- Craig Armstrong (composer)
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Craig Armstrong Birth name Craig Armstrong Born 29 April 1959 Origin Glasgow, Scotland[1] Genres Classical
Contemporary classical
Electronic
AlternativeOccupations Musician, Composer Website Official site Craig Armstrong, OBE (born 29 April 1959)[2] is a Scottish composer of modern orchestral music, electronica and film scores.
Armstrong's score for William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet earned him a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music and an Ivor Novello. His composition for Baz Luhrmann’s musical Moulin Rouge! earned him the 2001 American Film Institute’s composer of the Year award, a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and a BAFTA. Armstrong was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Original Score in 2004 for the biopic Ray. His other feature film scoring credits include Love Actually, Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Incredible Hulk.
Contents
Career
Armstrong studied musical composition, violin (with Cornelius Cardew) and piano at the Royal Academy of Music from 1977 to 1981, where he was awarded the Charles Lucas prize and the Harvey Lohr scholarship for composition. He was also awarded the FTCL Fellowship in composition, and won the GLAA Young Jazz Musician of the Year in 1982. Upon completing his studies, Armstrong served as music and dance specialist at the Strathclyde Regional Council in 1984. Between 1994–2002 he was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company to write music for Broken Heart and The Tempest, both directed by Michael Boyd. In 2001 Armstrong received a BAFTA, Golden Globe, American Film Institute Award, World Soundtrack Award and Golden Satellite Award for Moulin Rouge!. In 2002 he wrote the meditative piece Visconti, commissioned by Barbican Centre Elektronika festival for the London Sinfonietta. In 2004 Armstrong collaborated with visual artists Dalziel + Scullion on One Minute to celebrate the opening of Perth's Horsecross Hall. In 2005 he received a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack album for Ray, directed by Taylor Hackford. In 2008 his first classical release, Memory Takes My Hand, featuring a violin concerto for Clio Gould, was released on EMI Classics. Armstrong has had many collaborations including recording and performing the album Dolls with the Berlin laptop artist, AGF and Vladislav Delay. He has worked with a wide variety of artists, including U2, Madonna, Luciano Pavarotti, and Massive Attack.
Armstrong has written several classical commissions for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Hebrides Ensemble and the Scottish Ensemble. In 2006 Armstrong collaborated with the visual artists Dalziel + Scullion for the reopening of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow with a joint exhibition called Once. In 2007 Armstrong’s first opera was premiered as part of the Scottish Opera ‘5:15 - Opera’s made in Scotland’, a 15min opera with a libretto by Ian Rankin.
Honours
Armstrong was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.[3][4]
Key works
- 1994: Slow Movement (strings)
- 1998: 20 Movements (orchestra)
- 1999: If Time Must Pass (violin, strings)
- 1999: Escape (orchestra, vocal).[5]
- 2000: When Morning Turns to Light (mezzo-soprano, orchestra)
- 2002: Northern Sounds ... Islands (orchestra)
- 2005: One Minute (orchestra)
- 2007: Immer (violin concerto no. 1) (violin, orchestra)
Recordings
Over the last decade Armstrong has released two solo records on Massive Attack’s label Melankolic, followed by Piano Works on Sanctuary in 2004 and Film Works on Universal in 2005. In 2007 Armstrong recorded his first classical record for EMI Classics with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. It was released in 2008 and includes a violin concerto ‘Immer’ for Clio Gould. In 2008 Armstrong released on EMI Classics his first classical album, Memory Takes My Hand, featuring a violin concerto for Clio Gould.
Rosebud was released from a new co written and co produced project of Craig Armstrong and Scott Fraser - Winona. September 2009: "Without You (Deal Soul Brothers Remix)" - Format: 12" Vinyl single
- 1998: The Space Between Us
- 2002: As If to Nothing
- 2004: Piano Works
- 2005: Film Works 1995–2005
- 2005: The Dolls by the Dolls (Armstrong with Antye Greie and Vladislav Delay)
- 2008: Memory Takes My Hand
Film scores
His score to William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (with Baz Luhrmann) earned him a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music and an Ivor Novello. Armstrong's score for Baz Luhrmann’s groundbreaking musical Moulin Rouge! earned him AFI’s Composer of the Year award, a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score of the Year and a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music. His score for Phillip Noyce’s The Quiet American garnered him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score. His other feature film scoring credits include the Oliver Stone drama World Trade Center, the Oscar-winning bio-pic Ray for which Armstrong was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Original Score and the worldwide ensemble comedy smash Love Actually. His scores can also be heard in The Magdalene Sisters, Kiss of the Dragon, The Bone Collector, The Clearing, Best Laid Plans, Orphans, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and most recently Louis Leterrier’s Incredible Hulk.
Escape
One of the most popular tracks composed by Armstrong is "Escape" from Plunkett & Macleane.[5] The composition is frequently used on TV, film trailers, and in sports, since it is a rising crescendo type of music with an epic choir. It appears on the BBC television programme Top Gear as the music which usually plays at the end of the "epic challenges". Armstrong lists the songs Top Gear has used on his web site.[6] "Escape" has been used in the trailer for a number of action films, including Spider-Man 2 and Daredevil.[7] The piece is also used as entrance music by various sports teams, including the professional wrestling stable Team Vision, Premier League football team Aston Villa when playing at their home ground Villa Park, fellow Premier League team Wigan Athletic when at the DW Stadium, the England rugby union team as they enter Twickenham stadium, and Premiership rugby union team Leeds Carnegie before home games.
List
- 1996: Romeo + Juliet - BAFTA and Ivor Novello awards.
- 1997: Orphans
- 1998: The Negotiator - Opening credit track ("Rise")
- 1999: Plunkett & Macleane
- 1999: Best Laid Plans
- 1999: Cruel Intentions
- 1999: The Bone Collector
- 2000: Romeo Must Die
- 2001: Moulin Rouge! - Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
- 2001: Kiss of the Dragon
- 2002: The Magdalene Sisters
- 2002: The Quiet American
- 2003: Love Actually
- 2004: The Clearing
- 2004: Ray - Grammy Award for Best Original Score
- 2004: Layer Cake - Track ("Ruthless Gravity")
- 2005: Fever Pitch
- 2005: Must Love Dogs
- 2006: World Trade Center
- 2007: Elizabeth: The Golden Age (with A. R. Rahman)
- 2008: The Incredible Hulk
- 2010: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
- 2011: In Time
References
- ^ "EMI Classics - Craig Armstrong biography". EMI Classics. http://www.emiclassics.com/artistbiography.php?aid=135. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
- ^ Craig Armstrong, Esq, OBE. Biography
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59282. p. 8. 31 December 2009.
- ^ "Mone and McGeechan head New Year Honours list". BBC News. 31 December 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8434942.stm. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
- ^ a b Craig Armstrong Online- Plunkett & Macleane "One of the most popular tracks composed by Armstrong is 'Escape'. Here, all the elements of the score are drawn together - the epic choir, the orchestra, and the driving electronic beat".
- ^ "BBC's Top Gear Music Selection". craigarmstrongonline.com. http://www.craigarmstrongonline.com/additions/craig_armstrong_top_gear.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
- ^ Craig Armstrong - Trailer Music.
External links
- Craig Armstrong Online
- Craig Armstrong's Chester Music homepage
- Official site
- Craig Armstrong at the Internet Movie Database
- Craig Armstrong at mfiles.co.uk
BAFTA Award for Best Film Music (2000–2019) Tan Dun (2000) · Craig Armstrong and Marius de Vries (2001) · Philip Glass (2002) · T-Bone Burnett and Gabriel Yared (2003) · Gustavo Santaolalla (2004) · John Williams (2005) · Gustavo Santaolalla (2006) · Christopher Gunning (2007) · A. R. Rahman (2008) · Michael Giacchino (2009) · Alexandre Desplat (2010)
Complete list · (1968–1979) · (1980–1999) · (2000–2019) Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (1990–2009) The Sheltering Sky - Richard Horowitz, Ryuichi Sakamoto (1990) · Beauty and the Beast - Alan Menken (1991) · Aladdin - Alan Menken (1992) · Heaven & Earth - Kitarō (1993) · The Lion King - Hans Zimmer (1994) · A Walk in the Clouds - Maurice Jarre (1995) · The English Patient - Gabriel Yared (1996) · Titanic - James Horner (1997) · The Truman Show - Burkhard Dallwitz, Philip Glass (1998) · The Legend of 1900 - Ennio Morricone (1999) · Gladiator - Lisa Gerrard, Hans Zimmer (2000) · Moulin Rouge! - Craig Armstrong (2001) · Frida - Elliot Goldenthal (2002) · The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Howard Shore (2003) · The Aviator - Howard Shore (2004) · Memoirs of a Geisha - John Williams (2005) · The Painted Veil - Alexandre Desplat (2006) · Atonement - Dario Marianelli (2007) · Slumdog Millionaire - A. R. Rahman (2008) · Up- Michael Giacchino (2009)
Complete List · (1947–1969) · (1970–1989) · (1990–2009) · (2010–2029) Categories:- 1959 births
- 20th-century classical composers
- 21st-century classical composers
- Academics of the Royal Academy of Music
- Astralwerks artists
- British film score composers
- Grammy Award winners
- Living people
- People from Glasgow
- Scottish composers
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
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