John Powell.
A native of London, Powell was a mediocre violinist as a child, wrote music for commercials out of school, and assisted composer Patrick Doyle in the early 1990s. He moved to the U.S. in 1997, where he worked on numerous projects for Hans Zimmer and his film music company Remote Control. He co-wrote the score for Antz with Harry Gregson-Williams, and quickly became one of the most desirable, versatile, and exciting composers in town.
John Powell was catapulted into the realm of A-list composers by displaying an entirely original voice with his oft-referenced scores to the first installment of Matt Damon’s Bourne trilogy, The Bourne Identity from 2002.
He has become the go-to writer for family animated films, scoring such hits as Shrek (co-written with Harry Gregson-Williams), Chicken Run (co-written with Harry Gregson-Williams), Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Bolt, Rio, Happy Feet 1&2 and the two first installments of Kung Fu Panda (co-written with Hans Zimmer). His pulsating action music has provided the fuel for Hancock, Green Zone, Stop Loss, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Italian Job. His music has also sweetened the romance of Two Weeks Notice and P.S.: I Love You. In 2006 his music empowered X-Men: The Last Stand, lent tenderness to I Am Sam and gripping, real-time drama to United 93.
His infectious score for How to Train Your Dragon earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Powell has also lent his voice to the score of Ice Age: Continental Drift, Rio 2, directed by Carlos Saldanha, and the critically acclaimed DreamWorks’ film How To Train Your Dragon 2. His work can be found in Warner Bros.’ Pan, Universal Pictures’ action-thriller Jason Bourne and Fox’s Oscar-nominated animated feature Ferdinand. Powell scored Disney’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, directed by Ron Howard. His most recent scores were How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World directed by Dean DeBlois, and 20th Century Studios’ family adventure feature The Call of the Wild starring Harrison Ford.
In addition to his numerous film scores of all genres, John Powell has also written concert works for choir and orchestra. A selection of these has been released with the album Hubris: Choral Works by John Powell, including his deeply moving oratorio A Prussian Requiem.
Website: www.johnpowellmusic.com
Michael Petry.
Michael Petry (Texas, 1960) is an artist, author and Director of MOCA London. He co-founded the Museum of Installation, and was Curator of the Royal Academy Schools Gallery. Petry authored Installation Art (Thames & Hudson), Installation in the New Millennium (T&H), and Hidden Histories: 20th century male same sex lovers in the visual arts. Petry’s book The Art of Not Making: The New Artist Artisan Relationship (T&H), was accompanied by a touring exhibition he curated, as is the case for his book/exhibition Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists reinvigorate the Still-Life tradition (T&H). His current book is MIRROR MIRROR (T&H).
Petry was the first Artist in Residence at Sir John Soane’s Museum and his work has been shown in museums and international exhibitions including Frontiers Reimagined at the Venice Biennale (2015).
Petry and Powell have worked together for over 25 years on video installations and live works like their opera An Englishman, An Irishman and a Frenchman (with Gavin Greenaway, 1995) and A Prussian Requiem (Royal Festival Hall, 2016). The Prize is Still Mine was written for Petry’s one man show The Touch of the Oracle at the Palm Springs Art Museum (2012).
Petry will have a solo exhibition In League with Devils at the Henry Luce III Center for Art & Religion's Dadian Gallery in Washington DC May - Aug 2023, accompanied by a hardback book on his recent work.
Website: www.michaelpetry.com
The Prize is Still Mine
Location: Belfast Cenotaph, City Hall
In 2012, MAG made a 25th anniversary sound installation at the Palm Springs Art Museum called “The Dilemma”, which Powell has now reworked for gospel choir and orchestra. From these initial recordings with Gavin Greenaway, Powell knew he could turn the wonderful voices of Judith, Edie and the other singers into something else: and so formed “The Prize is Still Mine”, a strange mix of styles he has always liked: Gospel & early 20th Century Romanticism. It is composed to a Libretto by Michael Petry and features as the opening to Powell’s album “Hubris: Vocal Works by John Powell.”
Contributing artists include; Judith Hill, José Serebrier, Edie Lehmann, Philharmonia Orchestra, LA Gospel Session Singers