Composer Marco Valerio Antonini Wins Krakow Film Music Festival 2018 Young Talent Competition

Composer Marco Valerio Antonini is the winner of the sixth FMF Young Talent Award competition. He collected the statuette from Izabela Helbin, director of the Kraków Festival Office, and Robert Piaskowski, artistic director of the Film Music Festival. His winning composition was a re-scoring of a sequence from the game James Bond 007: Blood Stone, originally scored by composer Richard Jacques. Antonini's composition was performed on stage during the Video Games Music Gala at Tauron Arena Kraków. The composer was congratulated by Richard Jacques. Pawe? G?osz placed second, with Michael Wilson coming third.

Led by Agnieszka Holland, the jury awarded the composer for his "sensitivity to cinematic tension and for writing music which creatively accompanies the narration rather than simply illustrating it". Other members of the jury were Robert Townson (producer at Varèse Sarabande, the largest record label specialising in film music), Chris Brown (acclaimed British producer at the West One Music Group agency), Diego Navarro (composer, conductor and director of the Film Music Festival Fimucité in Tenerife), Richard Jacques (composer of the original soundtrack from James Bond 007: Blood Stone), Eimar Noone (conductor and composer of videogame soundtracks), Magdalena Wojewoda-Mleczko (music director of RMF Classic) and Robert Piaskowski (artistic director of the Film Music Festival).

As well as being awarded the coveted statuette, the winner of the first prize presents his composition during the 11th Film Music Festival and takes part in an orchestral recording session at one of the best studios in London linked with West One Music Group. The composer also receives a private consultation with Costa Communications.

The level of this year's competition was extremely high, with a total of 80 entrants from 15 countries including Australia, Canada, Greece, Ukraine and the US.

The previous five FMF Young Talent Award competitions received almost five hundred entries from young composers from over thirty countries, and the winners are active in the international film music industry. The main aim of the competition is to reveal the most talented young composers working today and introduce their work to the public, including representatives of the global film industry. The interest in the FMF Young Talent Award is extremely high, with the Cracovian trophy forming an important part of each winner's artistic biography.

In recent years, the FMF has become one of the most important festivals of its kind, focusing on young composers and forming an important platform for professional education. The entrants compete for the main prize, with the top twenty receiving an invitation to Master Classes in Kraków revealing secrets of the profession such as orchestration and arranging and how to find their feet in the difficult global music industry. It is the most important course of its kind in our part of Europe.

Photo: Krakow Film Music Festival

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