Daniel Clive McCallum (born 1989 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia) is a

film composer A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

, conductor, and

orchestrator Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

. He is a graduate of the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He is known for orchestrating and arranging the music for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, which won the Sports

Emmy Award 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 ...

for best music direction. McCallum is the son of

Ron McCallum Ronald Clive McCallum AO (born 8 October 1948) is an Australian legal academic. He is an expert in labour law, and has served as a professor and dean of law at the University of Sydney. He is the first totally blind person to be appointed to a f ...

, a noted Australian legal academic.

Career

McCallum left traditional school at the age of 13 to study music at the

Sydney Conservatorium of Music The Sydney Conservatorium of Music (formerly the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and known by the moniker "The Con") is a heritage-listed music school in Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the old ...

. There, he studied

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

, as well as traditional Australian instruments with William Barton. He was awarded the

ABRSM The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualification ...

scholarship in 2008 to study composition at the

. After graduating, McCallum went on to work with

Howard Shore Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' film trilogies. ...

on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. McCallum is a prominent and awarded orchestrator. He orchestrated the

, Brazil. For this, the production won a Sports

. In 2019, McCallum orchestrated the new anthem for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

. McCallum was nominated for a

Grammy Award 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 pres ...

in 2020 as part of the String Theory Artist Collective for his work on the album Sekou Andrews & The String Theory. McCallum has also been commissioned to write many contemporary classical pieces. Notably, his works have been performed by the

BBC Singers The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British c ...

, the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

, the Omega Ensemble in the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

, the Penrith Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Sinfionetta, the Sonic Arts Ensemble, the

London Contemporary Orchestra The London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO), founded in 2008 by Hugh Brunt and Robert Ames, is an ensemble of young musicians whose stated aim is "to explore and promote new music to an increasingly wide audience". LCO staged its inaugural season at ...

, the Crossroads Chamber Festival (performed by

Paul Silverthorne Paul Silverthorne (born 1951 in Cheshire, England) is an English viola soloist and was principal violist of the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta. Biography Silverthorne studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Clarence Myer ...

), the

Choir & Organ Rhinegold Publishing is an independent publisher of music magazines, music yearbooks and education resources, founded in 1977. Among Rhinegold's publications are '' Choir & Organ'' and ''Classical Music Magazine ''Classical Music'' is a tra ...

magazine, Ars Musica Australis, the

Warringah Council Warringah Council was a local government area in the northern beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 as the Warringah Shire Council, and became "Warringah Council" in 1993. In 1992 ...

, the Chronology Arts Ensemble, and the

. He currently resides in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with his wife where he works as a

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 ...

Filmography

*2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (assistant orchestrator) *2014:

The Smoke The Smoke were an English pop group from York. They consisted of Mick Rowley (lead vocals), Mal Luker (lead guitar), John "Zeke" Lund (bass) and Geoff Gill (drums and compositor). The band originally performed around Yorkshire as The Moons ...

(orchestrator) *2015: The Mentors (composer) *2015: Endless Night (orchestrator) *2015:

Palm Trees in the Snow ''Palm Trees in the Snow'' ( es, Palmeras en la nieve, links=no) is a 2015 Spanish romantic drama film directed by Fernando González Molina. Penned by Sergio G. Sánchez, the screenplay is based on the novel of the same name, ''Palmeras en la ...

(orchestrator) *2016:

theme in

, Brazil (orchestrator & arranger) *2016: No Panic, with a Hint of Hysteria (orchestrator) *2016: Penumbra (composer) *2016: Loving in Limbo (composer) *2016:

Realive ''Realive'' (Spanish: ''Proyecto Lázaro'') is a 2016 Belgian-Spanish-French English-language science fiction drama film written and directed by Mateo Gil. Plot A man with a terminal illness has his body frozen in cryostasis and becomes the ...

(orchestrator) *2017: Bruce!!!! (composer) *2018: King of Knives (composer) *2018: The Map to Paradise (composer) *2018:

The Tree of Blood ''The Tree of Blood'' ( es, link=no, El árbol de la sangre) is a 2018 Spanish-French drama film written and directed by Julio Medem. It stars Úrsula Corberó and Álvaro Cervantes alongside Najwa Nimri, Maria Molins, Patricia López Arnaiz, Dan ...

*2018: Alegria, Tristeza (orchestrator) *2019:

theme (orchestrator & arranger) *2019: Zero (orchestrator) *2019: Farewell (composer) *2020: The Crossroad (composer) *2021:

Wild Game Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products (primarily meat), for recreation (" sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, thou ...

(composer) *2022:

Vindication Swim ''Vindication Swim'' is an upcoming biographical drama film about swimmer Mercedes Gleitze, who in 1927 became the first British woman to swim the English Channel. The film is written and directed by Elliott Hasler, starring Kirsten Callaghan in ...

(composer) *2022: Dance Dads (composer) *2023: Cottonmouth (composer)

Awards and nominations

Won: *Sports

, 2017 *Best Original Score, LA Crime and Horror Film Festival, 2019 *Best Original Score, Independent Shorts Awards, 2019 *Best Music, Top Indie Film Awards, 2019 Nominations: *

, 2020 for Sekou Andrews & The String Theory

Discography

*The Map to Paradise (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) *Bruce!!!! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) *Loving in Limbo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) *Retrospective, Vol. 1 *Dance Dads (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCallum, Daniel Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Living people American film score composers American male film score composers American multi-instrumentalists American television composers 20th-century classical composers 1989 births 20th-century American male musicians