Ceremony Slated for May 21 in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, April 8, 2008 - Prolific composer Christopher Young will receive the Richard Kirk Award for outstanding career achievement at the performing right organization’s annual Film & Television Awards on Wednesday, May 21 in Los Angeles. Staged at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the black-tie, invitation-only dinner will also honor the composers of the past year's top-grossing films, top-rated prime-time network television series and highest-ranking cable network programs.

Named in honor of former BMI Vice President and film & television department founder Richard Kirk, the Richard Kirk Award is bestowed on composers who have made significant contributions to the realm of film and television. As the 2008 honoree, Christopher Young joins an elite list of peers that includes George S. Clinton, Jerry Goldsmith, Thomas Newman, Michael Kamen, Danny Elfman, Alan Menken and John Williams.

Award-winning composer Christopher Young has carved out his enviable niche in the upper pantheon of Hollywood composers with unusual speed and unerring flair. The UCLA Film School alumnus first turned heads with fiendish scores for horror and science fiction projects, and he proceeded to garner accolades for work on macabre and fantastical films including Hellraiser, its Saturn award-winning sequel and Species, along with BMI award-winners Ghost Rider, The Grudge and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Young became a master of suspense, composing music for thrillers including Copycat and BMI honoree Entrapment, as well as dramatic and critical tours-de-force including Golden Globe nominee The Shipping News, Wonder Boys, Rounders and BMI award-winner Swordfish. He also fleshed out the haunting nuances and electrifying action sequences of box office gold Spiderman 3. The New Jersey native has also excelled in television composition, earning two Emmy nominations for telefilms Last Flight Out and Norma Jean & Marilyn. A dedicated mentor, Young has taught classes at USC, served as an advisor for the Sundance Institute Film Composers Lab and created an innovative residential development to house aspiring composers in Los Angeles. He describes his progressive two-pronged approach to composition as the exploration of the contemporary music’s abstract ideas and the infinite pursuit of “the great American tune.”

Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI) is an American performing right organization that represents more than 375,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI’s most recent financial results, $839 million in performing right collections for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, were the highest for any copyright organization in the world. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for over 65 years. The non-profit-making U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.

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Sleepwalking score CD released today!
http://www.moviemusic.com/soundtrack/sleepwalking

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Originally posted by rkeaveney:
BMI has asked Chris to adapt Danny Elfman's original speech from 2002 when accepting his award.

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James

http://www.moviemusic.com/soundtrack/scenesofthecrime