Benjamin Wallfisch

Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch (born 7 August 1979) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist. Since the mid-2000s, he has composed and contributed to music for over 60 feature films. His compositions include original scores for A Cure For Wellness, Hidden Figures, Lights Out, Desert Dancer, It, Blade Runner 2049, and Shazam!. In 2017, he was jointly nominated with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer for Best Original Score at the 74th Golden Globe Awards for his work on Hidden Figures, and a BAFTA Award and Grammy Award for Blade Runner 2049.

In 2014, Wallfisch was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. He is also a member of Remote Control Productions, a company by Hans Zimmer.

Early life
Wallfisch was born on 7 August 1979 in London, England, the son of Elizabeth Wallfisch (née Hunt), an Australian Baroque violinist, and Raphael Wallfisch, a British cellist. He is the eldest of their three children. His paternal grandparents are pianist Peter Wallfisch and cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was a member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. They were Jewish emigrants from Breslau.

Early career
Wallfisch began playing the piano at 5, composing at 6 and has been conducting since he was 14.

Between 1993 and 1997, he attended the Guildhall School of Music (Dept. of Initial Studies), and in 1997 obtained a place on the 'Joint Course' run concurrently by the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester, studying composition with Anthony Gilbert. In 2000, he graduated from the University with First Class Honours and the Proctor-Gregg award for outstanding achievement in composition.

Conducting and Performance
As associate Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra from 2003-2007, Wallfisch has conducted and recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia and has performed in venues such as the Barbican, Cadogan Hall, Royal Festival Hall and St. George's Bristol in the UK. In 2005 he conducted the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in a series of live broadcast Gala performances at the Sydney Opera House. In 2009, he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Other recent guest conducting highlights have included the Bavarian Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre de Bretagne, Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, and an appearance in the 2007 Mecklenburg Festival with the Weimar Staatskapelle.

Hollywood film scoring
In 2004, Wallfisch made his scoring debut, composing the music for Thomas Vinterberg's Dear Wendy, for which he was nominated Discovery of the Year in the 2005 World Soundtrack Awards, and a nomination for Best Original Score in the 2006 Danish Film Academy Awards. His subsequent score for Rupert Wyatt's suspense thriller The Escapist earned him a nomination as Best Original Film Score in the 2009 Ivor Novello Awards and his second nomination in the 2008 World Soundtrack Awards.

Personal life
Wallfisch resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife Missy.