Michael Edwards (born 18. February 1974) is an Australian composer and pianist based in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. He composes music for Film, TV and Theatre. Edwards is also known for his work with

Lisa Gerrard Lisa Germaine Gerrard (; born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. She is known for her unique singing style technique ...

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane d ...

Skye Edwards Skye Edwards (born Shirley Klaris Yonavieve Edwards; 27 May 1974), sometimes simply Skye, is a British singer-songwriter. Her career began in 1994 when she and the Godfrey brothers (Paul Godfrey, a DJ, and Ross Godfrey, a multi-instrumentalist ...

, Patrick Cassidy,

Darren Hayes Darren Stanley Hayes (born 8 May 1972) is an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the frontman and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden until their disbandment. Their 1997 album ''Savage Garden'' peaked at number 1 in Australia, number 2 in ...

, Christian Tschuggnall and the

Konzerthausorchester Berlin The Konzerthausorchester Berlin is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra is resident at the Konzerthaus Berlin, designed by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The building was destroyed during World War II, and was rebui ...

Biography

Edwards was born in Melbourne, Australia. He studied

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

at the Queensland Conservatorium and played in the

Queensland Youth Orchestras Queensland Youth Orchestras (QYO) is one of the state's organisations for orchestral training and performance and is based at the Old Museum building in Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Under the artistic leadership ...

. In 1993 he won the Australian national Nescafe Big Break Award whilst studying jazz piano at

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

(QUT) in Brisbane. He graduated with a music degree from QUT in 1994 and a graduate diploma in philosophy from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

in 1998. His sister is author and columnist Kasey Edwards.

Career

Music and television

After relocating to Sydney Edwards began his composition career writing music for advertising and television including writing the theme for the news program ''

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced befor ...

''. In 2003 he relocated to London, where he was one half of the production duo Lief, together with Adrian Watkins. They had UK Top 10 chart success with their remixes "

Put 'Em High "Put 'Em High" is a song by Swedish producer StoneBridge from his album ''Can't Get Enough'' (2004). The song was released through Hed Kandi in the United Kingdom and features vocals from Therese. The radio edit by JJ reached number six on the ...

" for StoneBridge and "Cannot Contain This" for

Moloko Moloko () were an Irish-English electronic music duo formed in Sheffield, England, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of electronica and dance music, they are best known for their UK top 10 sin ...

. Some years later Lief completed their own debut album "Photogenic", released in 2017 on Native Music.

Film

Edwards moved into composing for film after meeting Lisa Gerrard. First collaborating with her on the film ''Whale Rider''. Further collaborations include ''Layer Cake'', the Japanese film ''Ichi'', and the albums ''

The Silver Tree ''The Silver Tree'' is a 2006 album by Lisa Gerrard. It was her first solo album release since ''The Mirror Pool'' (1995). The album was initially released in digital format; followed by CD versions at the end of 2006, first in Australia by R ...

'' and '' The Black Opal''. In 2009 he scored the film ''The Tomb'', starring

Wes Bentley Wesley Cook Bentley is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Ricky Fitts in '' American Beauty'' (1999), which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Supporting Actor; Seneca Crane in ''The Hunger Games'' (2012); Doyle i ...

. Other notable films featuring his music are ''The Front Line'', ''Fuga Per La Liberta'', ''

Kill the Irishman ''Kill the Irishman'' is a 2011 American biographical crime film directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, and starring Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Christopher Walken, and Val Kilmer. Written by Hensleigh and Jeremy Walters, it is based on the lif ...

'', ''Calvary'' and ''1916: The Irish Rebellion'', all of which he composed in collaboration with Patrick Cassidy. His score to the award-winning film ''The Clockmaker's Dream'' won him Best Music at Los Angeles Cinefest 2016 and a nomination for the Deutscher Filmmusikpreis 2016.

Orchestral work

Edwards relocated to Berlin in 2009 focusing more heavily on orchestral composition. In 2017 he was commissioned to compose for the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin for which he and co-composer Christian Tschuggnall won multiple international nominations and prizes, including the Music and Sound Awards 2017, Golden Award of Montreux, Deutscher Preis für Onlinekommunikation, and Gold at the Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards 2017. With Tschuggnall, Edwards runs the music studio "unheard" in Berlin.

Theatre

Edwards has composed music for multiple theatre-productions. He has worked with Ice and Fire Theatre London and the network Actors for Human Rights in Germany (). His work includes the original score for the documentary theatre pieces ''Rendition Monologues'', ''Asylum Dialogues'' and ''NSU-Monologues''.

Pianist

As a live performer and pianist Edwards toured with Dead Can Dance in 2005 and with Skye and Darren Hayes from 2006 till 2008.

Discography

Albums

* Whale Rider (soundtrack) * Silver Tree – Lisa Gerrard * Dead Can Dance – Live 2005 * Ichi (soundtrack) * Calvary (soundtrack) * 1916: The Irish Rebellion (soundtrack) * Small Town (soundtrack) * The Clockmaker’s Dream (soundtrack) * Skye – In a Low Light * Atef – Perfect Stranger * Volta Music – Embers * Lief – Photogenic

017 Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...

* Universal Music – ''Dark Futures''

Feature films

* 1916: The Irish Rebellion * Calvary * Die Gewählten * Out of Society * Kill The Irishman * The Tomb * Ichi * Secrets of State * Solo * Fuga Per la Liberta * The Frontline * Playing For Charlie * Before The Flood * Layer Cake * Whale Rider * Breaking the Ice

Singles

* Space Weaver – Lisa Gerrard (The Silver Tree) * Sleep – Lisa Gerrard * Desert Song – Lisa Gerrard * The Messinger – Lisa Gerrard * Serpent and the Dove – Lisa Gerrard * Black Forest – Lisa Gerrard * Perfect Stranger – Atef * Said and Done – Skye * Mise Eire – Sibeal * Cannot Contain This – Moloko (Lief Remix) * Put ‘em High – Stonebridge (Lief Remix)

Short films

* The Clockmaker's Dream * Narcan * Klangberlins * Dead Clean

Television

* Today Tonight News Theme (1999–2013) * Water Rats (1999) * Murder Call (1999) * Mandy’s Choice (2006) * Town and Country (2005) * Katrin und die Welt der Tiere (2010) * Small Town (2016)

Plays

* Rendition Monologues – Ice and Fire Theare London * * * – Bühne für Menschenrechte Berlin * Hypnotise The World – Jan Becker (Germany) * Loachre – GAA Ireland

Awards

* 1993: Nescafe Big Break (winner) * 2006:

Australian Music Prize The Australian Music Prize (often shortened to the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award was made by Australian Music Pri ...

(nomination) * 2016: Deutscher Filmmusikpreis (nomination) * 2016: Los Angeles Cinefest (winner) * 2017:

Garden State Film Festival The Garden State Film Festival is a film festival in the United States held in Asbury Park, New Jersey which debuts more than 200 independent films annually over four days each spring. The festival was founded in 2002 in Sea Girt, New Jersey by ...

(winner) * 2017: Deutscher Preis für Onlinekommunikation (winner) * 2017: Golden Award of Montreux (winner) * 2017: ADC Peaks – Best YouTube Clip 2017 (winner) * 2017: Music and Sound Awards (finalist) * 2017: Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards (winner)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Michael 1974 births Musicians from Melbourne Australian expatriates in Germany Australian pianists Australian film score composers Living people 21st-century pianists