Festival of Female Composers: Screen

The previously male dominated film music world has been slow on the uptake and recognition of female identifying composers and musicians. It was only 2020 when Irish conductor and composer Eímear Noone became the first woman to lead the orchestra at the Academy Awards ceremony.

Angela Morley composed music for television series such as Dynasty and Dallas before working with John Williams on Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, E.T. and Schindler's List to name a few. Morley was the first openly transgender person and woman to be nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Song Score for the Little Prince.

British composer Rachel Portman was the first woman composer to win an Academy Award for the Best Original Score with Emma in 1996. Portman has two other Academy Award Nominations for Best Original Score for The Cider House Rules and Chocolat.

The first Icelander to win an Oscar, musician and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir is known for her evocative scores within the fields of experimental pop and contemporary music. In addition to her award-winning soundtrack to Joker, Guðnadóttir has also had a strong presence in television, gaming and concert music.

Australian composer, conductor and producer Jessica Wells is not only at the forefront of screen composition of her own music, she is providing her services to create sheet music, orchestrations, recordings and produces other composers’ work from all around the world often working on recordings remotely. Wells is also involved with training future generations of Australian screen composers.

Best known for her orchestral and chamber compositions, Australian composer Maria Grenfell has recently collaborated on 2 projects with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra recording soundtracks to documentaries Quoll Farm and Living with Devils  “I thought about how best to depict their activities, such as running around catching moths, tiptoeing out from under the cottage, sneaking into the barn to catch rats and escape the baby Tasmanian Devil, rummaging around in the kitchen, and so on.” Said Maria of writing music for quolls.

Multi-award winning Australian, film, documentary and TV composer Caitlin Yeo’s music is described as captivating, intuitive, and emotional. “For me, the craft of screen composition boils down to carving music that fits within the film edit, the dialogue, and the sound effects to elegantly, poetically and artistically amplify the world and the characters of the film.” - Caitlin Yeo