Henry Jackman
Biography: (Updated 2011-11-01)

Henry Jackman studied classical music in the UK at St. Paul's Cathedral Choir School, Eton College and Oxford University. An avid interest in technology and contemporary culture meant his formal education was mixed with the urban beats of club music and the innovative production of Electronica.

With a successful and eclectic career in both record and film industries, Henry's musical work has ranged from the chart topping to the esoteric, and from summer blockbusters to art house projects. He combines a unique range of skills, which include classical composition, orchestral arrangement, beat programming, sound design, production and mixing.

Recently, Henry has made a startling and successful transition to movie scoring. At the start of 2006, he caught the attentions of Oscar-winning Hans Zimmer, one of the most successful film composers of all time. This fruitful association has lead to significant credits and contributions on several top-ranking films produced in recent years:

The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, The Holiday, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and The Simpsons Movie.

Working on film productions at this level has brought Henry into association with Hollywood's most distinguished and talented professionals - award winning producers and directors.

Henry's unique orchestral compositions have been performed and recorded by musicians both from the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and his ability to work alongside leading orchestral players and conductors is a vital part of his work.

As well as contributing to major movie scores, Henry has also found time to complete his own albums of music. Utopia, published by West One Music, combines the sound of Latvian choirs with innovative Electronica and cutting edge production. Transfiguration, published by KPM Music, was written, programmed, arranged, engineered, mixed and produced by Henry and completed in 2005. The influences of this album are extensive, incorporating everything from the psalms of David to the poetry of Herman Hesse. Acoustica, also published by KPM Music, has just been completed in collaboration with the award-winning guitarist and songwriter, Augustus Isadore.

Prior to completing Utopia, Transfiguration and Acoustica, Henry's work within the music industry has been varied and high profile. His programming credits include Mike Oldfield, Marc Almond, Coolio, and Kirsty McColl. He collaborated with Andy Gardner (of Plump DJ's fame) to produce a series of Dance Remixes that topped the dance charts and were selected for Pete Tong's Essential Selection, for artists like Kele le Roc and Boyzone. At the same time he worked with Michael Gordon, a New York-based minimalist composer, on his composition - Weather- for Coalition Records.

Not long afterwards, Henry was working with the legendary Trevor Horn, programming and executing string arrangements for the title track of 20th Cent Fox's film Anastasia, featuring Richard Marx and Donna Lewis on the song In the Beginning. He also co-produced Born On A Sunday with Trevor Horn on the Art of Noise album The Seduction of Claude Debussy. Meanwhile, he quietly produced some unashamed pop with the likes of Gary Barlow from Take That (which reached no.3 in the UK charts) and Justin. As well as production work, Henry continued to write music, which is used regularly on CNN News, the BBC, The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Discovery Channel.

Collaboration with internationally acclaimed artist, Seal, was shortly to follow as they worked together to write and produce This Could Be Heaven for the motion picture The Family Man, which starred Nicholas Cage.

After 8 years of successful work in the record industry with platinum-award winning artists, producers, writers and musicians, Henry has now firmly turned his attention to film scoring. He brings with him all the valuable experience and production know-how accrued from his time making records.

 



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