Edition 2009
On 17 October 2009, the international film music scene gathered in Ghent for the 9th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards, the prestigious film music prizes of Film Fest Gent.
This year, Film Fest Gent is excited to announce not one, but two guests of honour: film music grandmasters Alexandre Desplat and Marvin Hamlisch.
Part of the new class of French film music composers, Alexandre Desplat made his reputation in 2003 with the soundtrack for The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Some of his other influential scores include Birth, Syriana, The Queen, and The Painted Veil, which earned him a Golden Globe in 2007 for Best Original Score. The same year he was named Film Composer of the Year at the 7th World Soundtrack Awards.
In addition to Desplat, the American composer Marvin Hamlisch will also take the spotlight. He will receive this year’s World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award for his unique contributions to the film music landscape. Hamlisch is a much-lauded composer and arranger who has won three Oscars, two for The Way We Were by Sydney Pollack with Barbra Streisand and one for the music for The Sting by George Roy Hill with Paul Newman. Hamlisch also wrote the music for the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me and for the famous musical A Chorus Line. Together with composer Richard Rodgers he is the only artist to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize.
Young film music talent is also represented with the composer Marc Streitenfeld. Streitenfeld carried off the World Soundtrack Discovery Award last year with his soundtrack for American Gangster by Ridley Scott. Brussels Philharmonic, under the direction of Dirk Brossé, also plays the music by the winner of the first composition competition for young European composers, organised by the World Soundtrack Academy with the support of Sabam.
Part of the new class of French film music composers, Alexandre Desplat made his reputation in 2003 with the soundtrack for The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Some of his other influential scores include Birth, Syriana, The Queen, and The Painted Veil, which earned him a Golden Globe in 2007 for Best Original Score. The same year he was named Film Composer of the Year at the 7th World Soundtrack Awards.
In addition to Desplat, the American composer Marvin Hamlisch will also take the spotlight. He will receive this year’s World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award for his unique contributions to the film music landscape. Hamlisch is a much-lauded composer and arranger who has won three Oscars, two for The Way We Were by Sydney Pollack with Barbra Streisand and one for the music for The Sting by George Roy Hill with Paul Newman. Hamlisch also wrote the music for the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me and for the famous musical A Chorus Line. Together with composer Richard Rodgers he is the only artist to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize.
Young film music talent is also represented with the composer Marc Streitenfeld. Streitenfeld carried off the World Soundtrack Discovery Award last year with his soundtrack for American Gangster by Ridley Scott. Brussels Philharmonic, under the direction of Dirk Brossé, also plays the music by the winner of the first composition competition for young European composers, organised by the World Soundtrack Academy with the support of Sabam.