Conrad Pope

Conrad Pope is an American film composer and orchestrator. He has collaborated with acclaimed composers such as John Williams, James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman and Alexandre Desplat.

Background

Pope was classically trained at the New England Conservatory, Princeton University and in Europe. After receiving the George Chadwick Medal, the school’s highest honor, upon his graduation from the New England Conservatory, Pope went on to study at Munich’s Hochschule fur Musik and at Tanglewood, before completing graduate studies at Princeton University.

Active in the contemporary music world, Pope founded a concert series at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and staged a number of American premieres while Director of the Music Production Company, working with, among others, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Peter Sellars. In addition to regular performances in the United States, his work has garnered international attention: Pope’s "Sonata for Violoncello Alone" was the American entry in the Paris Biennale, for example, while Milan showcased his "Piano Variations" during its Musical Nel Nostro Tempo festival. Pope’s "Summer Sketches," commissioned by Hartt School of Music, Hartford, Connecticut appears regularly on orchestra concerts throughout the United States. In spring of 2006, the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and Eckart Preu, conductor, premiered Pope’s new orchestral work "Purple Prose," greeted with standing ovation and critical acclaim.

Career

Pope’s passionate commitment to telling a film’s story with persuasive and compelling music has made him one of the most “in demand” orchestrators, as well as an accomplished film composer in his own right, composing lush scores for Pavilion of Women, In My Sleep, Under the Moon, Neo Wolf and Ghost Ship. Such canny top guns as John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, James Newton Howard, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, John Powell, Hans Zimmer, Don Davis, and Mark Isham have all called upon his gifts as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor.

Conrad’s musical qualifications are rare in today’s Hollywood. Classically trained at New England Conservatory, he arrived in Hollywood and proofread film scores before they were recorded, and created "soundalikes" for JoAnne Kane Music service, the predominant sheet music preparation house for motion pictures. His talent for orchestration was recognized by former Hollywood orchestrator Arthur Morton, leading to many arranging assignments of “source music” for diverse films, and orchestrating and arranging of underscore. Today, few music professionals are as esteemed as Conrad for his first-hand, comprehensive command of the many facets of film scoring and, his reputation for consistently delivering “the goods.”

The iconic hits and contemporary classic films Pope has contributed to are too numerous to list. A small sampling includes: the most recent installments of the Star Wars films (The Phantom Menace, The Attack of the Clones, The Revenge of the Sith) the Harry Potter series, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek X, the Matrix films. Memoirs of a Geisha, Julie and Julia, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, A Christmas Carol and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

Credits List

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011)

Supervising Orchestrator

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010)

Supervising Orchestrator

• In My Sleep (2010)

Original Music

• Salt (2010)

Orchestrator

• The Wolfman (2010)

Additional Music

• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

Supervising Orchestrator

• Crossing Over (2009)

Supervising Orchestrator

• Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009)

Orchestrator

• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

Orchestrator

• Julie and Julia (2009)

Orchestrator

• Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who (2008)

Orchestrations

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Orchestrations

• Pride and Glory (2008)

Orchestrations

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Orchestrations

• The Express (2008)

Orchestrations

• The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

Supervising Orchestrations

• The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

Orchestrations

• Freedom Writers (2007)

Orchestrations (Original Rank: Music )

• Gracie (2007)

Orchestration

• Gracie (2007)

Supervising Orchestrator

• In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Orchestrator

• Lions for Lambs (2007)

Orchestrations

• Next (2007)

Orchestrations

• No Reservations (2007)

Music Conductor ( Truffles and Quail ), Music Producer ( Truffles and Quail )

• The Golden Compass (film) (2007) Supervising Orchestrator, Orchestrations
• Bobby (2006)

Orchestrations

• Firewall (2006)

Orchestrations

• Invincible (2006)

Orchestrations

• Night at the Museum (2006)

Score Orchestrator

• X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Orchestrations

• Flightplan (2005)

Orchestrations

• King Kong (film) (2005)

Orchestrations

• Memoirs of a Geisha (film) (2005)

Orchestrations

• Munich (2005)

Orchestrations

• Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Orchestrations

• War of the Worlds (2005)

Orchestrations

• The Legend of Zorro (2005)

Orchestrations

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Original Music

• Troy (film) (2004)

Original Music

• The Polar Express (2004)

Orchestrations

• Hollywood Homicide (2003)

Original Music

• Peter Pan (2003)

Original Music

• The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Original Music

• The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

Original Music

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets(2002)

Original Music

• Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Orchestration

• Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Orchestration

• The Rising Place (2002)

Composer

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Orchestrations

• Pavilion of Women (2001)

Music, Orchestration

• The Amati Girls (2001)

Music

• The Mexican (2001)

Original Music

• Battlefield Earth (2000)

Orchestra conductor

• Lloyd (2000)

Music

• What Women Want (2000)

music orchestrator

• Sleepy Hollow (1999)

orchestration

• Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

orchestration

• Stuart Little (1999)

original music

• The Matrix (1999)

Original Music

• Amistad (1997)

orchestration

• Butch Camp (1997)

Music

• Home Alone 3 (1997)

Original Music

• Jungle2jungle (1997)

Original Music

• Mouse Hunt (1997)

Original Music

• Volcano (1997)

Original Music

• A Smile Like Yours (1997)

Original Music

• The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

orchestration

• Eraser (1996)

Original Music

• My Fellow Americans (1996)

Original Music

• The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

Original Music

• Metalbeast (1995)

Composer

• The Set Up (1995)

Composer

• The Santa Clause (1994)

song arrangement ( The Bells of Christmas )

• The Santa Clause (1994)

orchestration

• Once Upon a Forest (1993)

orchestration

• Jurassic Park (film) (1993)

orchestration

• Temptation (1993)

Music

• Patriot Games (1992)

Original Music

Films

"Conrad’s score is an unconventional narrator of sorts, using a combination of various musical styles to tell the story. Whether it’s a Big Band composition or a sweeping orchestral piece composition, a simple blues theme or an epic love theme, his genius both as a composer and storyteller shines brightly." Tom Rice, Writer and Director, The Rising Place

Emblematic of Pope’s work is the lavish, classic score for the romantic epic Pavilion of Women from Universal Focus and Beijing Film Studios. Based on the Pearl S. Buck novel, and starring Willem Dafoe and Luo Yan the film’s challenge was to marry Chinese classical music with Western "classic" fllm scoring. The soundtrack is available on the Varese Sarabande label and the "Main Title" from Pavilion was feature in the commemorative compilation for the label’s 25th anniversary. A “replacement score”, Pope defied conventional Hollywood wisdom, reshaping, in the span of only two weeks, the dramatic course of a film, giving the director, the producers, and studio the music they had imagined for their film - a goal they had been unable to achieve through “traditional” Hollywood channels. As a result of this score, Movie Music UK Awards awarded Pope Newcomer of the Year (2002). Pavilion of Women was also nominated in three additional categories. He was awarded third place for Score of the Year, third place for Best Score for a Drama and second place for Best Single Cue (End Credits).

In 2009, he created the score to Tom Provost’s (screenwriter of Under Suspicion) directorial debut film, The Presence, produced by Tom Rice and starring Mira Sorvino, Shane West and Tony Curran. The Presence is a classic ghost story with a contemporary twist. Going against today’s trend of heavily, electronic ambient “spooky” scores, Conrad’s approach focuses on acoustic natural sound, which develops the viewer’s experience of a secluded cabin in the woods where the story unfolds. He builds tension in a unique way: by composing music which, if not married to the film would not be scary at all, but when put to film, creates a profoundly disturbing and unsettling sensibility.

In My Sleep, a crime thriller directed by Allen Wolf and released in 2009, features a powerful score by Conrad Pope that combines synthesized and orchestral elements in order to create the “noir-ish” atmosphere of the film --- a world where the character, to solve a horrific crime, must inhabit a twilight world which lies between everyday reality and dreams. Bold rhythm tracks give the film a powerful driving sound and the strings and piano of the melodic themes lend the film a poignant beauty as they express unfolding memories.

Pope wrote the score for the 2008 horror rock film, The Band from Hell using industrial and heavy metal rock, lending a fresh approach to orchestral instrument writing. His use of driving percussion and an edgy contemporary orchestra allow this score to render a spectacular fall into an ever-darkening chasm of the film’s central character.

In 2007 Conrad wrote additional music for the Scott Hicks romantic comedy No Reservations (Warner Bros.) starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart. The No Reservations soundtrack CD topped the charts for Amazon’s best selling CD’s.

Other scores include the music for Anne DeSalvo’s character-driven drama The Amati Girls, starring Mercedes Ruehl, Cloris Leachmann, Paul Sorvino, Lee Grant and Sean Young, as well as the coming–of-age comedy, Lloyd, directed by Hector Barron.Pope’s understanding of how to make a period film score true to an era and yet specific to a story can be heard in Pope’s score for the World War II Southern drama, The Rising Place. This score gained him a Moxie! Award at the 2001 Santa Monica Film Festival, while his simple, yet memorable love theme for that movie was made into a song, "God Bless the Heartaches,” by Linda Thompson and David Foster. The Rising Place soundtrack is available on Lakeshore Records. The Rising Place score was nominated in 2002 for the Best Score for a Television Film by the Movie Music UK Awards. Outstanding examples of Pope’s brilliance with source music can be found in this score, including "Jumpin’ at the USO."

Action adventure films Ghost Ship and Temptation showcase Conrad Pope’s talent at creating exciting, propulsive music that explodes off screen, heightening the sheer thrill of both films.

Earlier scores include chiller/thrillers Under The Moon, MetalBeast, and The Set-Up.

Stage and concerts

Audiences at Tanglewood during the summer of 2009 were brought to their feet by John Williams’ tribute to Busby Berkeley performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This rousing piece featured Pope’s reconstructions and arrangements of classic themes from Busby Berkeley musicals, including such extravaganzas as 42nd street, Babes on Broadway, and Golddiggers.

For the 79th Academy Awards tribute to film music of Ennio Morricone, Conrad Pope arranged music from selected scores by the celebrated giant of film scoring.

For the 74th Academy Awards tribute to film music, John Williams asked Pope to reconstruct film scores to 20 classic films: Exodus, Casablanca, and Cinema Paradiso, to name a few. Mr. Williams has gone on to include this tribute to Hollywood's golden era as a staple of his concerts from Boston's Symphony Hall, to Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic, and to the Hollywood Bowl,

When Seiji Ozawa retired as principal conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pope was asked to arrange and adapt four classic songs from the American Songbook for the legendary soprano Jessye Norman and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Under the direction of John Williams, these arrangements were premiered with the BSO.

In 2009, Pope was asked by legendary film composer James Newton Howard to collaborate in orchestrating "I Would Plant a Tree, " James’ first original work for the concert stage that was debuted by The Pacific Symphony under the baton of Carl St. Clair in February 2009. This same year Pope collaborated again with James Newton Howard and orchestrated his arrangements for acclaimed concert singer and recording artist Josh Groban, which were produced by the iconoclastic Rick Ruben.^[1]

References

1. ^ Conrad Pope Biography

External links

• Official website
• Conrad Pope at the Internet Movie Database

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