Michael Price (composer)

Michael Price is an Emmy Award[1] winning English composer & pianist. Prior to establishing himself as a composer, he held a number of roles within the TV & film music field such as producer, arranger and music editor, much of which whilst working alongside acclaimed film score composer Michael Kamen.

Michael Price
Background information
BornYorkshire, England
GenresContemporary Classical Music
Occupation(s)Composer, Musician
Years active1996–present
LabelsErased Tapes Records
Associated acts
Websitewww.michaelpricemusic.com

Personal life

The son of physics and biology teachers,[2] Price studied music at school,[3] before starting his music career on the Tonmeister course at Surrey University,[4] where he won the PRS composition prize in 1990.

Early career

After writing a number of scores for contemporary dance in his early 20s,[2][3][5] he became Musical Director of DNA Dance and Music, whose projects included the arts council funded chamber opera "All the Garden Gold", based on the life of William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelite movement.[6]

Film and television

Prices's first film work was in 1996, when he was invited by Michael Kamen to orchestrate and program electronic sounds for the Paramount film Event Horizon. This led to a 5-year working relationship encompassing a number of film scores in London, LA and Prague, and concerts in Berlin, New York, San Francisco and Geneva.[2][7][8] Following the production of the score to Band of Brothers, Price was approached to music edit on The Fellowship of the Ring for New Line Cinema.[6]

Prior to work as a composer, Price worked as a music editor[7] with films including Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Richard Curtis' Love Actually, Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason and Nanny McPhee. As a music editor, Michael has been nominated for 4 MPSE Golden Reel Awards, winning in 2001 for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Price has, to date scored 31 films, increasingly focussing on contemporary drama productions. Recent highlights include his partnership with acclaimed Welsh director Craig Roberts, composing the scores for Just Jim in 2015 and Eternal Beauty in 2019. In television, recent successes include Age Before Beauty, Soulmates (TV series) and all three series of ITV's hit crime drama Unforgotten which has announced its return for a fourth series in 2021.[9]

A frequent collaborator, Price often works with fellow composer David Arnold, most notably co-composing the music for all 13 episodes of Sherlock, the BBC television series created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, that premièred on BBC1 on 25 July 2010.[8] In 2015, they also co-composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premièred in October 2015.[10] Furthermore, Price has supported Arnold on film scores including Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz, The Inbetweeners Movie and The Inbetweeners 2'.

In addition to composing for Zentropa's Dommeren and Slingshot Studios' Sugarhouse he scored two documentaries for producer and director Alfonso Cuarón; The Possibility of Hope, and Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, both in 2007. Price met Cuarón when he scored additional music for the Academy Award winning feature Children of Men, working with Cuarón as music editor.

Solo career

Michael's first work to be released outside of the realms of film and television was a collection of four string quartet pieces 'A Stillness' which was released on Erased Tapes in 2012. Entanglement, his debut album (also on Erased Tapes) was released in 2015, fulfilled Michael's long-term desire to explore new musical territories, featuring Michael on the piano, with the addition of cello, soprano voice, string orchestra, modular synth, tape effects and electronics.

This was followed by Diary, 30 improvisations for solo piano, released on 1631 Recordings, and swiftly followed by his second Erased Tapes album Tender Symmetry in 2018. Tender Symmetry is a collection of orchestral and vocal works created in response to, and recorded within 7 distinctive and evocative National Trust sites. It's companion work 'Songs for Eveline' arrived in 2019.[11]

In the live sphere Michael has performed as a pianist solo as well as with the ‘Michael Price Trio and Ensemble’ at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, London, Kings Place, London, Union Chapel, London, the Casa da Musica, Porto, Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg, and the Stadsschouwburg in Leuven.[12]

Other information

Price has worked with several music bodies and organisations, including PRS, BASCA and music charity Heart N Soul. In 2015 he was the chair of the BASCA Media Executive Committee and director of the BASCA board.[13]

Solo discography

Albums
2015Entanglement (Erased Tapes Records)
2017Diary (1631 Recordings)
2018Diary Reworks (1631 Recordings)
2018Tender Symmetry (Erased Tapes Records)

EPs
2012A Stillness (Erased Tapes Records)
2012The Hope of Better Weather (The Control Room)
2014Berlin 1-3 with Peter Gregson (The Control Room)
2019Songs for Eveline (Erased Tapes Records)

Compilations
2018Erased Tapes 1+1=X (Erased Tapes Records)
2019Music for Brainwaves (Erased Tapes Records)

Remixes / reworks
2013Editors - Marching Orders (Michael Price Rework)
2018Fyfe & Iskra Strings - Arashiyama (Michael Price Remix)

Production
1999Metallica - S&M (Vertigo Records) (Technician)
2006Coldcut - Sound Mirrors (Ninja Tune) (Arrangement & Collaborator)
2008Dido - Safe Trip Home (RCA Records) (Orchestrator)

Film and television credits

Film
2002Ashes & Sand
2003LD50 Lethal Dose
2004Some Things That Stay
2005Dommeren (aka "The Judge")
2006Eight Percent
2007Dreamcatcher
2007Blind Date (2007 film)
2007The Possibility of Hope
2007Sugarhouse (film)
2007The Shock Doctrine
2008Swan Song
2008Agent Crush
2008Wild Child
20097 Lives
2009Wild Target
2009The Mountain Within
2010Soul Flowers
2010H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon
2011Island
2011Horrid Henry: The Movie
2012Cheerful Weather for the Wedding
2012A Fantastic Fear of Everything
2012My Brother Marvin
2013Delicious
2013Another Me
2014The Inbetweeners 2
2014Walter (2014 film)
2015Just Jim (2015 film)
2016Litterbugs
2018Patrick (2018 film)
2019Eternal Beauty

Television
2008Crooked House
2010Sherlock (TV series) S1 (with David Arnold)
2012Sherlock (TV series) S2 (with David Arnold)
2012Mr Stink
2012Beyond the Search
2013Lightfields
2013The Tractate Middoth
2013Gangsta Granny
2013/14Big School
2014Sherlock (TV series) S3 (with David Arnold)
2015Jekyll and Hyde (TV series)
2015Unforgotten S1
2016Sherlock (TV series) The Abominable Bride (with David Arnold)
2017Unforgotten S2
2017Sherlock (TV series) S4 (with David Arnold)
2018Unforgotten S3
2018Age Before Beauty
2020Dracula (2020 TV series) (with David Arnold)
2020Soulmates (TV series)

Music editor
2001Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
2002Insomnia
2002The Time Machine
2002The Truth About Charlie
2002The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
2003Love Actually
2002The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)
2005Goal!
2005Nanny McPhee
2006Flyboys
2006Children of Men
2007The Last Legion

Other credits
1997Event Horizon (Music Co-Producer)
1997The Winter Guest (Music Co-Producer)
1998From The Earth To The Moon (Music Co-Producer)
1998What Dreams May Come (Music Co-Producer)
1999The Iron Giant (Music Co-Producer)
2000X-Men (Music Co-Producer)
2000Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Music Co-Producer)
2001Band Of Brothers (Music Co-Producer / Orchestrator / Conductor)
2006The Da Vinci Code (Booth Reader)
2007Hot Fuzz (Additional Music)
2008Quantum of Solace (Additional Music arranger)

Awards

References
  1. "Emmy Winning Sherlock Composer Joins Surrey Tonmeister Teaching Team". surrey.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  2. "The Price of Art". Huffingtonpost.com. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  3. "Music to Picture: An Interview with Composer Michael Price". Mid0nz.wordpress.com. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  4. "Forever Surrey - University of Surrey". Alumni.surrey.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  5. "David Arnold and Michael Price talk about composing for "Sherlock"". Classicalmpr.org. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  6. "BBC Film Network". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  7. "HitFix". Hitfix.com. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  8. "Interview: Michael Price - M Magazine". M-magazine.co.uk. 5 March 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  9. "Unforgotten Season 4 Filming Restarts". radiotimes.com. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  10. "Michael Price Co-Scoring ITV's 'Jekyll & Hyde'". Film Music Reporter. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  11. "Erased Tapes - Artist - Michael Price". 3 December 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  12. "Dates - Michael Price". Michaelpricemusic.com. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  13. "Media Committee - BASCA - British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors". Basca.org.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  14. "Alan Silvestri, David Arnold & Michael Price Win Emmy Awards - Film Music Reporter". Hilmmusicreporter.com. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  15. "Awards - Michael Price". Michaelpricemusic.com. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 March 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. UK, Televisual Media Ltd. "Televisual - HOMEPAGE". Televisual.com. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  18. "RTS Craft & Design Awards 2009/2010 | Royal Television Society". 15 January 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2014.
  19. Orlowski, Michael. "Home". Mpse.org. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
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