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Q&A with British Composer
Paul Englishby
Question:
When did you first know you
wanted to be a composer?
Answer:
I was
about 11 when I started writing music.
I remember listening over and over to
Beethoven’s 6th symphony and writing a
very juvenile piece that had tunes alarm-
ingly close to Ludwig’s. I went on to write
music for the school band and choir and
friends that played instruments.
Q:
What was your first paid composer
position?
A:
When I was at college, I won
a commission from the BBC for their
SOUND ON FILM series, which teamed
composers up with directors to make half
hour music films. Not only was I paid an
unimaginable amount for a poor student,
but I got to conduct a full orchestra at
Abbey Road Studios.
Wow, this is it from
now I thought, but in reality, it was a long
time before that happened again.
Q:
What or who inspired you to be a com-
poser?
A:
My parents were always massively
encouraging, taking me to piano lessons,
band practice, concerts, broadening my mu-
sical taste, and putting up with the noise. I
had a fantastic music teacher at my school
called Tony Evans who encouraged me in
all
musical endeavors.
He was responsible
for me getting into jazz, composing, playing
the bass, and got me out of double maths
on some musical pretext on many occasions.
Q:
Who is your favorite composer of all-time
and why?
A:
At the moment it’s Benjamin
Britten. There is a very original expressive
voice there, always economical with material
but for me emotionally devastating even in
simple folk song settings, and a fantastic
orchestrator.
He was also adamant that
music had a practical purpose and wrote
much music for children and amateurs.
Q:
Do you use technology in your position
and details?
A:
Yes, I use a sequencer on a
Mac. This software enables one to create
mock ups of
music cues so that collaborators
can hear demo versions of what you have
in mind. I often record some of
my scores
or parts of scores at home in my studio, too.
Q:
What are your personal thoughts about
the art of composing for film?
A:
Personally,
I feel that the music in film should make
sense as music and have its own integrity,
as well as serving the picture. There should
also be good reason for it to be there in the
first place. The are many ways to score a
scene, and it doesn’t matter, per se, which
method is employed, as long as it’s achieved
with confidence and the collaborators all
have the same intention.
Q:
What is the craziest project you ever
worked on?
A:
I ended up acting in a scene
in the film “Confetti” that I wrote the music
for.
Director Debbie Isitt makes wonderful
improvised comedy and decided one day
that I should have a scene with the stars
Martin Freeman and Jessica Hynes round
the piano on camera. I was like a rabbit in
headlights sucking its stomach in.
Q:
Where do you see your career taking
you to next?
A:
I hope to carry on making
music for the rest of
my life. I love working
in the mix of film, TV and theatre, concert
music, jazz and dance music that I’m lucky
enough to have done.
British composer Paul Englishby is no
stranger to winning awards or working
alongside all-star casts.
Oscar nominated
screenwriter David Hare’s masterpiece “Page
Eight,” has already been nominated for
a British Academy of Film and Television
Arts (BAFTA) award and a Golden Globe.
Thanks to Englishby’s amazing craftsman-
ship, the film can also add nominations for
the prestigious Ivor Novello award for Best
TV Soundtrack and the highly desired
Primetime Emmy Awards nomination
for Outstanding Original
Main Title
Theme Music.
At an early age Englishby began to
compose, his dedication and passion for
music led him to attend the Royal Academy
of
Music and go on to write highly acclaimed
scores for film, television, theatre, dance,
and the concert hall.
His film scores include
the Oscar nominated “An Education” directed
by Lone Sherfig and starring Carey Mulligan,
“
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” directed by
Bharat Nalluri and starring Amy Adams, the
Peep Show team’s Magicians,
Brit flick
“
Confetti,” starring Martin Freeman and
Jessica Hynes, “Ten Minutes Older,”
which featured contributions by directors
Jean-Luc Goddard,
Mike Figgis, Spike Lee,
Werner Herzog and Jim Jarmusch. “Page
Eight” stars Bill
Nighy, Rachel
Weisz and
Ralph Fiennes. This British political drama
is David Hare’s first work as a director
since “Strapless” in 1989.
Notable TV credits include the hugely
popular series “Luther” starring Idris Elba,
“
Hamlet,” a location-set feature version of
the Royal Shakespeare Company’s acclaimed
production starring David Tennant and “An
Englishman in New York,” starring John Hurt.
Not only has this gifted artist created
scores for Oscar nominated films, along
the way, he taught Hugh Grant to play the
guitar and Nicholas Cage to play the piano,
coached his singing and taught him to con-
duct.
With a career that many only dream
of, Paul Englishby remains humble and en-
joys working in a field that he loves. It won’t
be long before the world will find out if this
down to earth Englishman will gain another
title to his array of accolades as an Emmy
Award Winning Composer for his breathtaking
score for “Page Eight.”
Written by Karina Lidia
AWARD
WI
NN I
NG B R I T I SH COMPOS E R
PAUL ENGLISHBY
2012
EMMY WINNER FOR
DAVID HARE’S ‘PAGE EIGHT’
END