ÚBEDA 2011 (20-24 July)

Dear Attendant,

Blake Neely, one of the major orchestrators of the film industry (collaborating with Michael Kamen, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer), and recently nominated for an Emmy Award in 2010 for his work on The
Pacific series, will attend the Ubeda Festival.

Musician from an early age, just reaching the film music by his mentor and friend Michael Kamen, who, in the words of Neely, owes everything he is today. He has worked closely with Kamen until his death (orchestrating and conducting scores such as The Iron Giant, Frequency, Band of Brothers or Open Range), and completing the Kamen's incomplete score for The First Daughter (2004).

The friendship between Neely and Kamen is a very good reason for been in the tribute that the Ubeda Festival will pay for the great composer.

Another great friendship for Neely's career will be that made with Hans Zimmer, collaborating with him and his collaboratos from Media Ventures on several projects, where he composed additional music for films like The Island, The Last Samurai and King Arthur, or simply limited to orchestrate, as Spanglish, The Simpsons Movie or K-19 The Widowmaker.

He has also worked with John Powell in Hancock, as a conductor, and with James Newton Howard on several projects, as conductor, like Michael Clayton, and King Kong (where he composed additional music).

As a curiosity, in 2000 he worked with Vangelis on one of his best compositions, Mythodea (music composed for the NASA mission called Mars Odyssey), working in the orchestral transcriptions, and being the orchestra conductor, an experience very rewarding (in the words of the composer).

He has a great solo career as a composer, after performing the score for the comedy The Wedding Date (2005). He worked on sucessful series, as Everwood (2002-2006), being nominated in 2003 for an Emmy for its main theme. This opened the door for composing works of all kinds, as the great success of The Mentalist series (2008-2010), The Pacific series (2010), the Eastwick series (TV series adaptation of the classic film The Witches of Eastwick) or the surreal comedy Eli Stone ( 2008-2009).

He has recently released Life As We Know It (2010), a great comedy about the strange life of a marriage with a child involved.

In few time, we announce more guests to the Festival.

Bear McCreary, the brilliant composer of Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead and Human Target, will participate in the VII International Film Music Festival Ciudad de Úbeda. He will perform in a recital, host a
workshop on the art of film and television scoring, and conduct the Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga. The Festival will feature world premiere performances of McCreary’s music from The Walking Dead, Human Target,
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Cape, Caprica, Dark Void and of course, Battlestar Galactica.

McCreary’s formal training took place at the prestigious Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. However, his professional training came from film music legend Elmer Bernstein. McCreary was among Bernstein’s final protégés, and learned the tools of the trade during years of working with and orchestrating for the maestro.

At the young age of 24, composer Bear McCreary was launched into pop culture with his groundbreaking score to SyFy’s hit series Battlestar Galactica, for which he composed “the most innovative music on TV today”
(Variety). His score was dominated by pounding ethnic percussion and world music soloists, combined with a minimalist orchestral approach. It “fits the action so perfectly, it’s almost devastating: a sci-fi score like no other” (NPR). Io9.com declared Bear McCreary one of the Ten Best Science Fiction Composers of all time, listing him alongside legends John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann.

McCreary’s feature film credits include Disney’s Step Up 3D, and he is currently working on a new horror / adventure / musical called Knights of Badassdom. His videogame credits include CAPCOM’s Dark Void and SONY’s SOCOM 4: U.S. NAVY SEALs. His swashbuckling score for Human Target featured the largest orchestra ever assembled in the history of series television and earned him his first Emmy nomination, as well as awards from the IFMC Awards and the Goldspirits.

In 2010, McCreary began work on the worldwide smash-hit series The Walking Dead, collaborating with acclaimed writer / director Frank Darabont. Based on a famous comic series, the show became a television phenomenon and is currently in production for a second season. McCreary resides in Los Angeles and is currently scoring several features and television series.

Bregt wrote
I think some members might join us now.

Thor wrote
Elin will, for sure.

Bregt wrote


Come on Elin and Anthony! Join the club.

Thomas Glorieux wrote

Anthony wrote
Have you met Bear before, Elin?

Bregt wrote
I hope they have these chocolate thingies this year! It's part of the deal.

Anthony wrote
I won't forget that drink that had six shots of vodka in.