David Hirschfelder

born in 1960 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

David Hirschfelder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
David Hirschfelder

David Hirschfelder (born 18 November 1960) is an Australian musician, film score composer and performer. As a musician he has been a member of Little River Band and John Farnham Band. He has composed film scores for Strictly Ballroom (1992), Shine (1996), Sliding Doors (1998), Elizabeth (1998), Hanging Up (2000), Australia (2008), and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010).

Biography

David Hirschfelder was born on 18 November 1960 and raised in Ballarat, Victoria.

Musician

As a keyboardist, Hirschfelder has been a member of various groups including the jazz fusion band Pyramid, rock band Peter Cupples Band (1980), pop rockers Little River Band (1983-1986), Blowout, Dragon (1987, 1989) and adult contemporary singer John Farnham's backing band (1986-1992).[1]

In 1980 Hirschfelder joined the Peter Cupples Band, Cupples had just left his soul-pop group, Stylus, and formed the rock group with Hirschfelder on keyboards, Virgil Donati on drums, Ross Ingliss on guitar and Robert Little on bass guitar.[2] In October 1981 Peter Cupples Band released his debut album, Fear of Thunder.[2] In 1982 Hirschfelder provided piano on Little River Band's album, Greatest Hits.[3] Their next album, The Net had Hirschfelder on keyboards and as co-producer, with the band's line-up including Farnham on lead vocals, Beeb Birtles on guitars and vocals, Graeham Goble on guitars and vocals, Stephen Housden on guitar and backing vocals, Wayne Nelson on bass guitar and vocals, and Derek Pellicci on drums and percussion.[4] He joined the group in September 1983, as they toured in the United States.[5] Their 1984 album, Playing to Win saw Hirschfelder supplying guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesiser, programming and vocals.[6] He also co-wrote the tracks, "When Cathedrals Were White", "Blind Eyes" and "Playing to Win".[6] The latter two were issued as singles, with "Playing to Win" reaching the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1985 and Top 100 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart.[7][8] In mid-1986 the group issued No Reins which had Hirschfelder on piano, keyboards and co-writing "Paper Paradise".[9]

After Reins had been recorded, Hirschfelder left Little River Band to return to Australia and joined Farnham's backing band as keyboardist, as well as serving as musical director. In AprilJune 1986 Farnham recorded his album, Whispering Jack with Hirschfelder on keyboards, drum programs and co-writing track "Going, Going, Gone".[10] For touring in support of the album Farnham and Hirschfelder were joined on the Jack's Back Tour by Angus Burchill on drums, Brett Garsed on lead guitar, and Greg Macainsh on bass guitar (Skyhooks).[11] At that time, Jack's Back Tour was the highest grossing tour by an Australian act.[12] Hirschfelder remained with Farnham for the studio albums, Age of Reason (July 1988) and Chain Reaction (September 1990).[11] which he also co-wrote tracks for and then composed the concert tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. In 1992 Hirschfelder left Farnham's backing band to concentrate on his score work for television and feature films, he was replaced by Malaysian-born Chong Lim.

Film composer

Hirschfelder's first score work was for the TV series, Skirts and Shadows of the Heart (both in 1990); Ratbag Hero followed in 1991.[13]

He has composed scores for films including Strictly Ballroom (1992), Shine (1996), Sliding Doors (1998), Elizabeth (1998), Hanging Up (2000), Peaches (2004), Australia (2008), and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010).

He has worked numerous times with directors Ian Gilmour, Craig Monahan, Ann Turner, Roger Spottiswoode and Baz Luhrmann.

In 1999 the score for Elizabeth (composed for a 90-piece orchestra and a 40-piece choir) was nominated for an Oscar, and was honoured with a BAFTA award and an APRA award for Best Original Score.

He composed for the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Selective filmography

Year Film Directed by Notes
1990 Skirts Brendan Maher, Richard Sarell & Ian Gilmour TV series
1992 Strictly Ballroom Baz Luhrmann
1994 Dallas Doll Ann Turner
1996 Shine Scott Hicks
Dating the Enemy Megan Simpson Huberman
1998 Sliding Doors Peter Howitt also orchestrator
The Interview Craig Monahan
Elizabeth Shekhar Kapur also conductor and orchestrator
1999 What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? Ian Mune
2000 Hanging Up Diane Keaton
Better Than Sex Jonathan Teplitzky
The Weight of Water Kathryn Bigelow also conductor
2002 Bootleg Ian Gilmour TV mini-series
2003 The Wannabes Nick Giannopoulos
2004 Standing Room Only Deborra-Lee Furness Short film
Peaches Craig Monahan
BlackJack Peter Andrikidis, Ian Watson & Kate Woods TV series, all episodes except pilot
The Five People You Meet In Heaven Lloyd Kramer TV film; also conductor
2006 Aquamarine Elizabeth Allen also conductor
Irresistible Ann Turner
2007 Shake Hands with the Devil Roger Spottiswoode
2008 The Children of Huang Shi Roger Spottiswoode
Salute Matt Norman documentary
Australia Baz Luhrmann also harmonica musician
2009 The Blue Mansion Glen Goei
2010 I Love You Too Daina Reid
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Zack Snyder Animated film
2011 Sanctum Alister Grierson
2012 Beyond Right and Wrong Lekha Singh, Roger Spottiswoode documentary

Awards and nominations

  • 2008 Best Feature Film Score Screen Music Award win for Children of the Silk Road.[14]

References

General

  • McFarlane, Ian. (1999). "Whammo Homepage". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. Retrieved on 10 April 2012. Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.

Specific

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  14. 2008 Winners Screen Music Awards. Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved on 29 April 2010.

External links

  • Official website
  • David Hirschfelder at the Internet Movie Database
This page was last modified 19.04.2014 01:18:55

This article uses material from the article David Hirschfelder from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.