The big winners at the Australian Guild of Screen Composers Awards night held on November 19th in Melbourne were Antony Partos and Lisa Gerrard.
The 2012 Screen Music Awards celebrated the gifted music composers who create magic behind the ‘screen’ - both small and large. Held at Melbourne’s BMW EDGE, the Screen Music Awards (staged jointly by APRA and the AGSC) has recognised composers across thirteen categories. This year’s recipients include two previous Golden Globe winners and while it’s an eclectic group they all share one common trait - the unique ability to adapt to any musical situation and tell a story without even a word being spoken.
Sydney based screen composer ANTONY PARTOS has been recognised in three categories, winning Best Television Theme for the ABC TV adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap, Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie for the ABC mini-series Mabo and Best Soundtrack Album for The Slap along with co-writers MICHAEL LIRA, JONO MA and IRINE VELA. It’s a phenomenal victory for Partos who has been responsible for memorable screen scores including the menacing Animal Kingdom, Unfinished Sky, Rake and Crownies. His work can currently be heard on the acclaimed ABC television series Redfern Now.
Taking out the coveted Feature Film Score of the Year is LISA GERRARD with her wonderfully ethereal and dramatic score for Burning Man. Lisa Gerrard is quite simply a musical force to be reckoned with. Winner of the Golden Globe award for her score for the Ridley Scott film Gladiator, Lisa came to fame as a screen composer after recording The Insider in 1999. A number of high profile scores followed including Ali, Whale Rider, Balibo (winner of the Screen Music Awards Feature Film Score of the Year in 2009) and Oranges and Sunshine. Much of the work of Lisa Gerrard’s band Dead Can Dance has a cinematic quality that led to the group’s music being used in the cult movie Baraka, television commercials and even a car chase scene in Miami Vice. Never afraid to take on a challenge, Lisa Gerrard remains one of Australia’s truly innovative screen composers.
BURKHARD DALLWITZ has received the award for Best Music for a Television Series or Serial for Underbelly Razor. Burkhard’s compelling scores for the Underbelly series have been inextricably linked in the minds of those who are loyal fans of the series. Another Golden Globe winner, (Burkhard Dallwitz received the Golden Globe in 1999 for his original score for The Truman Show by Peter Weir), his work on Underbelly has struck a chord with judges and has seen him receive four previous Screen Music Awards. Tonight’s honour gives him his fifth Screen Music Award for the Underbelly series.
The category of Best Music for a Short Film has been won by ROGER MASON for This Dog’s Life, the story of a young boxer forced to fight and kill for his father’s love. The first non-American composer to be granted a scholarship by the Robert Redford Sundance Institute, Roger Mason has been working solidly as a screen composer since the 1990’s and has won multiple Screen Music Awards.
Melbourne based composer and classically trained pianist BRETT APLIN has won the category of Best Music for a Documentary for Tiger Dynasty, the award winning natural history documentary for Animal Planet. The AFI and Australian Screen Music Award winning screen composer won the 2000 Annual Pete Carpenter Fellowship (BMI Foundation, NYC) and travelled to Los Angeles where he composed music for Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. He has most recently scored the three-part natural history documentary series The Polar Bear Family and Me for the BBC.
The multi talented LIOR has proven his versatility by taking out the Best Original Song Composed for the Screen for Hey Hootabelle from ABC4Kids Giggle & Hoot. An artist whose career has been built on integrity and independence, Lior’s fertile musical palate continues to cross broad territory.
Co-composers RYAN GROGAN and HYLTON MOWDAY have won the Screen Music Award for Best Music for Children’s Television for the Channel 9 animated children’s series Gasp! about a thrill-seeking, mischievous gold-fish who gets up to all sorts of adventures when his owners are not at home. With a reputation for being composers who move effortlessly between genres and styles, their collaboration on Gasp! has proven to be a winner.
HAYDN WALKER has received the award for Best Music for an Advertisement with his uplifting score for the Nutrilon: Hope ad campaign. This music all-rounder with first class honours in composition from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music has worked with everyone from Grinspoon to the Potbelleez. Last year he won the Screen Music Award in the Best Television Theme category for the children’s TV series, Scariacs.
In the Most Performed categories (determined by statistical analysis) ADAM GOCK and DINESH WICKS have won the Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia while NEIL SUTHERLAND is the Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas.
Legendary Australian film director BRUCE BERESFORD received the INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD in recognition of his considerable international achievements as a film-maker and his specific commitment to creating opportunities for groundbreaking work by Australian screen composers.
The Chaser’s Chris Taylor and Andrew Hansen hosted the 2012 Screen Music Awards, which featured a live ensemble under the musical direction of Paul Grabowsky.
Presenters on the night were: Jack Thompson, Melanie Vallejo, Tom Wren, Ian Darling, Don Batte, Diana Glenn, Lachy Hulme, Christopher Gordon, Peter Luscombe, Tony Briggs and Cezary Skubiszewski with performances by Kira Puru and Electric Empire.
Congratulations to all of the winners of the 2012 APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards and thanks so all entrants for their support fo the Screen Music Awards.
International Achievement Award: Bruce Beresford
Feature Film Score of the Year: Burning Man (Composer Lisa Gerrard, Publisher Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia P/L)
Best Music for a Documentary: Tiger Dynasty (Composer Brett Aplin)
Best Music for a Short Film: This Dog’s Life (Composer Roger Mason)
Best Soundtrack Album: The Slap (Composers Michael Lira* / Jono Ma* / Antony Partos* / Irine Vela Publisher Sonar Music Pty Ltd*)
Best Original Song Composed for the Screen: Hey Hootabelle from Giggle & Hoot (Composer Lior; Publishers ABC Music Publishing / Mushroom Music Pty Ltd)
Best Music for Children’s Television: Gasp! (Composers Ryan Grogan / Hylton Mowday Publisher SLR Productions Pty Ltd)
Best Television Theme: The Slap (Composer Antony Partos; Publisher Sonar Music Pty Ltd)
Best Music for a Television Series or Serial: Underbelly Razor (Composer Burkhard Dallwitz)
Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie: Mabo (Composer Antony Partos; Publisher Sonar Music Pty Ltd)
Best Music for an Advertisement: Nutrilon: Hope (Composer Haydn Walker; Publisher Song Zu Publishing Pty Ltd)
Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia*
Composers Adam Gock/Dinesh Wicks
Most Performed Screen Composer –
Overseas*
Composer Neil Sutherland
* Determined by statistical analysis