Trevor Jones

Trevor Jones is an orchestral film score composer. Born in Cape Town in 1949, at 17 he won a scholarship and left South Africa to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London. He continued his graduate studies at York University and went on to become the first composer to attend the National Film School in England. Jones has composed over 100 projects for film and television. They include Excalibur, The Dark Crystal, Runaway Train, Angel Heart, Mississippi Burning, Last of the Mohicans, Cliffhanger, Arachnophobia, Merlin, Sea of Love, In the Name of the Father, Richard III, Brassed Off, Dark City and Notting Hill, among many others.

His pioneering work with the fusion of acoustic and electronic sounds set the benchmark for film and TV scores. He has also composed music for the theatre and ballet and conducted suites of his film music for concert performances at various International Film Music Festivals. He has collaborated with David Bowie, Sting, U2, Sinead O'Connor, Charlotte Church, Britney Spears and Elvis Costello and has been a jury member for BAFTA, the Mercury Music Prize and the International Film Festival of Flanders, Ghent.

In 1999 Trevor was elected First Chair of Music at The National Film and Television School. He was honoured with an Associateship and became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. In 2005, Archbishop Desmond Tutu conferred on him an Honorary Ph.D. from The University of the Western Cape. He established the Trevor Jones Composition Studio at the University of York, as well as a scholarship for South African students to attend the National Film and Television School in England. He has won nine American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) awards and been nominated for Baftas, Golden Globes, Ivor Novello Awards and an Emmy.