Dan Jones (composer)
Encyclopedia
Dan Jones is a BAFTA award winning composer and sound designer working in film and theatre. He read music at the University of Oxford
, studied contemporary music theatre at the Banff Centre for the Arts and studied electro-acoustic composition and programming at the Centro Ricerche Musicali in Rome. Having explored various means of generating music algorithmically he is the author of one of the earliest pieces of software for generating fractal
or self-similar music.
His scores for feature films include Shadow of the Vampire
(starring John Malkovich
, Willem Dafoe
), Jericho Mansions
(starring James Caan
) and Menno Meyjes
' Max
(starring John Cusack
), for which he received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Score 2004. He also scored Meyjes' follow up film "Manolete
" (starring Adrien Brody
and Penelope Cruz
).
He has written for all the major British television broadcasters and his work includes Sir David Attenborough's The Life of Mammals
, the BBC
series Strange, Pawel Pawlikowski
's drama "Twockers", Charlie Brooker's Channel 4 horror series "Dead Set" and Francesca Joseph's "Tomorrow La Scala", Channel 4's three part documentary " Visions of Heaven and Hell" shown in 1994. He collaborated with Sebastião Salgado
, John Berger
and Paul Carlin on the BBC Arena (television) special "The Spectre of Hope". He recently composed the music for the BAFTA Best Drama Serial Any Human Heart
for Channel 4 which also won both BAFTA and Ivor Novello Best Television Score Awards. More recently, he composed the music for ITV's controversial Fred West drama, 'Appropriate Adult'.
In 1997 he teamed up with British trip hop group Alpha (band)
producing orchestral arrangements for their albums ComeFromHeaven
, The Impossible Thrill
and Jarvis Cocker
's cover of "This is Where I Came In" for Massive Attack
's Melankolic label.
He has also created music and soundscapes for large scale public artworks. He is the co-creator of Sky Orchestra where music is played from seven hot air balloons positioned over a city, making it one of the largest sound works in the world. After an initial informal performance in Bristol in 2003, Sky Orchestra was first successfully staged in Birmingham commissioned by Fierce! and was later re-commissioned by Fierce and the Royal Shakespeare Company
as part of the Complete Works Festival. Sky Orchestra opened the Sydney Festival in 2007 and has also toured to Canada and Switzerland. He also produced the sound design for "Listening Posts, an art work by Daphne Wright to commemorate the Irish emigrants who left Cork's harbourside which produces an ever changing sound score throughout the year. His most recent work is Suburban Counterpoint subtitled Music for Seven Ice Cream Vans which was co-commissioned by London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT
), Norfolk and Norwich Festival
and The Sydney Festival
. In an idea dating back to 2000 the work, as the title suggests, uses seven ice cream vans to produce a surround sound score which inhabits an entire neighbourhood at once.
Other works include the score for the Rambert Dance Company's
"Slippage" by choreographer William Tuckett. His music has been used by The European Space Agency and incorporated into Isaac Julien
's Paradise Omeros which is exhibited at Tate Modern
, London.
He is founding member and co-artistic director of Sound and Fury Theatre Company whose productions pioneer the immersive use of experimental sound design. He recently co-directed and sound designed the theatre production "Kursk
" which toured the UK after a sell out run at the Young Vic theatre in London.
He was the first ever recipient of a special jury prize for sound design at the Prague Quadrennial for his work on Sound and Fury's production of Kursk
alongside fellow sound designer Kathrine Sandys for her piece Hush.
His musical work is published by Faber Music
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, studied contemporary music theatre at the Banff Centre for the Arts and studied electro-acoustic composition and programming at the Centro Ricerche Musicali in Rome. Having explored various means of generating music algorithmically he is the author of one of the earliest pieces of software for generating fractal
Fractal
A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
or self-similar music.
His scores for feature films include Shadow of the Vampire
Shadow of the Vampire
Shadow of the Vampire is a 2000 horror film directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, and Udo Kier. The film is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W....
(starring John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
, Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
), Jericho Mansions
Jericho Mansions
Jericho Mansions is an independent film directed by Alberto Sciamma. It stars Jennifer Tilly, James Caan and Geneviève Bujold. It was released in 2003 to very little success.It was filmed in Saint John, New Brunswick....
(starring James Caan
James Caan
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
) and Menno Meyjes
Menno Meyjes
Menno Meyjes is a Dutch-born screenwriter, film director and producer.He moved to the United States in 1972 and studied at the Art Institute of California – San Francisco. He was nominated for several awards for his screenplay to the 1985 film The Color Purple, adapted from the novel by Alice Walker...
' Max
Max (film)
Max is a 2002 British/Hungarian/Canadian fictional drama film, that depicts a friendship between a Jewish art dealer, Max Rothman, and a young Austrian painter, Adolf Hitler...
(starring John Cusack
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
), for which he received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Score 2004. He also scored Meyjes' follow up film "Manolete
Manolete (film)
The Passion Within , Blood and Passion , and A Matador’s Mistress , is a 2007 biopic of bullfighter Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez better known as Manolete, was written and directed by Menno Meyjes. This is the first film from HandMade Films since Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
" (starring Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
and Penelope Cruz
Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
).
He has written for all the major British television broadcasters and his work includes Sir David Attenborough's The Life of Mammals
The Life of Mammals
The Life of Mammals is a nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 20 November 2002....
, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series Strange, Pawel Pawlikowski
Pawel Pawlikowski
Paweł Pawlikowski is a Polish-born, Oxford-based, BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker and academic. He garnered much acclaim for his BAFTA Award-winning Last Resort which he wrote and directed in 2000 and My Summer of Love, loosely based on Helen Cross' novel, which also won a BAFTA and a string of...
's drama "Twockers", Charlie Brooker's Channel 4 horror series "Dead Set" and Francesca Joseph's "Tomorrow La Scala", Channel 4's three part documentary " Visions of Heaven and Hell" shown in 1994. He collaborated with Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Salgado is a Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist.-Biography:Salgado was born on February 8, 1944 in Aimorés, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. After a somewhat itinerant childhood, Salgado initially trained as an economist, earning a master’s degree in...
, John Berger
John Berger
John Peter Berger is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text.-Education:Born in Hackney, London, England, Berger was...
and Paul Carlin on the BBC Arena (television) special "The Spectre of Hope". He recently composed the music for the BAFTA Best Drama Serial Any Human Heart
Any Human Heart
Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart is a 2002 novel by William Boyd, a Scottish writer. It is written as a lifelong series of journals kept by the protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, a writer whose life spanned the defining episodes of the twentieth century, crossed several...
for Channel 4 which also won both BAFTA and Ivor Novello Best Television Score Awards. More recently, he composed the music for ITV's controversial Fred West drama, 'Appropriate Adult'.
In 1997 he teamed up with British trip hop group Alpha (band)
Alpha (band)
Alpha is a trip hop/electronica group, comprising founding member Corin Dingley, vocalist and lyricist Wendy Stubbs and Hannah Collins; other founding member, Andy Jenks, left the group before the release of their 2007 LP "The Sky Is Mine"...
producing orchestral arrangements for their albums ComeFromHeaven
ComeFromHeaven
ComeFromHeaven is Alpha's debut LP. It was the debut release on Massive Attack's Melankolic record label in 1997. Combining trip-hop with downtempo, the album features the vocals of Wendy Stubbs, Helen White and Martin Barnard...
, The Impossible Thrill
The Impossible Thrill
The Impossible Thrill is Alpha's second LP. It was released on March 20, 2001, on Massive Attack's Melankolic record label. Combining trip hop, downtempo and acid jazz, the album features the vocals of Wendy Stubbs, Helen White and Martin Barnard....
and Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...
's cover of "This is Where I Came In" for Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
's Melankolic label.
He has also created music and soundscapes for large scale public artworks. He is the co-creator of Sky Orchestra where music is played from seven hot air balloons positioned over a city, making it one of the largest sound works in the world. After an initial informal performance in Bristol in 2003, Sky Orchestra was first successfully staged in Birmingham commissioned by Fierce! and was later re-commissioned by Fierce and the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
as part of the Complete Works Festival. Sky Orchestra opened the Sydney Festival in 2007 and has also toured to Canada and Switzerland. He also produced the sound design for "Listening Posts, an art work by Daphne Wright to commemorate the Irish emigrants who left Cork's harbourside which produces an ever changing sound score throughout the year. His most recent work is Suburban Counterpoint subtitled Music for Seven Ice Cream Vans which was co-commissioned by London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT
Lift
Lift may mean:* Lift , a mechanical force generated by an object moving through a fluid* Lift , rising air used by soaring birds and glider, hang glider and paraglider pilots for soaring flight...
), Norfolk and Norwich Festival
Norfolk and Norwich Festival
Norfolk & Norwich Festival is an arts organisation based in Norwich, England which is primarily responsible for the eponymous international arts festival held in annually every May, with events also held throughout the wider county of Norfolk....
and The Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...
. In an idea dating back to 2000 the work, as the title suggests, uses seven ice cream vans to produce a surround sound score which inhabits an entire neighbourhood at once.
Other works include the score for the Rambert Dance Company's
Rambert Dance Company
Rambert Dance Company, is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it would exert a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingdom, and today, as a contemporary dance company, it continues to be one of the...
"Slippage" by choreographer William Tuckett. His music has been used by The European Space Agency and incorporated into Isaac Julien
Isaac Julien
Isaac Julien is an installation artist and filmmaker.-Biography:Julien graduated from St Martin's School of Art in 1985, where he studied painting and fine art film...
's Paradise Omeros which is exhibited at Tate Modern
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
, London.
He is founding member and co-artistic director of Sound and Fury Theatre Company whose productions pioneer the immersive use of experimental sound design. He recently co-directed and sound designed the theatre production "Kursk
Kursk (play)
Kursk is a play produced by the theatre company Sound and Fury, written by the British playwright Bryony Lavery, and directed by Mark Espiner and Dan Jones...
" which toured the UK after a sell out run at the Young Vic theatre in London.
He was the first ever recipient of a special jury prize for sound design at the Prague Quadrennial for his work on Sound and Fury's production of Kursk
Kursk (play)
Kursk is a play produced by the theatre company Sound and Fury, written by the British playwright Bryony Lavery, and directed by Mark Espiner and Dan Jones...
alongside fellow sound designer Kathrine Sandys for her piece Hush.
His musical work is published by Faber Music
Faber Music
Faber Music is a British sheet music publisher best known for contemporary classical music. It also publishes music tutor books, and in 2005 acquired popular music publisher International Music Publications....
Awards and Nominations
- Primetime Emmy AwardPrimetime Emmy AwardThe Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
, Nominee for Best Music Composition for a miniseries, movie or special Any Human HeartAny Human HeartAny Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart is a 2002 novel by William Boyd, a Scottish writer. It is written as a lifelong series of journals kept by the protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, a writer whose life spanned the defining episodes of the twentieth century, crossed several...
— 2011 - Primetime Emmy AwardPrimetime Emmy AwardThe Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
, Nominee for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music Any Human HeartAny Human HeartAny Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart is a 2002 novel by William Boyd, a Scottish writer. It is written as a lifelong series of journals kept by the protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, a writer whose life spanned the defining episodes of the twentieth century, crossed several...
— 2011 - BAFTA, Winner Television Music Any Human HeartAny Human HeartAny Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart is a 2002 novel by William Boyd, a Scottish writer. It is written as a lifelong series of journals kept by the protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, a writer whose life spanned the defining episodes of the twentieth century, crossed several...
— 2011 - Ivor Novello Award, Winner Best Television Soundtrack, Any Human HeartAny Human HeartAny Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart is a 2002 novel by William Boyd, a Scottish writer. It is written as a lifelong series of journals kept by the protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, a writer whose life spanned the defining episodes of the twentieth century, crossed several...
— 2011 - Prague QuadrennialPrague QuadrennialHeld in Prague once every fourth years since 1967, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space or Prague Quadrennial is the world's largest event in the field of scenography, consisting of a competitive presentation of contemporary work in a variety of performance design disciplines and...
2011 Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Sound Design, KurskKursk (play)Kursk is a play produced by the theatre company Sound and Fury, written by the British playwright Bryony Lavery, and directed by Mark Espiner and Dan Jones...
, Sound and Fury at the Young Vic - Ivor Novello Award, Winner Best Film Soundtrack — 2004
Discography
- Shadow of the VampireShadow of the VampireShadow of the Vampire is a 2000 horror film directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, and Udo Kier. The film is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W....
, (original sound track) — 2001 - The Life of MammalsThe Life of MammalsThe Life of Mammals is a nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 20 November 2002....
, (original sound track) — 2003 - Max (film)Max (film)Max is a 2002 British/Hungarian/Canadian fictional drama film, that depicts a friendship between a Jewish art dealer, Max Rothman, and a young Austrian painter, Adolf Hitler...
, (original sound track) — 2006 - Dead Set (TV series)Dead Set (TV series)Dead Set is a critically acclaimed BAFTA-nominated horror drama created by English writer Charlie Brooker.The series takes place primarily on the set of a fictional season of the real television show Big Brother...
, (original sound track) — 2008 - Any Human Heart (TV series)Any Human Heart (TV series)Any Human Heart is a 2010 BAFTA award–winning TV adaptation of the novel Any Human Heart by William Boyd. It was announced in April 2010 and broadcast in four parts from 21 November to 12 December 2010 on Channel 4 in the UK and in three parts during February 2011 on the PBS series Masterpiece in...
, (original soundtrack) - 2010