IN FOCUS WORLD SOUNDTRACK AWARDS
Roaring twenty As the World Soundtrack Awards prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary on October 24, Wendy Mitchell looks back over its two decades of musical excellence t was 2001, and Lebanese-French composer Gabriel Yared was celebrated at the first film music concert organised by the fledgling World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) in Ghent. His credits at the time included The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Since then, the prolific Yared has scored a further 50 feature films and TV series. And he will return to Belgium this year to celebrate 20 years of the WSA and 20 more years of his own work, being honoured with the lifetime achievement award. Ghent-born composer and conductor Dirk Brossé was also there to conduct that concert in 2001, and has held the baton for all the editions since then. Brossé, who is now the music director at Film Fest Gent and chair of the WSA advisory board, remembers that first year with fondness. “We started quite innocent but with a big ambition,” he recalls. “We had no idea it would become a worldwide organisation that has grown so much.” There was already industry support for that inaugural event: John Williams accepted the composer of the year prize for A.I. Artificial Intelligence, while Craig Armstrong, still a rising talent, won the discovery award for his work on Kiss Of The Dragon and Moulin Rouge!.
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On a pedestal
The World Soundtrack Academy established the World Soundtrack Awards to fill a gap in the industry, becoming the first place where film music composers could take the spotlight and not be sidelined while the public and press fawned
over actors and directors. “In Ghent, with the WSA we were the first worldwide organisation that focused on film music,” Brossé says proudly. Film Fest Gent — or Flanders International Film Festival as it was then known — had been promoting music in film since 1985, but made it official in 2001, partly inspired by the success of a 2000 concert with Hans Zimmer. Twenty years later, there are many film music events around the globe — Krakow, Tenerife and Zurich to name a few. But the WSA, still held at Film Fest Gent, is seen as the gold standard.
‘When you take film music from the film, it can survive as an independent form of art’ Dirk Brossé, Film Fest Gent
It is also becoming popular for serious orchestras to play film music, which was not true back in 2001. “We wanted to show that film music, even when you take it from the film, can survive as an independent form of art,” says Brossé. “Now there is more awareness from composers that the music can have another life… they even write some cues that can be configured for a concert setting.” The WSA has grown in size as well as scope says Maggie Rodford, managing director of London and Los Angeles-based music company Air-Edel Group and a WSA advisory board member. “It has got big-
ger, but it’s also grown in its reach. Composers come in from all over the world now. It’s also grown in the amount of respect.” This is a challenging year to celebrate an anniversary. The awards and concert will be delivered online for the first time, livestreamed on October 24. This has a potential silver lining for Brossé: “Instead of the 1,500 people who usually come to Ghent, maybe now we can reach 1 million people online.” The concert — which will be pre-recorded without an audience — will include the compositions of last year’s discovery of the year recipient Michael Abels, followed by the work of Alexandre Desplat and Yared. Depending on travel restrictions, WSA organisers hope all three composers will be able to travel to Ghent. As usual, Brussels Philharmonic delivers the concert; this year, because of Covid-19 health measures, the number of musicians on stage will be capped at 50. “They are an amazing orchestra that really understands the language of film music,” Brossé says. “They play year after year with passion.” Brossé himself is also a selling point for the WSAs, says Rodford. “He brings such musicianship. It’s unique having a figurehead like that, who is respected by the composers. Many of these composers have never heard their music in a live setting, only a recording setting. Dirk manages to make them feel calm, has good suggestions and is always mindful of their creativity in their compositions.” As Yared has said, Brossé “is at the service of the composer and he does so wholeheartedly and most skilfully”.
September 2020 | Screen International | screendaily.com
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