It’s been a busy few months contributing arrangements to a number of different shows, most headed up by my friend Jules Buckley.
In May, Jules connected me with Jochen Neuffer who was putting together a show with Sophie Hunger and the Bern Symphony Orchestra. I contributed a couple arrangements to this concert.
In June, Jules came to Washington, DC, with Anoushka Shankar for a concert with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center featuring tracks from her Grammy-nominated album Between Us…. I arranged the track “Jannah,” off this album.
Later in June, back on this coast, Gustavo Santaolalla performed two arrangements of mine with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra: “All Gone: No Escape” and the theme from The Last of Us. This version of All Gone was one I actually originally wrote and conducted for the game. I was given Gustavo’s amazing themes and asked to do some orchestral arrangements. This was the first time I worked with Gustavo, and that collaboration led to so many other things, including our work on The Book of Life, Maya and the Three, and many other “related” projects for me from Trollhunters and Cabinet of Curiosities to The Bob’s Burger’s Movie.
There is actually quite a bit of my work in the original game and it is a little-known secret that some of that ended up in the recent HBO TV series!
Moving on to July, Jules put together a concert with his own Jules Buckley Orchestra and the Rampage sound system at the Barbican. I got to contribute a couple different charts to this show.
Later that same month Jules led the Metropole Orkest in a couple concerts as part of the North Sea Jazz Festival. I contributed a few charts for Corinne Bailey Rae and Glenn de Randamie (better known as Typhoon). The video below is Corinne singing “A Spell, a Prayer.”
Finally, one piece of non-arranging news! Nimona recently released on Netflix. Christophe Beck composed the score and I orchestrated and conducted. The movie has been very well-received, rising to Netflix’s 3rd most-watched film in its second week and getting a solid 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Check it out!
