Philip Miller

BIO

Philip Miller (born 7 June 1964) is a South African composer and sound artist based in Cape Town.

Miller studied music composition in South Africa with composers Jeanne Zaidel Rudolph and Peter Klatzow at the University of Cape Town Music School. Miller completed his postgraduate studies in electro-acoustic music composition for film and television at Bournemouth University. While doing so he continued to study with UK composer Joseph Horovitz.

Miller has composed music for the soundtracks to many local and international film and television productions. Recent film scores include Steven Silver’s 'The Bang Bang Club', which was nominated for a Genie Award in Canada, and 'Black Butterflies', which was awarded best film score at the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs). In June 2013, 'Black Butterflies' earned Miller a Wawela Award, given to composers whose work has made a significant impact abroad, for Best Soundtrack in a Feature Film or Theatric Documentary. He also composed the score for the BBC’s 'The Borrowers' and HBO’s 'The Girl', for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2013.

Miller has collaborated extensively with internationally acclaimed artist, William Kentridge. His music for the 5-screen multimedia installation, 'The Refusal of Time' by Kentridge at the Tate Modern, London, received much attention and acclaim all over the world. Miller’s choral work, 'Rewind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape and Testimony', based upon testimonies from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, had its US premiere in New York at the Celebrate Brooklyn Music Festival. It has been performed at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town and the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Miller has also produced a number of albums, including arrangements of traditional South African lullabies, The Thula Project, the soundtrack to both 'Black Box/Chambre Noir' and '9 Drawings for Projection' by William Kentridge. Other works include 'Shona Malanga', which is arrangements of freedom songs, the soundtrack to 'White Lion', and the opera 'Between a Rock and A Hard Place: An Anatomy of a Mining Accident', which premiered in Stockholm, Sweden in May 2013.