Simon Hale

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Simon Hale (born  April 23, 1964 in Birmingham , West Midlands , England ) is a British composer , arranger and keyboardist .

Life

Hale grew up in the English Midlands , alternating between his native Birmingham and South Manchester . His father, Tony Hale, was the head of music and music programming at Capital Radio. As a child he received classical piano and later violin lessons.

Hale is married to the English soprano and stage actress Claire Moore. Moore has already appeared in various musicals as well as operas and plays, her best-known role so far was that of Christine in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera . The couple live and work in London .

Career

After graduating from high school, Hale moved to London, where he studied both performing arts and composition at Goldsmiths College, the city's university, between 1982 and 1985 . As part of his studies, he also took a film music course in the USA. During this time at Valley College in Los Angeles he composed his Suite East Fourteen for piano and strings . In 1992 he played his suite with Tim Garland , Dave O'Higgins, Noel Langley, Rald Salmins and strings; the arrangement for piano, trumpet , flugelhorn , tenor saxophone , strings and percussion instruments was released on CD via EFZ Records.

Until 1994 he worked as a studio musician, for example, with the jazz-rock band System X . After that he mainly devoted himself to his work as a film composer and arranger, u. a. for the singers Will Young , Hurts , Madness , Jamiroquai , Charlotte Church , Duncan Sheik , Björk , Incognito , Supergrass , The Beautiful South , George Benson , Robin Gibb and Josh Groban .

Also for Duncan Sheik he arranged its contribution to the soundtrack of A Home at the End of the World as well as the Broadway - Musical Spring Awakening . The musical won eight Tonys at the 2007 awards ceremony , and Hale and Sheik were recognized for “best orchestration”. The studio recording by the original ensemble won a Grammy for Best Musical Album in 2008 .

In January 2008 he performed with the band The Bays as part of the Fresh Festival at the Philharmonic Hall Liverpool . The concert was completely improvised - all orchestral parts included, these were written by Simon and John Metcalfe live on stage.

In 2009 he orchestrated Songs of Love & Loss , the seventh studio album and first cover album by the Australian singer-songwriter Tina Arena .

For the Lincoln Center Theater, he orchestrated their production of the musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown , which took place on November 4, 2010 at the Belasco Theater (Broadway). The production was in May 2011 for a Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Orchestration" ( outstanding orchestration nominated).

Hale wrote and orchestrated choral arrangements for singer Ray Davies' performance at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Meltdown Festival in June 2011.

Together with Andrew Hale, he wrote the soundtrack for LA Noire , which he was also involved in as a pianist , arranger and conductor . The soundtrack won a BAFTA for best "Original Music" ( score specially written for a film ).

In 2011 he orchestrated a new production by Stephen Sondheim's Company for the Sheffield Theaters.

In spring 2012, Hale wrote the arrangement for the contribution of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to the throne jubilee anthem "Sing" by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber . For Barlow's musical debut Finding Neverland , Hale worked again with the singer-songwriter, both in 2014 for the pre-production at ART (American Repertory Theater, part of Harvard University ) in Cambridge MA and in early 2015 for the opening on Broadway.

For his contribution to the album In the Lonely Hour by the British singer-songwriter Sam Smith , Hale received a Grammy nomination in 2015 , he also arranged and orchestrated Smith's song "Writing's On The Wall", the theme song of the 24th James Bond film Specter .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simon Hale in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  2. ^ 'LA Noire' Five-Movement Soundtrack Draws Heavily from Film Noir Rolling Stone
personal data
SURNAME Hale, Simon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British composer, arranger and keyboardist
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Birmingham , West Midlands , England