James Newton Howard is doing the score for the second Nanny McPhee film, replacing Thomas Newman who was originally hired to compose the music for the sequel. Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang premieres on March 25 and features, again, Emma Thompson as the title character, and also Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans and Maggie Smith. Susanna White (best known for BBC’s 2006 Jane Eyre miniseries) is directing from …

A number of critically acclaimed composers will not be a part of the Oscar race this year, The Wrap reports. Brian Eno, who recently scored Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, is not eligible simply due to the reason that the composer never was submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration. According to the Warp article by Steve Pond, Eno “simply felt that he didn’t have …

The season of looking back – and forward – is here again. About a year ago, I wrote an article (published at upcomingfilmscores.com) about the most anticipated scores that were about to see the light of day in 2009 – James Horner’s Avatar was, of course, the number one on the list, and other scores on the list were Michael Giacchino’s Star Trek, Christopher Young’s Creation and Danny Elfman’s Terminator: …

An extensive radio interview with composer James Horner on his score for James Cameron’s Avatar is now available for streaming and download at Film Music Magazine. The nearly 30 minute interview is the most in-depth look at the score available so far.
Cameron wanted the sound to be as “revolutionary” as the film itself, which resulted in Horner having to come up with a combination of musical colours that was truly …

Hollywood Dailies has posted a brief interview with composer James Horner, shot during the last day of scoring sessions for the much anticipated James Cameron sci-fi epic Avatar. The video features several quick glimpses of the big orchestral score, with the 56-year old Horner conducting the orchestra wearing a baseball cap. Horner says that he was allowed to work exclusively on the film for about a year and that Cameron …

Film composers Simon Boswell and Stefano Mainetti have both been involved in an unusual and currently much talked-about project where new (non-film) music has been written for an album called “Alma Mater: Music from the Vatican.” The album features the voice of Pope Benedict XVI as well as the Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome conducted by Pablo Colino and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Boswell and Mainetti, who are …

In an unusual composer spotlight, industry magazine Variety focuses four articles on composer John Debney this month. Jon Burlingame and Iain Blair has written the pieces, and in one of them Debney talks about the expanded version of his “Passion Oratorio,” based on his Passion of the Christ film score. The work is scheduled to be performed in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican in June next year, by a 500-voice …

Legendary composer Alex North was born in 1910 and next year will see the 15-time Academy Award nominee being remembered at the Úbeda International Film Music Festival in Spain. The festival today announced “a large-scale tribute, including a number of special-interest sessions, workshops, live performances and many other activities yet-to-be-disclosed.” If there will be a whole concert devoted to North’s music remains to be confirmed, but the show is already …

EXCLUSIVE. Last week, MovieScore Magazine published the news about Howard Shore replacing John Corigliano as the original score composer on the upcoming Mel Gibson thriller, Edge of Darkness. Today, we have a lot more information for you – from Corigliano himself! One of the most respected and acclaimed composers of contemporary concert music in the world, Corigliano had written three feature film scores prior to Edge of Darkness, with The Red …

Vic Mizzy, the composer who penned the popular Addams Family theme (known for its congenial use of harpsichord and fingersnaps), has died at the age of 93. He did of heart failure Saturday at his home in Bel-Air, according to news reports. For film and television music fans, Mizzy was known as a composer with a rare gift – his themes, and scores, had an instant catchiness and were highly …