James Shearman is an English

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

orchestrator Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. He is perhaps best known for his contributions to film scores including those for ''

Gosford Park ''Gosford Park'' is a 2001 satirical black comedy mystery film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film, which is influenced by Jean Renoir's French classic '' The Rules of the Game'', follows a party of wealthy Brito ...

,'' ''

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the fourth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwar ...

'', '' Manchester by the Sea'' and numerous others. He has collaborated frequently with composer,

Patrick Doyle Patrick Doyle (born 6 April 1953) is a Scottish composer and occasional actor best known for his film scores. During his 50-year career in film, television and theatre, he has composed the scores for over 60 feature films. A longtime collaborato ...

. In addition to his conducting and orchestration, Shearman is also a songwriter, having co-written the title track from

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a British singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff, Wales. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer with a less-successful attempt to mov ...

's 2000 album, '' Dream a Dream'' (among other songs). He regularly conducts orchestras, including the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra,

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...

, and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.

Early life and education

Shearman was born and grew up in England. He attended the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

where he was one of four students in the four-year BMus Commercial Music degree program, studying composition and conducting. In his last year of study at the academy, Shearman was commissioned to compose an original piece to honor film composer,

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

. The composition ("Metropolis — A Tribute to John Williams") was premiered in June 1996 during the British and American Film Music Festival at the Royal Academy of Music with Williams in attendance. Shearman was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2015.

Career

Soon after his graduation from the Royal Academy of Music, Shearman began providing orchestrations to film scores. He first collaborated with composer Patrick Doyle on the 1998 film ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after ''Dav ...

''. This led to Shearman providing orchestrations and arrangements for Doyle on another 1998 film, '' Quest for Camelot''. This partnership eventually resulted in Shearman becoming Doyle's principal orchestrator and conductor. He has gone on to provide conducting, orchestration, and/or arrangements for Doyle's scores for ''Thor'', ''

Rise of the Planet of the Apes ''Rise of the Planet of the Apes'' is a 2011 American science fiction action film directed by Rupert Wyatt from a screenplay by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It is a reboot of the ''Planet of the Apes'' film series and is the seventh install ...

'', ''Brave'', ''

'', ''

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

'', and numerous others. In 2012, Shearman arranged the ''Brave'' orchestral suite for a ''Pixar in Concert'' event. In 2015, he conducted a series of concerts across Europe and the United States with Doyle entitled ''Shakespeare in Concert''. Over the course of his career, Shearman has also collaborated with numerous other composers including,

Lesley Barber Lesley Barber (born 1962) is a Canadian composer of music for film, theatre, chamber and orchestral ensembles and she is also a conductor, pianist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Barber is best known for composing the film scores for '' Ma ...

(''

Mansfield Park ''Mansfield Park'' is the third published novel by the English author Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton (publisher), Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray (publishing house), John Murray, st ...

'', '' Manchester by the Sea''),

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic music, electronic. He is also a prolific and acclaimed composer of Film ...

('' In The Valley of Elah'', '' Reservation Road''), Stephen Warbeck (''Shakespeare in Love''), Paul Cantelon ('' The Other Boleyn Girl''), Jan A. P. Kaczmarek ('' Lost Souls''),

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer and conductor. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Alan Menken, numerous accolades including winning eight Academy Awards, a Tony Awards, Tony ...

(''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'', ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

''), and

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

(''

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

''). He has also conducted a variety of orchestras both through his work with film scores and through live concerts. He made his concert conducting debut in 2004 with the

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its adminis ...

, leading a concert of

A.R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinema ...

compositions. In March 2014, he conducted the

Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. Based in Belfast, the orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom ...

for the first time with ''The Music of Patrick Doyle from the Films of Sir

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

''. He made his

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

conducting debut with The Philharmonia Orchestra in October 2014. He has also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, the Hollywood Studio Symphony, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (at the 2017 Qatar British Festival), and numerous others. In 2017, Shearman made his

Konzerthaus, Vienna The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...

and Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra debut, sharing the conducting with American conductor John Mauceri for the televised 2017 ''Hollywood In Vienna'' concert: ''Fairytales'' and ''A Tribute to Danny Elfman''. In April 2019, he made his

Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a concert hall on Hope Street, Liverpool, Hope Street in Liverpool, England. It is the home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and is recorded in the National Heritage List f ...

debut with the

and its ''Music from the Star Wars Saga'' concert. In addition to his work with film scores and orchestral concerts, Shearman has also composed, conducted, and orchestrated songs for recording artists. He co-wrote (with Sam Babenia) the title track off of Charlotte Church's 2000 album, ''Dream a Dream''. He has also worked with Conner Reeves,

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Gary Barlow Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the pop group Take That. Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, having writ ...

, and

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...

. He conducted the choirs for the latter band's 2007 album, '' Dark Passion Play'' and the choirs and orchestra for the 2015 album, '' Endless Forms Most Beautiful''. and was the arranger of the band's 2024 album Yesterwynde.

Filmography

Discography

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shearman, James English composers English male conductors (music) English music arrangers Living people 1970 births 21st-century English conductors (music) 21st-century English male musicians