Jon Opstad
Jon Opstad is a British composer. He is known for his work in scoring television dramas such as Black Mirror, The Woman in White, The Feed and We Hunt Together, as well as his music for Ubisoft game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege[1], succeeding the game's original composers Paul Haslinger and Ben Frost from Year 3 of the game (2018) onwards.
Opstad studied at Cambridge University and the National Film and Television School.[2][3] In 2014 he was nominated for a British Composer Award in the "Stage Works" category for his contemporary dance score Ignis.[4] In 2019, his composition "Ignis IV" from Ignis was used as the soundtrack for a trailer for the film Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt.[5] The same composition was later used in 2022 in a trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
In 2015 the New York radio show New Sounds, hosted by John Schaefer, focussed an episode on Opstad's music.[4]
In 2020, Opstad was featured as part of the "Creative Cribs" YouTube series from Spitfire Audio co-founder Christian Henson, exploring the equipment setups of notable film & television composers.[6] In the same year he was interviewed for the "Composer Coffee Break" Youtube series from composer Michael Price, alongside composers Amelia Warner and Oli Julian.[7]
Opstad's music has been featured on radio programmes including on BBC Radio 3 (including Late Junction and In Tune), WNYC New Sounds, Soho Radio and others.
Film & television work
Opstad has created numerous film and television soundtracks over the years. He first gained exposure with his work on Charlie Brooker's cult dystopian anthology series Black Mirror, scoring first the 2013 episode White Bear, and then returning to score the 2014 feature-length special White Christmas starring Jon Hamm & Rafe Spall. Opstad's music for these scores incorporated synthesizers and electronically-processed acoustic instrumentation and he has described how for White Christmas he wanted to give each of the three stories of the episode "a different character musically, but in a way that still gave the score a sense of wholeness and unity".[8] In 2021, Opstad was featured as the answer to a question on the long-running Mastermind British TV game show during a specialist round on Black Mirror.
In 2018, Opstad scored the BBC One period drama The Woman In White, starring Jessie Buckley, Olivia Vinall, Ben Hardy, Dougray Scott, Charles Dance and Art Malik.[9]
Opstad's more recent scoring work includes the hit Netflix documentary series Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 and both seasons of BBC Studios/Showtime crime thriller We Hunt Together.[10]
Other works
Opstad's debut album Still Picture was released in 2004 while he was still a student at Cambridge University. While Opstad's later music for film & television, contemporary dance and concert works draws more on classical and electronic music influences, Still Picture is in more of a Chamber jazz style and was described by The Penguin Guide to Jazz as "an appealing set steeped in Northern European lyricism"[11], and received praise in other publications.[12] This album was followed in 2007 by Interpretations.[13]
In 2014, Opstad scored the contemporary dance work Ignis for choreographer Hubert Essakow, which premiered at The Print Room in West London.[14]
In 2022, Opstad released his first non-soundtrack album release in several years, Extensions: Music for Computer-Controlled Prepared Piano, an album of music entirely recorded with a Yamaha U3 Disklavier, making extensive use of both acoustic preparation and electronic processing techniques. It was described by Mojo magazine as "flowing techno modulations with indelible melodies"[15], and by Electronic Sound magazine as "compelling and artful throughout"[16]
Filmography
Television
| Year | Title | Studio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Silent Witness (series 16) | BBC | co-composed with Sheridan Tongue |
| 2013 | White Bear (Black Mirror) | Channel 4/Netflix | |
| 2014 | White Christmas (Black Mirror) | Channel 4/Netflix | |
| 2015 | Cyberbully | Channel 4 | |
| 2015 | Don't Take My Baby | BBC | |
| 2016 | The Murder Detectives | Channel 4 | |
| 2016 | Thirteen | BBC | |
| 2016 | Louis Theroux: Savile | BBC | |
| 2017 | Safe House (season 2) | ITV | |
| 2018 | The Woman In White | BBC | |
| 2019 | The Feed | Amazon Prime Video | |
| 2020 | We Hunt Together | BBC/Alibi | |
| 2021 | Surviving 9/11 | BBC | |
| 2022 | We Hunt Together (season 2) | BBC/Alibi | |
| 2022 | Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV series) | Disney+ | (additional music) |
| 2022 | Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 | Netflix |
Film
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Theeb | Academy Award Nominee (Best Film Not in the English Language)[17] | (additional music composer) |
| 2014 | X+Y | (additional music composer) | |
| 2022 | Merkel |
Games
| Year | Title | Studio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-present | Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege | Ubisoft | composer for new game content since Year 3 of the game |
Discography
Albums
Still Picture (New Canvas Records, 2005)
Interpretations (New Canvas Records, 2007)
Extensions: Music for Computer-Controlled Prepared Piano (Tip Top Recordings, 2022)
Singles
Blue Sky, White Clouds (Deutsche Grammophon, 2020)
References
- ↑ "Music+Sound Awards Interview JON OPSTAD, Film + TV Composer". Music+Sound Awards. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
- ↑ "Jon Opstad - How To Write For Film And TV". www.prsformusic.com. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
- ↑ "NFTS GRADS CELEBRATE BAFTA TV AWARDS SUCCESS". NFTS. 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Shortlist Unveiled for the 12th British Composer Awards – Seen and Heard International". seenandheard-international.com. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
- ↑ "Manners McDade Composer Jon Opstad's Music Featured in Ad Astra Trailer | LBBOnline". www.lbbonline.com. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
- ↑ CREATIVE CRIBS - Jon Opstad (Black Mirror, Woman In White), retrieved 2022-09-06
- ↑ Composer Coffee Break 10 - Oli Julian, Jon Opstad & Amelia Warner, retrieved 2022-09-06
- ↑ Brooker, Charlie (2018). Inside Black Mirror. Annabel Jones, Jason Arnopp. London. ISBN 978-1-5291-0258-1. OCLC 1076839939. Search this book on
- ↑ "Jon Opstad Scoring BBC's 'The Woman in White' | Film Music Reporter". Retrieved 2022-09-05.
- ↑ "Jon Opstad". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
- ↑ Cook, Richard (2006). The Penguin guide to jazz recordings. Brian Morton (8th ed.). London. ISBN 0-14-102327-9. OCLC 70229849. Search this book on
- ↑ Jazz, All About (2004-10-20). "Jon Opstad: Still Picture album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
- ↑ Jazz, All About (2007-05-09). "Jon Opstad: Interpretations album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
- ↑ gerarddavis09 (2014-02-12). "Ignis – Hubert Essakow: The Print Room, London, 11 February 2014". Dancing Review. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
- ↑ "Filter Albums Extra". Mojo. Apr 2022: 90.
- ↑ "The Back". Electronic Sound (87): 79.
- ↑ "The 'Theeb' director describes the film's arduous journey to a foreign-language film Oscar nomination". Los Angeles Times. 2016-02-19. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
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