Antón García Abril was born in Teruel in 1933. After studying in Spain he went to Italy to attend the ‘Accademia Chigiana di Siena’ musical courses, where he studied composition with Vito Frazzi, conducting with Paul Von Kempen and film-music with Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. The latter was to have a great influence upon Abril’s first…
Claudio Gizzi, a classical pianist, started working for cinema in a very strange way. While he was a little boy, Gizzi was one of the sopranos in the Cappella Giulia in St. Peter. Armando Renzi, the director of the choir, gave him some piano and composition lessons. Then he studied at the “Instituto di musica…
Ennio Morricone’s association with filmmaker Sergio Leone goes back to 1964 when he wrote the groundbreaking music for Leone’s equally groundbreaking western, A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. Leone’s film, and Morricone’s eclectic music, paved the way for the unique style of Italian westerns which has been oft imitated. Morricone has written the music for all of…
Can you tell us something about your musical training? I started studying music quite late around the age of seven, and started playing piano at ten. I had a very dedicated teacher, so I had a complete musical education. I was known as a child prodigy in the local newspapers and that pleased me very…
Although popular in his native France for his light and tuneful film scores, Philippe Sarde has gained a notable reputation in America for his more symphonically-oriented film compositions. First brought to Stateside attention when he scored Roman Polanski’s TESS, Sarde subsequently provided notable scores for GHOST STORY, QUEST FOR FIRE and PIRATES. He has also…
Where did you study music, and how did you meet Claude Chabrol, the director with whose films you are associated? I started studying piano and harmony at the Conservatoire de Roubaix, and then went to Brussels where I studied with Henry Sury, a composer who had previously scored many films and documentaries. I immediately thought…
In 1979 you wrote an interesting score for TOURIST TRAP, a film produced by Charles Band and directed by David Schmoeller. Now, after a few years, Band again called you to work with him. Why has it been so long since you have worked together? Donaggio: Band met again with Schmoeller and they decided together…
Not since the making of BODY DOUBLE (1984) have you collaborated with Brian De Palma. I believe the reason you weren’t called to score his last four films was because of the plots…? He and I both understood that he would only ask me to score films that he had written himself, not commissioned films….
How did you get involved in film music and what kind of musical background did you have? I started writing music by accident. Although I tried very hard to write music when I was in Music College, I found that I didn’t have the dedication to produce pieces because I found that I wasn’t satisfied…
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