Craig Armstrong

Craig Armstrong (b. 1958) is a Scottish composer of modern orchestral music, electronica and film scores.

Career

Armstrong studied musical composition, violin and piano at the Royal Academy of Music where he was awarded the Charles Lucas prize and the Harvey Lohr scholarship for composition. He was also awarded the FTCL Fellowship in composition, and won the GLAA Young Jazz Musician of the Year in 1982. Upon graduation he became resident student composer for the London Contemporary Dance School. Upon completing his studies, Armstrong served as Music and Dance specialist at the Strathclyde Regional Council in 1984.

During the 1980s, Armstrong's composition work included commissions from the Arts Council for various classical ensembles in Scotland, and he also served as resident composer at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. During this time he also received a Composer's Award to study electronic music, and maintained a parallel career in the Scottish Pop music scene, as a member of bands Hipsway, Texas and The Big Dish.

In 1990, his music theatre group Performance performed at the Glasgow Mayfest, and he composed a number of works for film, television, and stage productions by the Traverse Theatre, the BBC, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, among others. By the late 1990s he had gained critical acclaim for his work on the Baz Luhrman films Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge! (which won him a Golden Globe for Best Original Score in 2001). He has also done orchestrations with Pop artists such as Massive Attack, Madonna, U2, Pet Shop Boys and The Future Sound of London. During this time he also released his first album of his own orchestral work, The Space Between Us, in 1998.

During the early 2000s Armstrong continued to produce film and orchestral work, including commissions for the Barbican Centre and the Scottish Ensemble. His most recent film score was for the Academy Award winning Taylor Hackford film, Ray. Armstrong won a Grammy Award for his work.

Career highlights

1977 - studied violin and composition with Cornelius Cardew at the Royal Academy of Music.

1994/2002 - commissions from Royal Shakespeare Company Music for Broken Heart and The Tempest, both directed by Michael Boyd.

2001 - BAFTA, Golden Globe, American Film Institute Award, World Soundtrack Award and Golden Satellite Award for Moulin Rouge.

2002 - Visconticommissioned by Barbican Centre Elektronika festival for the London Sinfonietta.

2004 - collaboration with visual artists Dalziel and Scullion on One Minute to celebrate the opening of Perth's Horsecross Hall.

Key works

Slow Movement (1994; strings)
20 Movements (1998; orchestra)
If Time Must Pass (1999; violin, strings)
Escape (1999; orchestra, vocal)
When Morning Turns to Light (2000; mezzo-soprano, orchestra)
Northen Sounds ... Islands (2002; orchestra)
One Minute (2005; orchestra)

Discography

Independent work

Film scores

Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Orphans (1997)
Plunkett & Macleane (1999)
Best Laid Plans (1999)
Moulin Rouge! (2001) - Golden Globe for Best Original Score
Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
Al Cuore (2002)
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
The Quiet American (2002)
Love Actually (2003)
The Clearing (2004)
Ray (2004)
Fever Pitch (2005)
Must Love Dogs (2005)
World Trade Center (2006)

External links