Out tomorrow, Christmas day! The Color Purple was first a book in ’82 (frequently censored), then a Spielberg film in ’85, then a musical in ’05, and now it’s a new film/musical produced by Stephen Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Quincy Jones. I did orchestration and score prep for some of the big band music with producer Nick Baxter and arranger Ruy Folguera. The portions of the film score that I worked on were recorded at Capitol Records. The film is going to be fantastic and I highly recommend it!
Police Deranged show on two Billboard top 10 charts
Deferred gratification is still gratifying: A project started in 2019 is now on two Billboard Top 10 lists!! I’ve been Stewart Copeland’s orchestrator and copyist since 2010. In 2019 we prepped a live tour of Police songs with full orchestra, replacing Sting’s voice with three women and replacing Andy with the orchestra. Stewart would still play drums. Covid canceled the tour, so we fiddled with it for another year just because we could. The live shows began in late 2021 and I think we’re up to about 30 performances of it now in the US and Europe. The album was finally released this June, and now as of July 8 it’s #2 on the Billboard Classical Crossover Albums chart and #3 on the Classical Albums chart. The Police is Stewart’s legacy, so I almost purely a copyist for this show and had little creative musical input. The 400-page score is massive though, and I’m still proud of my role in it. Many congrats Stewart!
Narvik: Hitler’s First Defeat is #1 on Netflix
Many congratulations Christine! The film Narvik: Hitler’s First Defeat, with a film score composed by Christine Hals, had its international release three days ago. The film is currently on ALL of Netflix’s “Top 10s Around The World” lists: #1 on Netflix in the US, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, France, Spain, and Brazil, #2 in the UK, #5 in Germany and New Zealand, #8 in Australia, and #9 in India.
Christine Hal’s music is uniquely sensitive, and it’s always a pleasure to work with her. I orchestrated the score for her in the latter part of 2021. The film’s release was delayed for a year in part out of respect for those affected by the Ukraine war which started in early 2022. Kampen Om Narvik was finally released in Norway in December 2022, and the international versions with dubs and/or subtitles were released globally three days ago. Christine put together a fantastic team which she describes here. We recorded with the wonderful Czech Studio Orchestra in Prague, and the choir and special soloists were recorded in London, and Dave Jewerén Moore was the music editor and mix engineer. The soundtrack is released by the label MTG Music in Norway.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight RELEASED!
OUT TODAY: Blizzard has released Dragonflight, the much-awaited expansion to World of Warcraft. I had the pleasure of working directly with Blizzard on two batches of orchestrations for this release, one that we recorded in July and another in September. In both batches I was orchestrating exploratory and ambient music written by composer David Arkenstone. WOW is an absolutely massive game franchise, it was a pleasure to work with Blizzard again, and it’s an honor to be a part of a game with such a huge following and legacy. I did the music copyist and engraving work for the conductor’s scores, and Michael Runyan from RPM Music did the parts.
The expansion has five new zones, a new race and a new class of characters, a higher level cap, and new talents. Most importantly, it now includes dragon riding with exceptional momentum-based physics informing the flight controls.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight soundtrack release
Today Blizzard released the official soundtrack for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc). The WOW game expansion itself will be released next week. I had the great pleasure of orchestrating some of the music for Blizzard, working with composer David Arkenstone on music that is mostly for non-combat exploratory parts of the game. World of Warcraft is a massively global game, and I’m honored to be a part of its legacy yet again.
The official soundtrack is about 2 hours long, but our music team actually produced over 7 hours of new music. If you’d like a long and uninterrupted epic soundtrack while you’re doing something, check out this video playlist which begins with one of the pieces I orchestrated.
I did the music copyist work for the conductor’s scores I worked on, and Michael Runyan from RPM Seattle did the parts.
Witches Seed opera premiere
Since Stewart Copeland quit scoring films about 12 years ago to focus on concert music, I have been his orchestrator and/or music copyist for almost everything he writes. Last week was the premiere of his SEVENTH opera The Witches Seed, and I’ve had the pleasure of working on all seven along with many other projects. The libretto is by Stewart’s long-time collaborator Jonathan Moore. It was produced by Tones on the Stones, premiered at a disused rock quarry in Italy, and was directed by Manfred Schweigkofler. I wasn’t able to make it, but I hear it was a big success. Many thanks especially to Eimear Noone (conductor), Craig Stuart Garfinkle, and Debra Lynn for all that you contributed.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight recording sessions
Dragonflight is the 9th expansion pack for World of Warcraft, perhaps the world’s largest video game franchise at the moment. It’s always a real pleasure to work with Blizzard, because with millions of monthly subscribers (I think about 4.5 million at the moment) the in-game music production budgets are significant and nothing matters more than quality. This was my third time orchestrating for WOW, and the recording sessions for this batch of music wrapped today. I was orchestrating mostly ambient and exploratory music for composer David Arkenstone, who is also a real pleasure to work with. We’ll do at least one more big batch of recordings, and the expansion will most likely be released toward the end of November. The conductor’s scores were prepared by me and the parts by Michael Runyan at RPM Seattle.
Stewart Copeland wins 6th Grammy!
Many congrats Stewart Copeland on your 6th Grammy and Ricky Kej on your second for your album Divine Tides! I had nothing to do with the Ricky Kej album, but it’s been a pleasure and an honor to work closely with Stewart for the last 12 years.
Stewart Copeland: Police Deranged for Orchestra tour in full swing
It’s been a real pleasure to do orchestration and score prep for Stewart Copeland for the last decade, and it’s wonderful that we finally have live music again this year. This show on the Police Deranged for Orchestra tour was with the Re-Collective Orchestra on Thursday at Cal State University Northridge. 4 shows down, 7 more to go in the US before the European leg of the tour starts. We finished preparations for this show in late 2019, so it’s good to see it finally come to life.
