Composer Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Jaden Thompson Finalists have been announced for the British Animation Awards, which will take place on March 7 at London’s BFI Southbank. Contending for best feature film are “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” “A Cat Called Dom,” “Kensuke’s Kingdom,” “Puffin Rock and The New Friends” and “The Amazing Maurice.” “Christopher at Sea,” “The Debutante” and “All Gucci My Broski” are nominated in the short film category.

Maria Chiara Argiró has shared details of her new album Closer. The Italy-born, London-based electronic music composer will release the follow-up to 2022's Forest City on April 26 via Innovative Leisure.

Ken Burns‘ two-part, four-hour documentary Leonardo da Vinci is set to air on November 18-19 from 8-10 p.m. ET on PBS. The project, co-directed with Sarah Burns and Dave McMahon, is Burns’ first non-American subject.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic If would be hard to name an artist in any medium who illustrated Flaubert’s famous maxim of creativity (“Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work”) better than Ennio Morricone. Morricone, who died in 2020 (at 91), was certainly one of the greatest composers of movie soundtracks who ever lived. But even if you consider him next to his fellow giants (Bernard Herrmann, John Williams, Nino Rota, Hans Zimmer, Max Steiner), Morricone scaled his own wild peak, inventing his own kind of beauty, his own transcendent cacophony.

wore two (almost) coordinated outfits without giving up their personal style.Gone are the days when choosing a look was a nightmare, it's time to find your allies! The , who marked the childhood of almost the entire Zeta Generation for her role in , attended the premiere of Lola at the Regency Bruin theater in Los Angeles, where she joined other celebrities like Nicola Peltz Beckham and the rest of the Beckham family.Gomez and Peltz showed off their friendship by posing together at the photocall, but if there was one element that caught the eye, it was their corsets. Both wore white versions of the garment, but were styled so differently from each other that both looks became an example for those who want to incorporate a corset into their wardrobe, but do not want to waste much time choosing their outfits.For the event, Selena Gomez opted for a style that is as easy to reproduce as it is comfortable for those who are tired of the most eccentric mixes.

Marta Balaga Please don’t stop the music: Anne Fontaine isn’t done with it just yet. Following “Boléro” — world premiering at International Film Festival Rotterdam — the noted director is developing another melodic project. “It’s about a character who was a star at 10 years old.

EXCLUSIVE: Pinar Toprak, the Emmy-nominated composer, conductor and performer who has lent her talents to everything from the Brie Larson-led Captain Marvel to Epic Games’ hit video game Fortnite, has joined Artist International Group for representation in conjunction with her long-time agents, Kraft-Engel Management.

Matthew Vaughn’s latest spy adventure “Argylle” inches closer to its premiere, one important question remains unanswered: Who is Elly Conway? For those unfamiliar with “Argylle,” the film — starring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Dua Lipa and more — is said to be based on a book of the same name by Conway, an unknown, first-time author. Indeed, the book itself is real, published by Penguin and available for purchase. But in a twist revealed by the movie’s trailer, Conway is also the name of Howard’s character, a bestselling spy novelist who finds herself involved in some real-life espionage.

The Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) will honor the late Robbie Robertson and director Martin Scorsese with the Spirit of Collaboration Award at the 5th Annual SCL Awards, to be held Tuesday, Feb. 13 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. 

Composer Laura Karpman received her first Oscar nomination on Tuesday for Amazon MGM Studios’ American Fiction in Music (Original Score). 

Ellise Shafer Following sold-out dates in London, New York and San Francisco, the “Avatar: The Last Airbender” concert series is expanding to a 100-city world tour. Beginning September 2024, the music of the hit Nickelodeon series will travel to cities across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. The over two-hour concert, produced by GEA Live, brings “Avatar: The Last Airbender’s” iconic musical score to life with an orchestra as fan-favorite moments from the series are shown on screen.

Jon Burlingame Two songs from “Barbie” have been nominated as best song, part of a diverse collection of songs and scores nominated for the 96th annual Academy Awards. “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, and “I’m Just Ken,” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, were chosen by the 390 voting members of the Academy music branch.

Thania Garcia The beloved California festival Lightning in a Bottle will host Skrillex, Labrinth, James Blake, M.I.A., Floating Points, Honey Dijon and Bomba Estéreo, among others for its 21st iteration at Buena Vista Lake on Memorial Day Weekend (May 22-27). See the complete list of performing artists below.

Diego Ramos Bechara editor Hi, Barbie! Great news: Greta Gerwig‘s film based on the iconic Mattel doll leads the 14th annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards nominations with three nods – including best song for both Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken.” “Barbie’s” third nomination was in best music supervision for a film budgeted over $25 million. The category recognized the work of music supervisor George Drakoulias, songwriters Eilish and Finneas and Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt who penned “I’m Just Ken.” Other film contenders are the music supervisors from “Maestro,” “Saltburn,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Past Lives,” “Wonka,” “Air” among others.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Playtime has boarded “The Devil’s Bath,” a period psychological thriller directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the Austrian filmmaking duo behind the critical and commercial hit “Goodnight Mommy.” The movie reteams Franz and Fiala with Ulrich Seidl, who also produced “Goodnight Mommy.” Set in rural Austria in 1750, “The Devil’s Bath” stars Anja Plaschg, the up-and-coming singer and composer known as Soap & Skin. Plaschg plays Agnes, a young married woman who feels oppressed in her husband’s world which is devoid of emotions and limited to chores and expectations. A pious and highly sensitive woman, Agnes falls into a deep depression, before committing a shocking act of violence that she sees as the only way out of her inner prison.

Caroline Brew editor EDGLRD, a multimedia design collective, has announced its experimental tour for Harmony Korine‘s latest film “Aggro Dr1ft.” The tour’s first stop is at the strip club Crazy Girls in Los Angeles on Feb. 7, with an additional date the next day. “Aggro Dr1ft” debuted at the Venice Film Festival last fall, followed by runs in Toronto and New York.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Kris Bowers calls the score to Ava DuVernay‘s “Origin” “one of the most meaningful” of his career, but there’s one music cue, “Leaves,” which he says “stands out as one of my favorite pieces I’ve ever composed.” Inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, “Origin” follows Wilkerson’s journey in writing the book. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Isabel as the film explores how caste systems have shaped societies.

“The first time I came to this studio was 1940 when my father brought me here to show me the stage and I was about 9 or 10 years old, and I thought, some day this will all be mine! It’s finally come to be – it’s only taken me 92 years to get here!”, said 5 time Oscar winning and 53 times-nominated legendary composer John Williams after the curtain was raised on the iconic Sony Pictures Entertainment lot’s newly renamed John Williams Music Building.

Peter Schickele, whose comedic parodies of classical music overshadowed his own strengths as a serious composer, died Tuesday at his home in Bearsville, N.Y. at 88. His daughter confirmed the death and attributed it to a series of infections that damaged his health.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “Oppenheimer” composer Ludwig Göransson and editor Jennifer Lame, “Killers of the Flower Moon” cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, and Billie Eilish and Finneas are among the recipients of Variety’s Artisans Awards. The honorees will be feted at the Santa Barbara Film Festival on Feb.

Joe Hugill says he always envisaged scoring on debut for Burton Albion, but didn’t expect to find the net just three minutes into his maiden appearance.

Naman Ramachandran “Baahubali” star Prabhas has set horror film “The Raja Saab” as his next project. The film is directed by Maruthi Dasari, mostly known as just Maruthi, whose credits include horror-comedy “Prema Katha Chitram” (2013), romantic comedy “Mahanubhavudu” (2017) and comedy-drama “Prati Roju Pandage” (2019). It is being produced under the People Media Factory banner with T.G.

Jon Burlingame Sometimes directors don’t want you humming the music as you leave their film. More than ever, filmmakers are seeking fresh musical approaches, especially when the subject matter is dark or fantastic. Three late-2023 releases demonstrate this with music that catches the ear in unusual ways.

When creating a biographical drama of a historic figure, there’s a delicate balance between striving for historical accuracy and focusing on crafting a compelling, human story. This awards season has seen its fair share of biopics, testing their costume designers in different ways.

A post shared by Hello Kitty (@hellokitty)“Hello Kitty, congratulations on your 50th anniversary. It is a great honor for me to receive an offer to create an official global theme song for such a wonderful event.

Variety rounded up some of our favorite creators behind several films recently shortlisted by the Academy to discuss the work that goes into making these now iconic cinematic moments. From “American Fiction’s” score to the heartrending tunes of “Flora and Son,” the artisans went deep on their process and revealed the layers of thought and intent inside their work.

Phill Niblock was notoriously resistant to analyses of his art. The composer and filmmaker, who passed away this week at 90, made the purest form of minimalism.

official website. No cause of death is known at the time of writing.Born in Anderson, Indiana in 1933, Niblock received an economics degree from Indiana University before moving to New York in 1958.

Daft Punk‘s Thomas Bangalter has been announced as the composer of the DAAAAAALÍ film soundtrack.The news was announced on Instagram today (January 9) via Ed Banger Records (Justice, Breakbot), who will release the soundtrack on their label.“Let’s start 2024 with something very special!”, the label wrote. “Thrilled to welcome Thomas Bangalter on Ed Banger recordsfor the release of the original soundtrack of DAAAAAALÍ.”The movie, directed by Quentin Dupieux (also known by his DJ name Mr Oizo), is scheduled for release on February 7.A post shared by ED BANGER / PEDRO WINTER (@edbanger)DAAAAAALÍ! will be Dupieux’s twelfth feature film, following films such as his breakout horror-comedy Rubber (2010) and his recent black comedy Yannick (2023).

here.McGowan also shared a message from Niño, who wrote: “Our Dearest Brother, Friend, Guide, Mentor, Inspiration, and Great Visionary of Celestial Paradise Music has transitioned from his Earth Body today, Saturday, January 6, 2024.“We invite you to please explore the vastness of Iasos. He poured his heart and soul into his Music and fully intended for it to raise vibrations on Earth, that we all would live in higher harmonic realization of our unique potential, co-existing and co-creating together.”Iasos was born on Jaunary 9, 1947, in Greece, where he moved to New York with his family aged four.

Jon Burlingame Taking an old film score and dropping it into a new film is “like wearing somebody else’s underwear,” veteran composer Earle Hagenused to say. Hagen, the Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning composer of such classic themes as “The Andy Griffith Show,” “The Dick VanDyke Show” and “The Mod Squad,” would have been appalled by the musical choices in Netflix’s “May December.” A scene from that film, with Julianne Moore opening her refrigerator door to a melodramatic piano cue, has gone viral. It’s a funny moment if you don’t recognize that music.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece “1984” is getting a new audio-only treatment from Audible. The Audible original audio drama, set to premiere April 4, stars Andrew Garfield (“Tick, Tick…Boom,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”) as Winston alongside Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked,” “Harriet”) as Julia. They are joined by Tom Hardy (“Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises”) as the voice of Big Brother and Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers,” “Fleabag”), who plays the mysterious and dangerous O’Brien.

BBC that “Next of kin have been informed and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”“Upon spotting that she was in distress, our staff swiftly intervened, bringing her to the venue’s medical unit for examination,” said a spokesperson for SWG3.They continued: “The on-site medical team, composed of qualified and experienced professionals, promptly called for an ambulance as her condition deteriorated. Regrettably, despite these efforts, she did not survive.“Every guest is thoroughly searched upon entry by our highly-trained, accredited security teams.

trend that in 2023, Margot Robbie opted for a little black dress at an event in Los Angeles.The Australian actor knows very well the cards to play to win the games she plays. From her most casual outfits composed by to the most , Margo Robbie's style has become a source of inspiration for many.

Michaela Zee With their nearly 40-year history, one would think Hayao Miyazaki could no longer surprise composer Joe Hisaishi. However, the Japanese animation master did just that when he introduced “The Boy and the Heron” to his longtime musical collaborator.

Alex Ritman Ridley Scott has found the god of music for his upcoming “Gladiator” sequel. Harry Gregson-Williams has been hired to compose the score for the hotly-anticipated Paramount feature, which is due out Nov.