Please find below information about our latest online soundtrack release: DEAR WENDY, composed by a very talented new composer, Benjamin Wallfisch. You might recognise his name from your Dario Marianelli soundtracks - he has orchestrated and conducted his scores for Pride and Prejudice, V for Vendetta and The Brothers Grimm. Obviously, I'm biased, but IMO this is a very promising young composer who has also done a lot of great concert music. Hope you'll enjoy this release!

All the best,

mikael

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MovieScore Media presents
The World Soundtrack Award Nominated
Original Motion Picture Score

DEAR WENDY
Music composed and conducted by
Benjamin Wallfisch

Continuing their exploration of exciting new composers emerging on the film music scene, independent soundtrack label MovieScore Media proudly announces the release of award-winning composer Benjamin Wallfisch’s original score for Dear Wendy, directed by Thomas Vinterberg and written by Lars von Trier.

Dear Wendy is MovieScore Media’s fourth digital soundtrack album since the launch of the label in January. “I was completely blown away by Benjamin’s score for this film and there is no doubt about it: this is one of the most promising young composers I have ever come across! Dear Wendy is Benjamin’s first feature film score, but he is also a brilliant and very interesting concert music composer, which clearly shines through in this beautiful and expertly crafted film score,” said executive album producer Mikael Carlsson.

The Dear Wendy music was nominated as “Discovery of the Year” in the 2005 World Soundtrack Awards and “Best Original Score” in the Danish Film Academy Awards. The score was composed, orchestrated and conducted by by Benjamin Wallfisch and performed by The Philharmonia Orchestra in London.

Wallfisch is the Associate Composer of the Orchestra of St. John’s Smith Square and
later in the year the Independent Music and Media Alliance will release a CD presenting Wallfisch’s compositions, including his new Clarinet Concerto dedicated to and performed by Michael Collins. Over the last seven years, Benjamin has received over thirty commissions from organisations including the BBC, Bath International Festival of Music, Orchestre de Bretagne, English Chamber Orchestra, Goldberg Ensemble, Hallé Orchestra, Leamington Festival, Manchester Camerata, Park Lane Group, Rambert Dance Company, Royal College of Art and the Warwick Arts Society.

Benjamin Wallfisch holds the position as Associate Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra, and has also conducted and orchestrated a number of acclaimed film scores by Dario Marianelli, including the Academy Award-nominated score for Pride and Prejudice as well as The Brothers Grimm and the recent V for Vendetta. Benjamin has conducted the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, English Chamber Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Philharmonia, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra and was assistant to Valery Gergiev in the two major programmes with the NRPO.

Benjamin was awarded First Prize in the 2001 British Reserve Insurance Conducting Competition with a unanimous vote from both Jury and Orchestra and was also a major prize winner in the 2002 Leeds Conductors’ Competition. Benjamin was awarded the Master of Music degree with Distinction in Composition from the Royal Academy of Music and is the first composer in the Academy’s history to be awarded the coveted Honorary DipRAM.

Dear Wendy, directed by Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, It’s All About Love) and written by Lars von Trier (Dogville, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves) was called “a rueful excoriation of trigger-happy American mores” by eyeWeekly and “an elegant, explosive black comedy that adds a wry nod to that disappearing genre, the Western” by Reel.com. Europeanfilms.net wrote that Dear Wendy “could very well be the best work of both von Trier and Vinterberg; sensous filmmaking, an intelligent script, an excellent cast and soundtrack.” The film stars Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot), Bill Pullman (Lost Highway) and Chris Owen (October Sky) and was produced by Peter Albaek Jensen.

In addition to the original score from Dear Wendy, MovieScore Media’s album also features two bonus tracks showcasing two concert works by Benjamin Wallfisch: ”Prism” and ”Discovery”.

Dear Wendy: Original Motion Picture Score will be available from iTunes on May 9, 2006, with wider digital distribution to follow.

Please visit MovieScore Media’s web site at http://www.moviescoremedia.com.
For more information on Benjamin Wallfisch, please visit http://www.benjaminwallfisch.com.
For more information on Dear Wendy, please visit http://www.dearwendythemovie.com.

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MovieScore Media is an online soundtrack label devoted to make high quality film music available on the internet, focusing on interesting and original film scores where the quality of the music, rather than the commercial properties of the film itself, comes first. ‘Dear Wendy’ is the fourth release from MovieScore Media, the three previous ones are ‘Unknown Soldier’ (Peter Calandra), ‘Shadows in the Sun’ (Mark Thomas) and ‘Echoes of Innocence’ (Brad Sayles).

Showdown: http://www.moviescoremedia.com/audio/wendy1.mp3
Electric Park: http://www.moviescoremedia.com/audio/wendy3.mp3
First Shot: http://www.moviescoremedia.com/audio/wendy5.mp3
The Dandies: http://www.moviescoremedia.com/audio/wendy7.mp3
Ultimate Darkness: http://www.moviescoremedia.com/audio/wendy11.mp3
Close Escape: http://www.moviescoremedia.com/audio/wendy12.mp3
Prism (bonus track): http://www.moviescoremedia.com/audio/wendy15.mp3

More info at: http://www.moviescoremedia.com/dear_wendy.html

iTunes purchase link: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=152877614&s=143441