Mychael Danna
Born: 20 September 1958, Winnipeg, Canada.
Biography:
Successful Canadian composer whose work on the fringes of the Hollywood mainstream has won him many admirers, and a great deal of critical and commercial acclaim. Studied music at the University of Toronto, where he won the Glenn Gould Composition Scholarship, and began his career as the composer-in-residence at the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto. During his time at McLaughlin, Danna became interested in Middle Eastern and South Asian music, and gradually developed a fascination for combining it with contemporary Western romanticism, minimalism and electronics. Danna scored his first film, "Family Viewing", in 1987 for Canadian/Armenian director Atom Egoyan, with whom he has since gone on to develop a fruitful collaboration on films such as "Speaking Parts" (1989), "The Adjuster" (1991), "Exotica" (1994), "The Sweet Hereafter" (1997), "Felicia's Journey" (1999) and "Ararat" (2002). By the early 1990s Danna had become Canada's leading domestic composer of film music, having been nominated for no less than six Genie Awards (Canadian Oscars), winning twice. In recent years, Danna has finally begun to break out of the art house scene into the Hollywood mainstream, with scores for prominent films such as "The Ice Storm" (1997), "8MM" (1999), "Girl, Interrupted" (1999), "Ride With the Devil" (1999), "Bounce" (2000), "Hearts in Atlantis" (2001), "Monsoon Wedding" (2001), "Antwone Fisher" (2002), "Capote" (2005), “The Nativity Story” (2006) and the hugely successful “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006) to his name. Away from the film world, Danna has also released several original albums of Celtic music and ambient soundscapes (some in collaboration with his brother Jeff, who is also a composer, others with fellow new-age artist Tim Clement) on the Chacra and Hearts of Space labels.
Reviews:
8MM, Adoration, Antwone Fisher, Ararat, Being Julia, Bounce, Breach, Felicia's Journey, Fracture, Girl Interrupted, The Ice Storm, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Little Miss Sunshine, Monsoon Wedding, The Nativity Story, Ride With The Devil, Surf’s Up and The Time Traveler’s Wife
Filmography:
500 Days of Summer (2009), Adoration (2009), Cooking with Stella (2009), Dollhouse (2009), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), Management (2009), The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009), Heaven on Earth (2008), Lakeview Terrace (2008), New Amsterdam (2008), Stone of Destiny (2008), Trucker (2008), Breach (2007), Fracture (2007), Migration (2007), Surf’s Up (2007), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lonely Hearts (2006), The Nativity Story (2006), Tideland (2006), Aurora Borealis (2005), Capote (2005), Eve and the Fire Horse (2005), Water (2005), Where the Truth Lies (2005), Being Julia (2004), Vanity Fair (2004), Shattered Glass (2003), The Snow Walker (2003), Antwone Fisher (2002), Ararat (2002), The Guys (2002), The Matthew Shepard Story (2002), Chosen (2001), Green Dragon (2001), Hearts in Atlantis (2001), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Stranger Inside (2001), Bounce (2000), 8MM (1999), The Confession (1999), Don't Think Twice (1999), Felicia's Journey (1999), Girl Interrupted (1999), Ride With The Devil (1999), At The End Of The Day (1998), The Ice Storm (1997), Regeneration (1997), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Dangerous Offender (1996), Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), Lilies (1996), Dance Me Outside (1994), The Darling Family (1994), Exotica (1994), Narmada: A Valley Rises (1994), Calendar (1993), Gross Misconduct (1993), Hush Little Baby (1993), Ordinary Magic (1993), The Adjuster (1991), The Big Slice (1991), Johann's Gift to Christmas (1991), Montreal Sextet (1991), Road to Avonlea (1990), Cold Comfort (1989), Speaking Parts (1989), Termini Station (1989), Blood Relations (1988), Murder One (1988), Still Life (1988), Caribe (1987), Family Viewing (1987).
Highest Grossing Films as at end of 2008 (adjusted for inflation):
Little Miss Sunshine ($65.1m), Surf’s Up ($61.6m), 8MM ($52.0m), Bounce ($49.2m), The Nativity Story ($41.3m), Girl Interrupted ($41.0m), Fracture ($40.6), Lakeview Terrace ($39.9m,), Breach ($34.5m), Capote ($31.8m)
Links:
Mychael Danna Music
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