a Golden Globe Award for both composers. Gerrard's score for the New Zealand independent film Whale Rider consisted entirely of solo material; a soundtrack album was released by 4AD.

In 2005 Gerrard collaborated with Ennio Morricone for Fateless followed by a collaboration with Jeff Rona on the score for the feature film "A Thousand Roads" and the song On an Ocean for the Henry Poole Is Here score. Gerrard along with Dead Can Dance also provided several contributions to the soundtrack of Baraka, a visual journey showcasing mankind's impact on our planet. Gerrard was also invited by Denez Prigent to collaborate with him on his piece "Gortoz a ran - J'attends" (meaning "I await"), a piece that was later used in the soundtrack of Ridley Scott's film Black Hawk Down.

In 2009 Lisa Gerrard wrote the score for Balibo, for which she won a Best Feature Film Score award at the 2009 APRA Screen Music Awards and an Aria Award for Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album at the 2009 Aria Awards. Gerrard finished 2009 by contributing her voice to the theme song for the Japanese NHK taiga drama Ryōmaden, which began airing in 2010.

In 2010 Gerrard completed the score for "Tears of Gaza" with Marcello De Francisci which was well received despite its controversial theme. Gerrard also scored the Jim Loach directed Oranges and Sunshine starring Emily Watson and Hugo Weaving which is set for release in April 2011.

In November 2010 Gerrard provided vocals and additional music for the post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller Priest scored by Christopher Young which is also set for release in 2011.

Discography

Dead Can Dance

Career after Dead Can Dance

Solo Albums

* The Mirror Pool (1995)

* The Silver Tree (2006), release on iTunes and by Rubber Records and re-released in 2010 by Gerrard Records

* The Best of Lisa Gerrard (2007)

* The Black Opal (2009) released by Gerrard Records

Singles

* "Sanvean" (1995)

* "The Human Game" (with Pieter Bourke, 1998)

* "Abwoon" (with Patrick Cassidy, 2003)

* "Hommage A Polska. 17 września" (with Klaus Schulze, 2009)

* Coming Home (2010) released by Gerrard Records

* Entry (2010) released by Gerrard Records

* Come This Way (2010) released by Gerrard Records

Collaboration Albums

* Duality (1998), with Pieter Bourke

* Immortal Memory (2004), with Patrick Cassidy

* Ashes and Snow (2006) with Patrick Cassidy

* Farscape (2008) with Klaus Schulze

* Rheingold (2008) with Klaus Schulze

* Dziekuje Bardzo (2009) with Klaus Schulze

* "Come Quietly" (2009) with Klaus Schulze

* Departum (2010) with Marcello De Francisci

* The Trail of Genghis Khan (2010) with Cye Wood

Miscellaneous

* Microfile: Centerfold 7" ("Centerfold" and "Window") (1981)

* Compilation entitled "From Belgrave with Love" ("Mossaic" by Lisa Gerrard and "Summer house" by Microfilm) 1981

* The Future Sound of London sample her vocals from the song "Dawn of the Iconoclast" for their 1992 hit single "Papua New Guinea" (1992)

* French promo CD-single "La bas" and "Lament"

* Compilation entitled "These Wings without Feathers" ("Dreamsong" and "Untitled") (1996)

* "The Wings of a Film - The Music of Hans Zimmer" ("Now We Are Free" live)

* With Orbital: "One Perfect Sunrise" on the album The Blue Album (2004)

* Orbital featuring Lisa Gerrard: "One Perfect Sunrise" (radio mix) CD single

* Orbital featuring Lisa Gerrard: "One Perfect Sunrise" (Phil Hartnoll mix) CD single

* With Denez Prigent: "J'attends - Gortoz A Ran" with Denez Prigent on the album Irvi

* "An Hini a Garan" with Denez Prigent on the Album Sarac'h

* Mantras of a Lost Archetype (unreleased solo album)

* The Ashes and Snow art exhibition by Gregory Colbert, (with Patrick Cassidy and Michael Brook, "Devota", "Vespers", "Womb", "Wisdom")

* View from a Window collaborative song recording in track title "There in Your Arms" (2008) with Josiah Brooks

* "Wisdom of Wind" composition with Jeff Rona, recorded by Tarja Turunen for her album My Winter Storm (2007) and present in the "Enough" single (2009)

Movie score composing/contribution

Dèmoni 2 (1986) (as Dead Can Dance)

El Niño de la Luna (1989) (as Dead Can Dance, also with Lisa Gerrard in her acting debut)

Baraka (1992) (as Dead Can Dance, with Michael Stearns)

Heat (1995) featured previously recorded material from The Mirror Pool

Nadro (1998)

The 13th Warrior (1999) with Graeme Revell (score later withdrawn)

The Insider: Soundtrack (1999), with Pieter Bourke

Gladiator (2000) with Hans Zimmer

Gladiator: More Music From the Motion Picture (2000, released 2001) with Hans Zimmer

(2000) with Hans Zimmer

Black Hawk Down (2001) - Song: "J'attends - Gortoz A Ran" with Denez Prigent

Ali (2001) with Pieter Bourke

9/11 (2002) - Song: "Sorrow" composed with Klaus Badelt

Whalerider (Original Soundtrack) (2003)

Tears of the Sun (2003) with Hans Zimmer

The West Wing (Television) (2003) - Song: "Sanvean" in the episode 7A WF 83429

King Arthur (2004) - Song: "Amergin's Invocation"

One Perfect Day (2004)

The Passion of the Christ (2004) with Patrick Cassidy (score withdrawn)

Man on Fire (2004) with Harry Gregson-Williams

'Salem's Lot (TV mini-series) (2004) with Patrick Cassidy and Christopher Gordon

Layer Cake (2004)

A Thousand Roads (2005) with Jeff Rona

Constantine (2005) (score incomplete and withdrawn)

Fateless (2005) with Ennio Morricone ("A song", "A Voice from the Inside", "Return to the Life")

Seoul Train (2005)

The Greater Meaning of Water (2006) previously recorded material

The Mist (2007) (The Host of Seraphim)

Playing for Charlie (2008)

Ichi (2008) with Michael Edwards

Balibo (2009)

Ryomaden (2010) Theme Song to TV Series

From Ararat to Zion (2010) with Ara Torosyan

(2010)

Oranges and Sunshine (2010)

Tears of Gaza (2010)

''Priest' - vocals and additional music

Sources

External links

Lisa Gerrard: Official Site

Lisa Gerrard: Official Online Store

Dead Can Dance Library

Dead-can-dance.com (Dead Can Dance Italian site)

Dead Can Dance Discography

Dead Can Dance interviews from the Echoes public radio show

Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke interview from the Ultima Thule Ambient Music radio show

Lisa Gerrard MySpace Page

popmatters.com

discogs.com

4ad.com

chicagomusicguide.com

milanrecords.com

smh.com.au">Maddox, Garry (2005) "Gerrard's scores are on the board" in smh.com.au

Sanctuary: Lisa Gerrard - A Portrait by Clive Collier Official Film Site

Category:1961 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:4AD artists Category:Australian female singers Category:Contraltos Category:Female film score composers Category:Australian film score composers Category:Australian composers Category:Australian women composers Category:Women composers Category:Musicians from Melbourne Category:Mission: Impossible music Category:Australian people of Irish descent