Céline Dion sings Patrick Doyle

Star singer Céline Dion went visited a studio last month in order to record a new song to be included in the Nouvelle France soundtrack, written by Patrick Doyle. The song has been tittled Ma Nouvelle-France, and Luc Plamondon wrote the lyrics.

Nouvelle France is a French-Canadian production directed by Jean Beaudin, and will be showing in theaters from November the 15th. The acting crew will include Noémie Godin-Vigneau, David Lahaye, Gérard Depardieu, Jason Isaacs, Tim Roth, Irene Jacob and Vincent Perez, among others.

The plot is a romantic drama back in the XVIIIth century, during French and English wars to take control over Canadian territories.

New Albums in November

Vangelis score for Alexander is among the most expected CDs to appear during this month. It will be edited by Sony Classical, starting in shops on November the 9th. However, it will not be the only release in the coming weeks. In fact, soundtrack record lovers will find this a very busy month:

The Incredibles, by Michael Giacchino (Walt Disney Records, Nov. 2)
The Polar Express, by Alan Silvestri (Reprise, Nov. 2)
Finding Neverland, by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (Decca, Nov. 2)
Team America: World Police, by Harry Gregson-Williams (Atlantic, Nov. 2)
The Grudge, by Christopher Young (Varese, Nov. 9)
Birth, by Alexander Desplat (New Line, Nov. 9)
Undertow, by Philip Glass (Orange Mountain, Nov. 9)
Being Julia, by Mychael Danna (Varese, Nov. 16)
National Treasure, by Trevor Rabin (Hollywood, Nov. 16)
The Phantom of the Opera, by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Sony, Nov. 23)

More records about TV series music are to follow:

Alias (2nd Season), by Michael Giacchino and Jeffrey Abrahams (Varese, Nov. 16)
Earthsea, by Jeff Rona (Varese, Nov. 23)

Jocelyn Pook scores The Merchant of Venice

Jocelyn Pook has been asked to compose a score for The Merchant of Venice, a film adaptation of Shakespeare's famous drama by British director Michael Radford.

The film has been already shown in some festivals and will open in the United Kingdom next month (a few weeks later in the States).

This Merchant version will feature very well known actors such as Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes.

Joel McNeely to score Mulan II

Disney will set in a few days the presentation of a new film in video and DVD format: Mulan II. This will continue the adventures of Mulan that took place in the 1998 film, with a musical score composed by the late Jerry Goldsmith.

Mulan's new adventures will be simultaneously presented in several countries. In the new epic, Mulan and Shang will get involved in a confrontation against the Mongols, just when they were both ready for their marriage ceremony.

The music for this animated movie has been composed by a fond Disney musician, Joel McNeely, also responsible for scoring Peter Pan 2 (Return to Neverland) or The Book of the Jungle 2. McNeelys music for Mulan II will include new songs written by Scott Erickson and additional music by Jeanine Tesori .

Next project for McNeely will be Disney's Pooh's Heffalump Movie.

The Island, a new project for Steve Jablonsky

Steve Jablonsky seems to be gradually settling on Holywood's disputed ground. Media Venture's composer will score now The Island, a new sci-fi thriller by Michael Bay to be shown in 2006, starring Ewan McGregor, Steve Buscemi and Scarlett Johansson.

Before that, in 2005, Jablonsky is to be credited for scoring The Amytiville Horror.

Source: Music From The Movies

John Ottman replaces Young on Hide and Seek

According to Music from the Movies, John Ottman has been hired to compose the score for the Robert de Niro thriller Hide and Seek, replacing Christopher Young who had to withdraw from scoring duties due to a scheduling conflict involving Beauty Shop.

Hide and Seek will come out on 28 January 2005 and is directed by John Polson (Swimfan). The cast includes Robert de Niro, Famke Janssen and Dakota Fanning.

Ottman's other upcoming assignments include House of Wax, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Superman.

Zimmer will score The Ring 2

According to Music from the Movies, following up one of the most acclaimed scores in recent years, Hans Zimmer will provide the music for The Ring 2, according to the Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency. Zimmer scored the first American version of The Ring en 2002. This film was directed by Gore Verbinski, however the sequel is actually helmed by Hideo Nakata, who directed the two original japanese Ring films en 1998 and 1999. The Ring 2 will premiere on 18 March 2005, starring (once again) Naomi Watts in the leading role.

Maurice Jarre, back in action

Did you think he was retired? Not really. Maurice Jarre, who is 80, keeps on working and has a new project. It's a Russian movie titled ... and Quiets Flows the Don, directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, starring F. Murray Abraham, Ben Gazzara, Rupert Everett and Delphine Forest.

I'ts a drama based on the book by Mikhail Sholokohv, Nobel Prize in Literature 1966. The story concerns the fluctuating fortunes of Grigory Melekhov, a young Cossack who is both a hero and a victim of the uprising, during the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian Civil War as backdrop.

Sissel will feature in the expanded edition of ROTK

Some of the concerts about Howard Shore's symphonic suite of The Lord Of The Ring's trilogy have been performed with Norwegian singer Sissel on the vocals. She was asked by the Canadian composer to put her voice on two themes: Gollum's Song and Into The West in some concerts, like some weeks ago in London. It is not known yet if Sissel will be next month with Shore in Seville (currently on tour).

Nevertheless, she has already recorded one song to be included in the expanded edition of The Return Of The King (ROTK). Sissel herself doesn't figure out in what scene will this be added, but she reported it is sung in Elvish.

Sissel is also the singer who opens recent Mychael Danna's score Vanity Fair.

On the other hand, Doug Adams (Film Score Monthly) is working now on a book tittled The Music of The Lord Of The Rings. He has met with Howard Shore on several occasions. The book will be published together with an integrale of the score written by Shore (9 CDs) on the year 2005. Adams has identified up to 75 musical motives in Shore's trilogy, and they are revisited in his book's longest chapter.

Former Pulp leader involved in the next Harry Potter's soundtrack

As published by British tabloid The Sun, Jarvis Cocker will be responsible for writing the score in next Harry Potter's film. This news shocked many film music enthusiasts who knew that composer Patrick Doyle was about to do so. The Sun highlighted that former Pulp leader would sign a big contract with film producers. However, it has been confirmed that Cocker won't work on the score, but will write some songs together with Franz Ferdinand instead. The song will feature in a scene in which young magicians are cheering their favourite band, The Weird Sisters, in a party held at Hogwarts.

Director Mike Newell said that this would be a good idea to raise teenager's attention on the film itself and the resulting soundtrack. It seems that young actors involved in the making of such film made the critical decision and chose Cocker and Franz Ferdinand for the right purpose.
Meanwhile, Doyle will continue on preparing the music of next Harry Potter's adventures on the screen.

About John Williams...

Different news about the Maestro have been published in the last days, and we'll try to resume them in two points:

- Official sources confirm that John Williams has begun to score "Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith". The composer will work on this score over the next three months, until february 2.005, when he will go to London to record the score at Abbey Road with the London Symphony Orchestra. Rumors tell about that main theme from this score would be the duel theme for Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi's fight. They will fight inside a volcano and then we will know the reason for Vader's mask... We may stay tuned soon because LucasFilm will publish the first official teaser trailer for "The Revenge of the Sith" at cinemas and internet, next 5th of november, with the cinema release of "The Incredibles" the latest digital animation film from Pixar Animation Studios.

- The large amount of work for the composer is the most possible reason for the official confirmation that John Williams will not have any concert in London next year, when he will go to record the Episode III score. When he will end these recording sessions, must to come back to USA to compose two works at once, the latest Spielberg's film, based on H.G. Wells novel "The War of the Worlds" starring Tom Cruise, and Rob Marshall's adaptation of Arthur Golden's novel "Memoirs of a Geisha". Each film will be released in USA during summer 2.005. Anyway, there will be a cinema music concert with the London Symphony Orchestra, featuring John Williams' music, but it will be conducted by Dirk Brosse. It will be on Sunday 20th of February 2.005.

Lisa Gerrard will sing Morricone in a Hungarian film

Italian maestro Ennio Morricone is presently working on a score for Sorstalanság (Fateless, in English), a film by Hungarian director Lajos Koltai, which is based on a novel written by the Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertész, and will be presented next year.
Morricone´s soundtrack for this film will include a song performed by Lisa Gerrard, ex Dead Can Dance vocalist, who has been repeatedly involved in several film soundtracks by the hand of composer Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) or even by herself (Ali, Whale Rider)... When asked about Gerrard?s choice, the maestro stated: She is the only one capable with this project.

Piovani and Benigni merge again in La Tigre e la neve

Following Pinnochio´s big wreck, Italian director Roberto Benigni is ready now to launch another film experience, closer this time to La vita é bella standards. The new production will be tittled La Tigre e la neve, a comedy based on the hazards faced by a poet (starring Benigni himself) living in Irak during the U.S. Army attacks. Other artists involved in this film will be French actor Jean Reno, and Benigni´s wife, Nicoletta Braschi (she also performed in La vita é bella).

As usual, Nicola Piovani has been requested by Benigni to compose a score for his new film. In fact, the Italian composer is having quite a busy year, being involved in scoring L´Équipier, a romantic drama directed by Philippe Lioret, starring French actress Sandrine Bonnaire. Piovani has also been working this year in the soundtrack for an Italian TV series, Luisa Sanfelice, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, and set in the 18th century. Listing in the acting crew for this new series appear stars such as Laetitia Casta, Cecilia Roth or Carmelo Gómez.

The Phantom of the Opera in Sitges Film Festival

The 37th Sitges International Film Festival (Barcelona, Spain) will welcome next 9th of December the premiere of The Phantom of the Opera, the film version of the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, directed by Joel Schumacher.

Both the author/composer and the director will stay at Sitges in this premiere, with part of the cast: Gerald Butler (The Phantom), Emmy Rossum (Christine Dae), Patrick Wilson (Raoul) and Minnie Driver (Carlotta).

The Festival includes, 5th to 7th of December, the Star Wars Conference, with the attendance of some personalities involved in the galactic saga. There will be conferences, original products exhibitions, and a marathon with the exhibition of the five episodes that exists nowadays.

Other films that will be showed at this festival will be: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Code 46, Birth, The Machinist, Old Boy and Arsène Lupin.

Superman, Themes by John Williams, Adapted by John Ottman

Now it's an official new from director Bryan Singer, the one that will be the director from the man of steel new movie. After his official confirmation that John Ottman was hired to compose the score for the new movie, in a recent interview the director said that Ottman will use some themes from the original first movie directed by Richard Donner, that composed by John Williams. These themes seems to be the main theme, the love theme and Lex Luthor's theme, that will be reused and adapted by Singer's friend, the composer and film editor John Ottman.

"Much of the resonance in the first "Superman" film stemmed from the subtle elements of its design. Like a fan of the Donner film, I recognize that certain aspects must be preserved in this newest addition. I plan to extract parts of the original score composed by John Williams, and the costume will need no major revamping" said Bryan Singer in a recent interview for Washington Square News.

Meanwhile, when we'll wait the official announcement, seems to be an actor for the main role.

Like Richard Donner did 26 years ago, trusting the main role in an unknown actor (the recently sadly deceased Christopher Reeve), Singer has do it the same, trusting in Brandon James Routh, a completely unknown 25th years old actor. Routh had some bit parts in television roles on "One Life to Live", "Gilmore Girls", "Will & Grace", and "Cold Case" and recently wrapped his first film role in an indie titled "Deadly".

Here is the photo of this new Hollywood promise...

Stay tuned for more news about one of the next year most awaited films...

August Rush, a new project for Hans Zimmer

Kirsten Sheridan, Irish director Jim Sheridan's daughter, will direct August Rush, a movie drama that will be released at 2006. The movie is a kind of modern fairy tale, starred by a musically prodigy child, and orphan too, who will try to find his parents through the music.

By now, the cast and crew are unknown, but Hans Zimmer will be the composer, who has been recently separated from the latest Ridley Scott's movie project: Kingdom of Heaven.

HGW will score Kingdom of Heaven

The common logic pointed that Hans Zimmer would be the composer of Kingdom of Heaven, the new Ridley Scott's movie about the Crusades that will be released next year. It's well known that Zimmer had scored the latest movies of this director.

Finally, the project has musically gone to Harry Gregson-Williams' hands, maybe due to the massive work for the Media Ventures "boss". He has a lot of projects to do in a near future, like The Weather Man, by Gore Verbinski; A Good Year, another Ridley Scott's project for the next year; The New World, by Terrence Malick; or Batman Begins, where he will colaborate hand to hand with James Newton Howard.

Anyway, Harry Gregson-Williams' diary it's very busy too. He recently release at USA Team America: WorldPolice, and for the next year, he has many projects like Madagascar, the latest animated movie from Dreamworks SKG; The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on CS Lewis novels directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek); and the comedy Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont.

BSOSpirit News!

Hi there,

From now on, BSOSpirit News also in English! Hope you find it interesting and resourceful.

Of course, you can still read our 'Noticias BSOSpirit' in Spanish, just visiting http://www.bsospirit.com/noticias.

See you soon!