Patrick Doyle
I've just come in to one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. It's a great honor to be here finally in Poland, in Krakow.
Patrick Doyle is a classically-trained film music composer. Best known for his longtime collaboration with the actor-director Sir Kenneth Branagh.
Doyle graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in 1975 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in 2001. After graduation he spent many years composing for theatre, radio and television. In 1987 Patrick joined the Renaissance Theatre Company as composer and musical director. In 1989 director Sir Kenneth Branagh commissioned him to compose the score for Henry V, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and they have subsequently collaborated on numerous pictures, including Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), As You Like It (2006) and Thor (2011).
Doyle scored over 50 international feature films, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Gosford Park (2001), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Indochine (1992), Carlito’s Way (1993) and A Little Princess (1995). His work has led to collaborations with some of the most acclaimed directors in the world, such as Regis Wargnier, Brian De Palma, Alfonso Cuaròn, Ang Lee, Chen Kaige, Mike Newell and Robert Altman.
In October 2007, Patrick Doyle's ‘Music from the Movies’ sell-out concert on behalf of The Leukaemia Research Fund was staged at The Royal Albert Hall. It was directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh and starred a host of international talent, including Emma Thompson, Sir Derek Jacobi, Dame Judi Dench and Alan Rickman, among many others. In December 2013, the London Symphony Orchestra performed a programme of Patrick’s work in a special celebratory concert at the Barbican for Patrick’s 60th birthday, at which Sir Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson and soprano Janis Kelly performed.
Patrick has received two Oscar, two Golden Globe and two Cesar nominations, as well as winning the 1989 Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Theme for Henry V. He has also been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Scottish BAFTA.
Patrick has composed several concert pieces, including Tam O’Shanter, commissioned by the Scottish Schools Orchestra Trust; Corarsik (2010), composed for Emma Thompson’s birthday and The Thistle and the Rose (1990), commissioned by Prince Charles in honour of the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday. His concert suite Impressions of America received its world premiere in July 2012 with the National Schools Symphony Orchestra, of which Patrick is a patron.
Patrick scored Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) for Fox Studios, and Brave (2012) for Disney • Pixar, and has subsequently been awarded Best Original Composition for Film at the International Music and Sound Awards for Brave.
Among Doyle’s recent works are the score composed to the feature film Jack Ryan (2014), directed by Kenneth Branagh, and a score for the silent movie from 1927, IT starring Clara Bow. It was commissioned by The Syracuse Film Festival, and received its world premiere at the Syracuse historic Landmark Theatre in October 2013. He’s currently at work on the music for Walt Disney Picture’s Cinderella (premiere planned for 2015), also directed by Branagh.