Ashley Irwin is an Australian born

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, conductor, orchestrator, arranger and music producer. Irwin has composed, conducted, arranged, and orchestrated music for numerous movie soundtracks. He has collaborated with

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...

, and has scored for silent films including

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

's '' The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog''. He has an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction, and two Emmy nominations. Irwin is currently serving his third term as the President of the Society of Composers and Lyricists.

Career

Ashley Irwin began his career arranging for records and commercials in Australia. He was one of six arrangers commissioned to orchestrate the ill-fated 1988

Australian bicentennial The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. History The bicentennial year marked Captain Arthur Phillip's arrival with the 11 ships ...

musical, '' Manning Clark's History of Australia – The Musical''. After writing music for theatre, records, advertising and television, Irwin moved to the United States in 1990, composing and orchestrating for feature films. In the late 90s, Irwin scored the silent classics '' The White Hell of Piz Palü'' directed by German director

Arnold Fanck Arnold Fanck (6 March 1889 – 28 September 1974) was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre. He is best known for the extraordinary alpine footage he captured in such films as '' The Holy Mountain'' (1926), '' The White He ...

, and

's '' The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog''. Irwin was recommended to Clint Eastwood after his arranger retired, which led to Irwin's collaboration with Eastwood on films ''Hereafter'', ''J. Edgar'', ''Jersey Boys'', ''and The 15:17 to Paris''. He also worked on independent films including ''The Pardon'' starring John Hawkes and Jaime King. Irwin was one of the writers for the 2011 Australian musical "Pyjamas in Paradise''. Irwin has arranged and composed for 21

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

shows, several

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

, and other TV variety shows. His credits as music director include NBC's

Screen Actors Guild Awards Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...

, American Giving Awards, and the Screen Musical Awards.

Society of Composer and Lyricists

Ashley Irwin has served as the president of the Society of Composers and Lyricists since 2013. Irwin has moderated numerous interviews, among them are six-time

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

nominee

Alexandre Desplat Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has won many awards, including two Academy Awards, for his musical scores to the films ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'' and ''The Shape of Water'', ...

Christophe Beck Jean-Christophe Beck (born November 30, 1972) is a Canadian television and film score composer and conductor. He is a brother of pianist Chilly Gonzales. He is best known for his collaborations with Disney and its subsidiaries, which include comp ...

Bruce Broughton Bruce Harold Broughton (born March 8, 1945) is an American orchestral composer of television, film, and video game scores and concert works. He has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career and has contributed man ...

, and

Randy Edelman Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film and television. He began his career as a member of Broadway's pit orchestras, and later went on to produce solo albums for songs that were picked up by ...

. He is a frequent speaker and presenter at SCL hosted events and award shows.

APRA

Irwin is an official

APRA APRA or Apra may refer to: Places *Apra, Punjab, a census town city in Jalandhar District of Punjab, India * Apra Harbor, the main port of Guam Acronyms * American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana), a Peruvi ...

Ambassador. He was the Music Director for APRA's Screen Music Awards between 2013 and 2016.

Recognition

Ashley Irwin was awarded an

in 1992 for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction for the 64th annual Academy Awards. He has previously been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction in 1990 and 1991. The

Australian Guild of Screen Composers The Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) is a not for profit organisation, which was established in 1981, "to represent the interests of Australian screen composers by developing and promoting employment opportunities, undertaking educationa ...

recognized Irwin for his score to ''The White Hell of Piz Palü'' and ''The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog'', awarding him the Best Feature Film Score in both 1998 and 1999. Irwin was given a G.A.N.G. award for his work in ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

'' video game in 2006. He was nominated for

AACTA The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is a professional organisation of film and television practitioners in Australia. The Academy's aim is "to identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements i ...

and APRA awards for his recreated songs in the mini-series Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Ashley Australian male composers Australian film score composers Male film score composers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian emigrants to the United States