Rachel Portman

Composer of Emma, Chocolat, and The Cider House Rules
Artist behind ask the river

Source: Valya Korabelnikova

British composer Rachel Portman became the first female composer to win an Academy Award, which she received for the score of Emma. She was also the first female composer to win a Primetime Emmy Award, which she received for the film, Bessie. She has received two further Academy Nominations for The Cider House Rules and Chocolat, which also earned her a Golden Globe Nomination. She has written stage and concert works, among them commissions from the BBC Proms and Houston Grand Opera. Rachel was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2010 and is an honorary fellow of Worcester College, Oxford.

FILMOGRAPHY

Rachel has written over 100 scores for film, television and theatre, including Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme), Oliver Twist (Roman Polanski), Hart’s War (Greg Hoblit), Only You (Norman Jewison), The Legend of Bagger Vance (Robert Redford), Beloved (Jonathan Demme), Benny and Joon (Jeremiah Chechik), Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh), Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek), Grey Gardens (Michael Sucsy), The Duchess (Saul Dibb), One Day (Lone Scherfig), The Vow (Michael Sucsy), Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Wayne Wang), The Lake House (Alejandro Agresti), Infamous (Douglas McGrath), Mona Lisa Smile (Mike Newell), Human Stain (Robert Benton), Chocolat (Lasse Hallstrom), Cider House Rules (Lasse Hallstrom), Belle (Amma Asante), Dolphin Tale 2 (Charles Martin Smith), Bessie (Dee Rees), and Race (Stephen Hopkins).

WORKS FOR STAGE AND CONCERT HALL

Besides a hugely successful career as a film composer, Rachel has written music for symphony orchestra as well as stage works in the neighbouring arts. Her opera based on Saint Exupery’s The Little Prince was written for Houston Grand Opera in 2003. Since then it has received performances in Washington, San Francisco, Lisbon, Istanbul and New York. In 2008 she worked with director Francesca Zambello on a music based on The Little House on the Prairie. For the BBC Proms, along with award winning poet Owen Sheers, she was commissioned to write The Water Diviner’s Tale, a dramatic choral symphony addressing climate change. Endangered, performed at the World Environment Day Concert in 2012, was commissioned by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing. In 2014 she collaborated with acclaimed author Michael Morpurgo and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and youth chorus to write the Christmas Carol We were there.

Listen to “leaves and trees” and “much loved” from ask the river.

This episode of The Pop Disciple Podcast is hosted by Paul Goldowitz.

Production, Editing, Mixing, Mastering | Paul Goldowitz
Select Cues Throughout Episode | Rachel Portman
The Pop Disciple Podcast Theme and Outro Music | Paul Goldowitz

Special thanks to Rachel Portman, Kelly MacGaunn, and Bobbi Marcus PR.