Christopher Willis (born 21 August 1978 in Newcastle, Australia) is an Australian-born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

composer. He is the composer of the music to the 2013

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Mickey Mouse Shorts, and co-composer (with

Rupert Gregson-Williams Rupert Gregson-Williams (born 12 October 1966) is a British composer, conductor, and record producer, best known for his film, video game, and television scores. His filmography includes ''Hotel Rwanda'', for which he was awarded the European ...

) of the music to the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

comedy series

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...

. He has also written music for a number of film scores (credited with "additional music") with several other film composers including

Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has consistently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. Burwell has also scored three of Todd Haynes's films, three of Spike Jonz ...

Harry Gregson-Williams Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer. He has composed music for video games, television and films including the ''Metal Gear'' series, ''Spy Game'', ''Phone Booth'', ...

, and

Henry Jackman Henry Pryce Jackman (born 1974) is an English composer. He composed music for films such as '' Kong: Skull Island'', '' X-Men: First Class'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Puss in Boots'', '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Captain Phi ...

. His filmography includes '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2'' (2012), ''

Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...

'' (2011), '' X-Men: First Class'' (2011), ''

Shrek Forever After ''Shrek Forever After'' is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book ''Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek the Thi ...

'' (2010), '' Grown Ups'' (2010), ''

You Don't Mess With The Zohan ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'' is a 2008 American satirical action comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel, and Judd Apatow, and produced by Sandler, Smigel, and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Sandler in th ...

'' (2008) and the television series ''

''. His score for ''

The Death of Stalin ''The Death of Stalin'' is a 2017 political satire black comedy film written and directed by Armando Iannucci and co-written by David Schneider and Ian Martin with Peter Fellows. Based on the French graphic novel ''La Mort de Staline'' (201 ...

'' (2017) was shortlisted along with 14 others for the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by t ...

. His concert music includes a piece written specially for The BBC Proms in 2010 entitled ''Mashup''. The music is a written-out mashup of other pieces from the programme of the concert at which it was premiered. He has also composed music for educational purposes including ''Boom Town'' for chamber orchestra and young children, which was part of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London. He is also a musicologist specializing in eighteenth-century music, especially

Domenico Scarlatti Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, also known as Domingo or Doménico Scarlatti (26 October 1685-23 July 1757), was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the deve ...

, although he has written about other subjects including American minimalism. He holds a Ph.D. from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and has written a number of scholarly articles, including a chapter to the book ''Domenico Scarlatti Adventures: Essays to Commemorate the 250th Anniversary of His Death'', and articles in the journals ''Early Music'' and ''Eighteenth-Century Music''.

Filmography

Feature films

Television

References

External links

*
Piano music by Christopher Willis reviewed

Christopher Willis
on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Christopher 1978 births Living people Animation composers Annie Award winners British film score composers British male film score composers Emmy Award winners Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge