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Lisa Gerrard

Biography

With a vision and vocal style that is as unique as it is precise and all-embracing, Lisa Gerrard has established herself as one of the world's most highly acclaimed film composers, winning a Golden Globe for her work on the score for 'Gladiator' with Hans Zimmer. Lisa also received an Oscar nomination for 'Gladiator' along with two further Golden Globe Award nominations for her scores to 'Ali' and 'The Insider'. Lisa's film work also includes 'Whale Rider', a feature which received an Academy Award nomination and garnered Lisa an international award for the score. Her musical journey began in the early 1980s when she and fellow Australian Brendan Perry formed duo 'Dead Can Dance'. In 2012 the band reunited for a sell-out world tour. With nine albums released between 1984 and 1995, the duo's musical canvas expanded with each release to take in a timeless mix of world-music influences, medieval chants, folk ballads, baroque stylings, Celtic flavours, electronics, samples and anything else that took their fancy. Several solo and collaborative albums were well received and Lisa made a natural progression to composing for films.
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Panos Papahadzis

Biography

Panos started working in the cinema and television business in the '80s. He had been an active member of the State Council of Cinematography under the authority of the Greek Ministry of Culture. He has participated in EAVE/Media Programme 1992 seminars for European producers. Panos is a member of the European Film Academy, President of S.A.P.O.E. (Audiovisual Producers' Association of Greece), founding member of the Hellenic Film Academy and member of the Academy's first Board of Directors. He has produced over than 50 feature films that won national recognition along with commercial success. Among these are FROM THE SNOW by Sotiris Goritsas- 1993 (Cannes Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, Golden Alexander in the Thessaloniki Film Festival), END OF AN ERA by Antonis Kokkinos-1994 (Berlin FF), THE COW'S ORGASM by Olga Malea- 1997, EXTENDED PLAY by Yannis Xanthopoulos- 2006 (380.000 domestic box office), STRAIGHT STORY by Vladimiros Kyriakidis and Efi Mouriki- 2006 (400.000 domestic box office), SOUL KICKING by Yannis Economides- 2006 (Cannes- Semaine Internationale de la Critique 2006), IN THE WOODS by Angelos Frantzis- 2010 (premiere in Rotterdam Film Festival), KNIFER by Yannis Economides- 2010 (premiere in Busan Film Festival, 7 awards by the Hellenic Film Academy), STRATOS-TO MIKRO PSARI by Yannis Economides- 2014 (Berlinale Competition 2014), ROZA OF SMYRNA by Yorgos Kordellas- 2016 (360.000 domestic box office), BALLAD FOR A PIERCED HEART by Yannis Economides, SIEGE ON LIPERTI STREET by Stavros Pamballis , ARMY BABY by Yorgos Kordellas and PELE'S TEAM by Marios Karamanis, which is currently in production. Panos has also produced documentaries, shorts and TV series. His productions have participated in many International Festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Carlovy Vary, London, Toronto, Istanbul and many others. Over the years, Panos has worked on many international co-productions (with France, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Belgium and Cyprus).
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Steven Large

Biography

Stephen Large is an English, London-based keyboard player, composer, arranger, and long-term member of UK band Squeeze. As well as his work with Squeeze, Stephen Large is musical director (touring keyboard player and arranger) for Caro Emerald. He was previously musical director for pop artists Rebecca Ferguson and Duffy. As a keyboard player, Large has worked with Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott, most recently contributing keyboards for their Number One album Manchester Calling. Other keyboard work includes Paloma Faith, Rumer, Pete Doherty, Babyshambles, the Noisettes, Johnny Depp, cabaret with Alan Carr, music hall with Colin Firth, and others, as well as being a founder member of jazz outfits The Rag 'n' Bone Club and Ronnie Scott's Rejects. Large received web prominence[citation needed] after an appearance with Squeeze on the US Jimmy Fallon Show on 13 July 2010, during which he played a keyboard solo on the new Apple iPad for the song "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)". This appears to be the first use on live TV of the iPad as a musical instrument. Further TV credits include The Jay Leno Show with Duffy, Britain's Got Talent with Rebecca Ferguson, The Ellen DeGeneres Show with Squeeze, Parkinson with Rod Stewart, dueting with Glenn Tilbrook on Later... with Jools Holland, and appearing in CBBC's Big Babies.
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Chris Difford

Biography

Christopher Henry Difford (born 4 November 1954) is an English musician. He is a founding member and songwriter of the rock group Squeeze. Difford was born in Greenwich, London, on 4 November 1954, the youngest of three sons. His mother, Isabel (née Hamilton) was from Northern Ireland and met Difford's father Sidney Lewis Difford (1919–2001) while he was stationed in Belfast during World War II. Difford has written lyrics for over 50 years, most notably in partnership with Glenn Tilbrook. The two were primary members in Squeeze and Difford & Tilbrook. According to Difford, he stole 50p from his mother's purse to put a card in a local sweetshop window advertising for a guitarist to join his band, although he did not have one at the time. Tilbrook was the only person who responded to the advert and they met for the first time shortly afterwards. Some of their best-known songs are "Cool for Cats", "Up the Junction", "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)", "Tempted" and "Black Coffee in Bed". After the break-up of Squeeze in 1983, Difford continued writing songs for artists such as Jools Holland, Helen Shapiro, Billy Bremner and Elvis Costello. He has also written lyrics for music by Jools Holland, Elton John, Wet Wet Wet, Marti Pellow and others. He was involved with Tilbrook and John Turner in the creation of a musical, Labelled with Love, which was created using the songs of Squeeze. The 1983 musical performed in Deptford was short-lived. In 1984, the pair released the album Difford and Tilbrook and had a minor hit in the UK with "Love's Crashing Waves" which reached 57 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1985, Squeeze reunited, having hits in the US with the album Babylon and On, plus the singles "Hourglass" and "853-5937". Difford left the group in 1999 launching a solo career in 2003 with his album I Didn't Get Where I Am. Difford was also manager of Bryan Ferry and The Strypes. Squeeze reunited again in 2007, and Difford maintained a concurrent solo career alongside his work with the band. In March 2010, Difford curated Songs in the Key of London, an evening of music dedicated to the capital at the Barbican Centre, London. In 2017, Difford published his autobiography, Some Fantastic Place: My Life In and Out of Squeeze. Since 2014, Difford has been running the annual Chris Difford Songwriting Retreat, under the auspices of the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation, providing an opportunity for artists to collaborate with one another to write new songs and create new friendships in a relaxed setting in the English countryside. In August 2021, Difford launched a podcast series, I Never Thought It Would Happen, with the charity Help Musicians, a charity he is an ambassador for, speaking to guests including Sting, Robbie Williams and KT Tunstall about the highs and lows of life in music.
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Perttu Kivilaakso

Biography

Perttu Päivö Kullervo Kivilaakso is a cello player for Finnish band Apocalyptica. Like fellow band members Eicca Toppinen and Paavo Lötjönen, he attended Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Kivilaakso won third place in the second International Paulo Cello Competition in 1996 at age 18. Shortly afterward, he attained a lifetime chair in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra,[4] where his father, Juhani, is also a cellist. He was on indefinite leave while touring with Apocalyptica, but left for good in 2007. Kivilaakso has also composed music for the video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, a few documentary films, as well as many original compositions for Apocalyptica, including "Conclusion", "Farewell" and "Beautiful". His first opera, Indigo, composed with his Apocalyptica bandmate Eicca Toppinen, was premiered at the Finnish National Opera on 22 January 2016. The opera tells "a story of an omnipotent, multinational company and a search for happiness".
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Marion Vernoux

Biography

Marion Vernoux (born 29 June 1966) is a French director and screenwriter. Born in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Vernoux was the only daughter of a casting director and of a set decorator. In 1991 she made her feature film debut with Pierre qui roule, which was well received by critics. Her 1999 film Empty Days was entered into the main competition at the 56th edition of the Venice Film Festival, winning the President of the Italian Senate's Gold Medal. Description above from the Wikipedia article Marion Vernoux, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Alexandre Desplat

Biography

Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (French:[alɛksɑ̃dʁ dɛspla]; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Grammy Awards. Desplat was made an Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite and a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres both in 2016. Desplat has received two Academy Awards for Best Original Score for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The Shape of Water (2017). He was Oscar-nominated for The Queen (2006), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The King's Speech (2010), Argo (2012), Philomena (2013), The Imitation Game (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018), and Little Women (2019). Desplat has composed scores for a wide range of films, including low-budget independent productions and large-scale blockbusters, such as The Golden Compass (2007), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) & Part 2 (2011), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Godzilla (2014), Unbroken (2014), The French Dispatch (2021), Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) and Jurassic World Rebirth (2025). He has collaborated with directors such as Wes Anderson, Chris Weitz, Terrence Malick, George Clooney, Roman Polanski, Guillermo del Toro and Gareth Edwards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Alexandre Desplat, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Nick Glennie-Smith

Biography

Nickolas Glennie-Smith (3 October 1951 – 16 August 2026) was an English film score composer, conductor and musician, who was a frequent collaborator with Hans Zimmer, contributing to scores including The Rock (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound), the 2006 historical film Children of Glory and the 1993 spy thriller Point of No Return. Glennie-Smith also composed the scores for the films Home Alone 3 (1997), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), We Were Soldiers (2002), Secretariat (2010), the score for the Disney direct-to-video animated film The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998), Lauras Stern (2004), The Little Polar Bear 2: The Mysterious Island and A Sound of Thunder (both 2005). Glennie-Smith was a part of Hans Zimmer's film score company Remote Control Productions, for which he conducted music for the soundtracks on Transformers (2007–2017), X-Men: First Class and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (both 2011). He was Zimmer's accompanist on the score for Man of Steel (2013). He was the master composer of the music in the French theme park le Puy du Fou. He collaborated with the former Pink Floyd bassist, Roger Waters. He worked on Waters' score for the 1986 film When the Wind Blows, then provided some of the keyboard overdubbing for the song "The Powers that Be" on Waters' 1987 Radio K.A.O.S. album. He performed at the 1990 concert The Wall Live in Berlin as a keyboardist alongside Peter Wood. He also toured in the 1980s with Cliff Richard, again playing keyboards. In 1987, he was responsible, with producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven and singer Kenny Young, for the album Transmissions, under the group name Gentlemen Without Weapons.
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Tara Reid

Biography

Tara Reid (born November 8, 1975) is an American actress. She began her television career with several guest appearances on television shows such as Saved By The Bell: The New Class, Days of our Lives, and California Dreams. She is known for her recurring role as Danni Sullivan on NBC comedy drama series Scrubs. Her screen debut came in A Return to Salem's Lot (1987), followed by the hit films The Big Lebowski (1998), Urban Legend (1998), and American Pie (1999). She has since portrayed supporting as well as lead roles in several films, including Dr. T & the Women (2000), Josie and the Pussycats (2001), National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), My Boss's Daughter (2003), and Alone in the Dark (2005). Description above from the Wikipedia article Tara Reid, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Ann Marie Simpson

Biography

Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger (born May 26, 1979) is an American violinist, inventor and technology entrepreneur. Ann Marie has closely collaborated with Hans Zimmer on numerous film scores, including Sherlock Holmes, Interstellar, 12 Years a Slave, The Little Prince, Man of Steel, and Captain Phillips among many others. Ann Marie has written and performed with a wide range of artists including Pharrell Williams, David A Stewart, Skrillex, Damian Marley, Robin Thicke, Tyler the Creator, Hans Zimmer, Jethro Tull, Steve Vai, Dave Matthews Band, Ringo Starr, A.R.Rahman and Mick Jagger's group SuperHeavy and Yanni. As a serial entrepreneur and inventor, Ann Marie is the co-founder of wireless networking technology platform, MIXhalo, and also co-founder of biotechnology startup, Versicolor Technologies. Ann Marie received her education at University of Virginia, where she double-majored in Music and Biology.
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