Benjamin Wallfisch
Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch (born 7 August 1979) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer, known for his work on film scores. He has contributed over 75 feature films since the mid-2000s, including notable works like Blade Runner 2049, Shazam!, It, It Chapter Two, The Invisible Man, Hidden Figures, A Cure for Wellness and The Flash.
Benjamin Wallfisch | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch |
| Born | 7 August 1979 London, England, U.K. |
| Genres | Film score |
| Occupation(s) | Composer conductor orchestrator producer |
| Instrument(s) | Piano, keyboards, synthesizer, guitar, drums |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Website | benjaminwallfisch |
His work has earned recognition and nominations, including a joint nomination with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer for Best Original Score at the 74th Golden Globe Awards for Hidden Figures, as well as nominations for a BAFTA Award and a Grammy Award for Blade Runner 2049. Additionally, Wallfisch was nominated for Film Composer of the Year[1] in the World Soundtrack Awards in 2020 for the second consecutive year.
Wallfisch's film compositions have contributed to movies with a combined worldwide box office revenue of over $2.5 billion.[2] In 2019, Variety acknowledged his achievements by including him in their Billion Dollar Composer series.[3]
Early life
Wallfisch was born on 7 August 1979 in London, England, the son of Elizabeth Wallfisch (née Hunt), an Australian Baroque violinist, and Raphael Wallfisch, a British cellist. He is the eldest of their three children. His paternal grandparents are pianist Peter Wallfisch and cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was a member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. They were Jewish emigrants from the city of Breslau (now Wrocław). His great-grandfather was the conductor Albert Coates.
Career
Composer of Andy Muschietti's It, It Chapter Two and The Flash, David F. Sandberg's Shazam!, Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man and co-composer of Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 (with Hans Zimmer), Benjamin Wallfisch has worked on over 75 feature films and received Golden Globe, BAFTA, 2x GRAMMY and EMMY nominations. He provided the score for Simon McQuoid's Mortal Kombat reboot film for New Line Cinema/Warner Bros.[4][5] He also composed the score to Andy Muschietti's The Flash.
Other recent projects include Neil Marshall's Hellboy, Academy Award Best Picture nominee Ted Melfi's Hidden Figures (in collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer), and David F. Sandberg's box office hit Annabelle: Creation. On the invitation of Hans Zimmer, he contributed music based on Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations for Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk.
In recent years, Benjamin has also scored Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness, the Steven Spielberg produced short film Auschwitz, directed by James Moll, James Marsh's King of Thieves, starring Michael Caine, and Steven Knight's Serenity, starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway.
With over 25 albums of his music released to date, Benjamin has performed live in over 100 concerts worldwide, leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony at venues including the Hollywood Bowl, Sydney Opera House and Royal Festival Hall. He has collaborated, recorded, and performed his music with artists including Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock and Yuja Wang, and has over 50 concert music commissions to his name.
He has collaborated three times with Pharrell Williams, including a live performance at the 2015 GRAMMY Awards, and recently partnered with Adele, arranging her 2017 GRAMMY performance of George Michael's 'Fast Love'.
A member of the BAFTA Academy since 2009, Benjamin was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London in 2014. In 2017, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.[6]
Personal life
Wallfisch resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife and daughter.
Discography
As primary score composer
As composer of additional music
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Composer(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Moon | Duncan Jones | Clint Mansell | Stage 6 Films Limelight Pictures Sony Pictures Classics |
— |
| 2013 | 12 Years a Slave | Steve McQueen | Hans Zimmer | Summit Entertainment Regency Enterprises Film4 Productions Fox Searchlight Pictures |
— |
| 2015 | The Little Prince | Mark Osborne | Hans Zimmer Richard Harvey |
ON Animation Studios M6 Films Netflix |
— |
| 2016 | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | Zack Snyder | Hans Zimmer Junkie XL |
DC Entertainment RatPac-Dune Entertainment Cruel and Unusual Films Warner Bros. Pictures |
— |
| 2017 | Dunkirk | Christopher Nolan | Hans Zimmer | Syncopy Inc. Warner Bros. Pictures |
Composed the "Nimrod" variation, based on the theme by Edward Elgar |
Television
| Year | Title | Network(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Breaking the Mould | BBC One | Television film |
| 2013 | The Thirteenth Tale | BBC Two | |
| 2014 | The Crimson Field | BBC One | 6 episodes |
| 2015 | The Enfield Haunting | Sky Witness | 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Hostile Planet | National Geographic |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Peter Pan | Ben Harrison | London / San Francisco |
References
- "Film Composer of the Year". Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- Benjamin Wallfisch
- Composer Benjamin Wallfisch Scores High in Versatility With 'Hellboy,' 'Hostile,' 'Shazam!'
- Fischer, Tyler. "Mortal Kombat Reboot Award-Winning Composer Revealed". Comic Book. Archived from the original on 22 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- "'Mortal Kombat's Composer Began the Score Before Getting Hired — And Yes, It Includes the Iconic Theme". Collider. 6 March 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- "Benjamin Wallfisch". IMDb. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- "Benjamin Wallfisch to Score David F. Sandberg's 'Shazam!' | Film Music Reporter". Retrieved 17 January 2019.