Guildhall School of Music & Drama announces an exciting new Film Music project with the London Symphony Orchestra and Academy Award winner Rachel Portman

Guildhall School of Music & Drama has today (22 October) announced an exciting new Film Music project with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and Academy Award winner Rachel Portman. Students from Guildhall’s Electronic & Produced Music (EPM) department will have the opportunity to compose film scores to be recorded by the LSO, widely regarded as one of the world’s finest orchestras. The students will also be mentored during the process by renowned British film composer Rachel Portman, with the recordings due to take place in March 2025.

The new project will offer the School’s students the opportunity to collaborate with one of the world’s most famous film ensembles in the LSO. Since as early 1935, the orchestra has been recording music specifically composed for film, becoming synonymous with blockbuster film scores, including the music for the Star Wars and Harry Potter films, Superman: The Movie, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Braveheart. Today’s announcement marks another important step in Guildhall School’s already close relationship with the LSO, who the School partners with through the Orchestral Artistry Masters programme, as well as other performance opportunities, ensuring that students benefit from direct links with the profession.

Guildhall students will also be receiving guidance and insights from one the UK’s most acclaimed film composers through the mentoring of Rachel Portman. She was the first female composer to win an Academy Award, for her score for Emma in 1996, and has received further Academy Award nominations for The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000). She also became the first female composer to win an Emmy Award in 2015, for the film Bessie and received a second Emmy in 2023 for her score for Julia.

Rachel Portman, Academy Award winning film composer, said: “I am delighted to have been invited to mentor the students in the Electronic and Produced Music Department at Guildhall. I look forward very much to working with them on their compositions, to be recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.”

Dame Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, said: “It is no secret that the LSO has and continues to be a major contributor to world film, with longstanding relationships with many legendary film composers. As with our work with emerging symphonic composers, in particular the LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Composers Scheme, it is a privilege to be working now with new talent focussing on film – and building on our close relationship with Guildhall School.”

Barbara De Biasi, Lead professor of Film Music at Guildhall School, said: “At Guildhall we have created a Film Music course where our talented students can explore and refine their artistry, while benefitting from opportunities to engage with and learn from those within the industry they are aspiring to join. For emerging film composers, there is surely nothing more inspiring than the opportunity to work with the world’s most notable film orchestra and one of the UK’s most accomplished film composers. I am incredibly excited for our students to experience this, and can’t wait to hear the LSO record their music, under Rachel Portman’s expert mentorship.”  

Guildhall School’s EPM department provides a range of specialist disciplines within which to study a wide array of electronic and produced music, including Film Music, Game Audio, Songwriting and Live Electronics. The School is currently the only major educational institution for EPM training in the conservatoire sector, and recently announced nearly £500,000 in funding to provide state-of-the-art studio and facilities for over 200 students across its growing EPM programmes and elective modules.

Find out more about studying Electronic & Produced Music at Guildhall School or attend the Electronic & Produced Music Open Day on Monday 28 October, from 10am – 5pm.