Michael Price (composer)

Short biography

The son of a Physics teacher and Biology teacher Michael studied music at school, before starting his music career on the Tonmeister course at Surrey University, where he won the PRS composition prize in 1990. After writing a number of scores for contemporary dance in his early 20s, he became Musical Director of DNA Dance and Music, whose projects included the arts council funded chamber opera "All the Garden Gold", based on the life of William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

Michael's first film work was in 1996, when he was invited by Michael Kamen to orchestrate and program electronic sounds for the Paramount film Event Horizon. This led to a 5-year working relationship encompassing a number of film scores in London, LA and Prague, and concerts in Berlin, New York, San Francisco and Geneva. Following the production of the score to Band of Brothers, Michael was approached to music edit on The Fellowship of the Ring for New Line Cinema.

Prior to work as a composer, Michael worked as a music editor with films including Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Richard Curtis' Love Actually, Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason and Nanny McPhee. As a music editor, Michael has been nominated for 4 MPSE Golden Reel Awards, winning in 2001 for The Fellowship of the Ring.

Michael has also worked with fellow composer David Arnold since 2002, with whom he has written and arranged on a number of projects, including Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz, The Inbetweeners Movie and The Inbetweeners 2. Michael and David co-compose the music for Sherlock, the BBC television series created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, that premièred on BBC1 on 25 July 2010. In 2015, Michael and David also co-composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premièred in October 2015.

Michael also composed the score for the film Wild Target, a romantic comedy directed by Jonathan Lynn and starring Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Martin Freeman, Rupert Everett and Rupert Grint. This commission followed Michael's score for Wild Child, Working Title's teen film released in the UK in 2009. In 2015 Michael scored the ITV crime drama Unforgotten, starring Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar.

In addition to composing for Zentropa's Dommeren and Slingshot Studios' Sugarhouse he scored 2 documentaries for famous producer and director Alfonso Cuarón; The Possibility of Hope, and Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, both in 2007. Michael met Cuarón when he scored additional music for the Academy Award winning feature Children of Men, working with Cuarón as music editor.

Michael has worked with several music bodies and organisations, including the PRS and BASCA. In 2015 Michael was the chair of the BASCA Media Executive Committee and director of the BASCA board.

Beginning his career as a pianist and composer for contemporary dance, he has now established the Michael Price Trio and Ensemble to perform his own work in diverse venues across the world, including the Royal Albert Hall, London, the Casa da Musica, Porto, Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg, and the Stadsschouwburg in Leuven. Michael's debut album, 'Entanglement' was released on the Erased Tapes label and includes performances by cellist Peter Gregson and soprano Ashley Knight, with piano and keyboards played by Michael. Michael and Peter met through mutual friends several years before the recording of Entanglement, and have toured the album together across Europe in the year after the release. Michael became part of the Erased Tapes family when they heard Michael's string quartet EP, which was subsequently released by Erased Tapes under the name A Stillness.

Scores

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Soundtrack

2010–

2006

Music editor

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

Music release

2015

2013

Other credits

2009

2008

2006

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

Awards