Stephen Barton
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Stephen Barton (born 17 September 1982) is a
Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
-winning and Ivor Novello award-winning British composer who lives in Los Angeles. He has composed the music for dozens of major film, television, and video game projects, and has won two SCL Awards and a
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
nomination for his work.


Early life

As a child, Barton became a cathedral chorister at the age of eight in the Winchester Cathedral Choir. He toured internationally with the choir in the United States, Australia and Europe, including concerts in Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall, and Carnegie Hall; and performing on numerous albums and television broadcasts. He subsequently won a
Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...
specialist music scholarship to study piano and composition at
Wells Cathedral School Wells Cathedral School is an independent co-educational boarding and day school for 2–18 year olds located in Wells, Somerset, Wells, Somerset, England, which provides an all-round education alongside specialist music and chorister training. T ...
. At 18, he became an assistant to the composer
Harry Gregson-Williams Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer. He has composed music for video games, television and films including the ''Metal Gear'' series, '' Spy Game'', '' Phone Booth' ...
, working for him on numerous film scores before branching out to form his own company in 2009.


Video games

In 2007, he wrote the score for '' Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare'' (with
Harry Gregson-Williams Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer. He has composed music for video games, television and films including the ''Metal Gear'' series, '' Spy Game'', '' Phone Booth' ...
). He teamed up with the same developers at their new company
Respawn Entertainment Respawn Entertainment, LLC is an American video game development studio founded in 2010 by Jason West and Vince Zampella and owned by Electronic Arts since 2017. West and Zampella previously co-founded Infinity Ward and created the ''Call of D ...
to work on the music for ''
Titanfall ''Titanfall'' is a media franchise that mainly features first-person shooter games. The series was created by Respawn Entertainment and debuted on Xbox and Microsoft Windows; it has expanded to other consoles and platforms. Gameplay In ''Titan ...
'', an online-only multiplayer shooter. Barton also created the music for the 2016 sequel, ''
Titanfall 2 ''Titanfall 2'' is a 2016 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. A sequel to 2014's ''Titanfall (video game), Titanfall'', the game was released worldwide on October ...
''. In 2019, he composed the original music for ''Titanfall''’s battle royale sibling, ''
Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a 2019 Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, set in the same science fiction universe as Respawn's ''Titanfall'' series. It is offered ...
'', including the now iconic four note theme motif, and has continued to compose over three hours of music for all subsequent seasons of the game. In 2019, he also co-composed the score for '' Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order'', which won the Society of Composers and Lyricists inaugural award for Best Original Game Score, as well as Music of the Year from G.A.N.G., amongst other awards. In 2023, he composed the score for the sequel, '' Star Wars Jedi: Survivor''. In March 2024, it was announced Barton would compose the upcoming video game '' Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra'' (2025) developed and published by Skydance New Media.


Film and television

Barton's film work include scores for '' Unlocked'', '' Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away'', ''
Jennifer's Body ''Jennifer's Body'' is a 2009 American comedy horror film directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Diablo Cody. Starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J. K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, and Adam Brody, the film follows Jennifer Chec ...
'', Tom Dolby and Tom Williams' debut feature '' Last Weekend'', ''Line of Fire'', '' Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont'' and the
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
nominated thriller ''Exam''. He also contributed music for the '' Narnia'' and ''
Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture boo ...
'' franchises (including the "Fairy Godmother Song" from ''
Shrek 2 ''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American animated fantasy comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig. Directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon from a screenplay by Adamson, Joe Sti ...
'') as well as Ridley Scott's '' Kingdom of Heaven'', Tony Scott's '' Man On Fire'' and Ben Affleck's ''Gone, Baby Gone''. In television, he scored two seasons of the TV adaptation of ''
12 Monkeys ''12 Monkeys'' is a 1995 American Science fiction film, science fiction thriller film directed by Terry Gilliam from a screenplay by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, based on Chris Marker's 1962 short film ''La Jetée''. It stars Bruce Willis, M ...
'', and has collaborated extensively on nature documentaries with Natural History New Zealand and the Discovery Channel. Chris Prynoski, the animator behind the hallucination scene in ''
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America ''Beavis and Butt-Head Do America'' is a 1996 American adult animation, adult animated comedy film, comedy road movie, road film based on the MTV animated television series ''Beavis and Butt-Head''. The film was co-written and directed by series ...
'', heard Barton's score for ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' and asked him to score Titmouse's animated series '' G.I. Joe: Resolute'', which led to a further collaboration on a series for Disney, ''
Motorcity ''Motorcity'' is an American animated television series created by Chris Prynoski. It is produced by Titmouse, Inc., Robin Red Breast, Inc. and Disney Television Animation. The series premiered on Disney XD on April 30, 2012, and concluded on Ja ...
''. In addition to those he also co-wrote the music for MTV's ''Disco Destroyer'', a project conceived by
Scott Mosier Scott A. Mosier (born March 5, 1971) is an American-Canadian film producer, director and editor best known for his work with director Kevin Smith, with whom he occasionally co-hosts the weekly podcast, ''SModcast''. Early life Mosier was born ...
,
Jim Mahfood Jim Mahfood (born March 29, 1975), a.k.a. Food One, is an American comic book creator. Apart from his creator-owned comic book series ''Grrl Scouts'' and his comic strip ''Stupid Comics'' (which appears weekly in the ''Phoenix New Times'') he als ...
and Joe Casey and animated by Titmouse, composing the score with guitarist Mick Murphy. Subsequently, he scored Titmouse's '' Niko and the Sword of Light'' series for
Amazon Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...
. In 2022, Barton served as the primary composer for season three of '' Star Trek: Picard'', which was released in 2023. He was the sole composer for the first six episodes of the season and shared composing duties with Frederik Wiedmann for the final four episodes. Barton incorporated themes and styles from many prior ''Star Trek'' composers, notably including
Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was consid ...
and
James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American film composer. He worked on more than 160 film and television productions between 1978 and 2015. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements alongside tr ...
, combining them with his own original music.


Other work

Barton has collaborated frequently with Sir
Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...
since producing the soundtrack for the film ''
Slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slips ...
'' in 2006. He produced the
Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...
album "Composer", which topped the UK Classical charts for a month in 2012, as well as collaborating with Hopkins on the production of "And The Waltz Goes On" with
André Rieu André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (, ; born 1 October 1949) is a Dutch violinist and conductor best known as the founder of the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra. Rieu and his orchestra tour worldwide, often playing in stadiums. He resides ...
, which won the Classic FM "Album Of The Year" award in the Classic Brit Awards 2012. As a pianist he has performed extensively as a soloist with numerous orchestras including the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Dallas, Texas. Its principal performing venue is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District, Dallas, Arts District of downtown Dallas. History The orchestra tr ...
, Colorado Symphony,
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 ...
, and the
Brussels Philharmonic The Brussels Philharmonic is a Belgian orchestra located in Brussels. Formerly known as the Groot Symfonie-Orkest, BRT Philharmonic Orchestra, and later as the Flemish Radio Orchestra, the orchestra has been linked to the Flemish public broadc ...
, as well as on numerous movie soundtracks and diverse albums including Hybrid's ''
I Choose Noise ''I Choose Noise'' is the third studio album by British electronic music group Hybrid, released on 4 September 2006 by Distinct'ive Records. The album included recorded symphonic sequences by the Seattle Session Orchestra, and was produced in ...
'' and playing the
mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
on a cover of '' Snowblind'' for Fireball Ministry's eponymously titled album in 2010. He has been a consultant in the emerging field of spatial and immersive audio, working with the BBC and Qualcomm. Barton also serves as a committee member of the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...
and a founder member of the
Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...
Spatial Audio Forum.


Discography


Film scores


Other credits


Television


Video games


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Stephen 1982 births English film score composers English male film score composers English video game composers Grammy Award winners Living people People educated at Wells Cathedral School