PR: Penka Kouneva “The Woman Astronaut”

VARÈSE SARABANDE RECORDS TO RELEASE
THE WOMAN ASTRONAUT COMPOSED BY PENKA KOUNEVA

Through The History Of Space Exploration, 11% Of All Astronauts Have Been Women (58 total).
In 2013 NASA Hired 8 New Astronauts…50% Were Women.

To Date Fewer Than 10 Women Have Composed Music For Studio Feature Films

(July 7, 2015– Los Angeles, CA) –Varèse Sarabande will release THE WOMAN ASTRONAUT - Original Concept Album digitally and on CD July 10, 2015. The album features the original music composed by Penka Kouneva (the game PRINCE OF PERSIA: FORGOTTEN SANDS).

THE WOMAN ASTRONAUT is an original concept album composed in cinematic orchestral-electronic style. The album has 14 tracks, broken into three acts about the life journey of an astronaut: adolescence and homeland; young adult; maturity. THE WOMAN ASTRONAUT was produced with Hollywood Studio Orchestra, top LA soloists and choir. A Kickstarter campaign raised $35,000 and provided the funds for the orchestral recording. “THE WOMAN ASTRONAUT is a personal, autobiographical journey of an ambitious, self-determined woman who has chosen a very unusual profession,” Kouneva said.

Game & film composer Penka Kouneva began her career in film/TV in 2000. Working alongside Steve Jablonsky she scored PRINCE OF PERSIA: FORGOTTEN SANDS and TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN games. Her solo composing credits include the indie features THE THIRD NAIL, MIDNIGHT MOVIE, and telefilms ICE SPIDERS, CHUPACABRA, NUCLEAR HURRICANE.

Recently, Kouneva scored the games H-HOUR: WORLD’S ELITE, ROLLERS OF THE REALM (PS4), IRONKILL, HADES and others. Kouneva was also an orchestrator on the MATRIX, TRANSFORMERS, PIRATES franchises, as a lead orchestrator/soundtrack producer on ELYSIUM, ENDER’S GAME, NEED FOR SPEED (films); and on WORLD OF WARCRAFT, STARCRAFT II, GEARS OF WAR 2, 3, SIMS 3, DIABLO III, DRAGON AGE II, BLOODBORNE (games).

Kouneva’s composition awards include: the SUNDANCE Composer Fellowship, two Ovation Awards, The Copland Award, Hollywood Music in Media Award, Square Enix Music Online, Independent Music Award. She is on the Advisory Board of Game Developers Conference, an Advisor for the Sundance Institute, and is a member of the Alliance for Women Film Composers.

“With this album, I wanted to show how passionate I am about growing my craft, my vision as an artist, and that I can definitely do the job” explained Kouneva. “I’ve aimed to create a piece with a universal resonance - tackling the themes of perseverance, love, hope, destiny.”

Varèse Sarabande will release THE WOMAN ASTRONAUT - Original Concept Album digitally and on CD July 10, 2015.

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http://www.varesesarabande.com/
View the EPK here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=didPG4D7Hho

For more information contact KrakowerPolingPR@gmail.com, or @KrakowerPoling on Twitter

ABOUT VARÈSE SARABANDE RECORDS
Founded in 1978, Varèse Sarabande is the most prolific producer of film music in the world, releasing the highest quality soundtracks from the world’s greatest composers. From current box office hits and top television series to the classics of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Varèse Sarabande’s catalog includes albums from practically every composer in every era, covering all of film history; from Bernard Herrmann, Alex North and Jerry Goldsmith to Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino and Brian Tyler.

Varèse Sarabande releases deluxe and expanded editions of special soundtracks for the film music aficionado. The Varèse Vintage imprint specializes in releasing new and re-issued albums by classic pop, jazz and country artists. Varèse Sarabande Records is distributed by Universal Music Group.

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