Natalie Ann Holt is a British

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 ...

who has worked on numerous film and television projects. She is primarily recognised for her work on several notable productions, including ''

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

'' (2014) and ''

Loki Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Na ...

'' (2021). She trained at 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 ...

and then the

National Film and Television School The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2021 ranking by ''The Hollywood Repor ...

and had a career as a classical violinist before becoming a film composer. Holt's distinction in her field was recognised by being made an associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2017.

Career

Holt's early contributions include minor roles as orchestrator and copyist on films such as '' Stardust''. After graduating, she composed her own music for a number of short films, including the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

award-winning short ''Friends Forever'' (2008), while working as a professional violinist. In 2007, she became part of

RaVen Quartet RaVen Quartet was a London-based string quartet that performed arrangements of both classical and rock music.

, a London-based

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

that performed their own musical arrangements.Interview: RaVen Quartet
''M Magazine'', 31 October 2012 RaVen would go on to perform with Madness during the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony. By this time, the group had also played for

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

and were part of

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

's Symphonica tour. Holt's breakthrough in composing came in 2012, when she worked with

Martin Phipps Martin Phipps (born 1 August 1968) is a British composer, who has worked on numerous film and television projects. Life and career He is the son of Sue Pears and Jack Phipps, an arts administrator who had previously founded a management agen ...

on ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

'', which was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Score. Holt then co-composed with Phipps for the BBC drama ''

The Honourable Woman ''The Honourable Woman'' is a 2014 British political spy thriller television miniseries in eight parts, directed and written by Hugo Blick for the BBC and SundanceTV. Featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal in the title role, it aired on BBC Two in the Un ...

'', for which they jointly won the 2015

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

for Best Television Soundtrack, and were nominated again for a BAFTA. She most recently collaborated with Phipps in 2017 for ''

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

'', for which she was nominated for a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

in the category of "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series". Holt subsequently wrote the original scores for a number of other high-profile television dramas including the multiple BAFTA award-winning and

winning score for Philippa Lowthorpe's drama series '' Three Girls''. Holt has also worked on ''

My Mother and Other Strangers ''My Mother and Other Strangers'' is a 2016 British television drama series, written by Barry Devlin, made by BBC Northern Ireland with funding from Northern Ireland Screen. The story is set in a small village in Northern Ireland in 1943, during ...

'', the final series of ''

Wallander Wallander may refer to: TV, film, books * Kurt Wallander, a fictional Swedish police inspector in novels by Henning Mankell :* ''Wallander'' (film series), Swedish-language television films of the Wallander stories starring Rolf Lassgård :* ''Wal ...

'', and the BBC adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera's novel ''

The Boy With The Topknot ''The Boy with the Topknot'' is a 2017 British romantic drama film starring Sacha Dhawan and Joanna Vanderham. The film is based on Sathnam Sanghera's memoir of the same name. The film premiered on BBC. The film is about a Punjabi man who brings ...

''. In addition, she has scored two BBC TV series written by BAFTA award-winning playwright Mike Bartlett (''

Press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

'' and '' Sticks and Stones''), Gurinder Chada's 2018 series ''

Beecham House ''Beecham House'' is a short-lived British historical drama television series set in 1795, co-created, directed and produced by Gurinder Chadha. The six-part series was announced in August 2018 and was broadcast between Sunday 23 June ...

'', and in 2020 was nominated for a

Royal Television Society Award The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

for her score to ITV drama ''

Deadwater Fell ''Deadwater Fell'' is a four-part British drama television miniseries written and created by Daisy Coulam. It stars David Tennant as a doctor whose wife and three young children are murdered in a fire. It premiered 10 January 2020 on Channel 4 ...

''. Holt has also composed music for a number of films including Saul Dibb's film adaptation ''

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry comp ...

'', for which she jointly won Best Score at Beijing International Film Festival with

Hildur Guðnadóttir Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and h ...

. Peter Bradshaw named the score in his BAFTA predictions of 2018, and the score was described as "sinuously driving the narrative momentum" and "creating a sense of horror and dread". Holt wrote additional music for Heyday Film's ''

'' and the score for the first feature from Deborah Haywood, ''

Pin Cushion A pincushion (or pin cushion) is a small, stuffed cushion, typically across, which is used in sewing to store pins or needles with their heads protruding to take hold of them easily, collect them, and keep them organized. Pincushions are typic ...

'', which premiered at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

in 2018. In 2019, she worked on ''

Infidel An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or the irreligious. Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which the Church ...

'' and ''

Herself A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same sentence. In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and refer to a previously n ...

''. She has most recently worked on the

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

series ''

'', which is set in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

and was described in the Washington Post as delivering "a suspenseful and mysterious vibe while providing Marvel's horned menace with a theme song that might just be the MCU's best". In 2022, it was announced that Holt would serve as composer for the ''Obi-Wan Kenobi'' series for

, becoming the first woman to ever score a live-action ''Star Wars'' project. In 2022, Holt had worked on composing the score for ''

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...

'', a film that was ultimately canceled during production. Holt was named in The Times Film Composer's watch list in 2018, alongside

Daniel Pemberton Daniel Pemberton (born 3 November 1977) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning English composer and songwriter. Life and career In 1994, at the age of 16, Pemberton recorded his debut album, ''Bedroom'', on a multitrack cassette recor ...

Jed Kurzel Jed Danyel Kurzel (born 1976) is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist and film composer. He is a founding member of The Mess Hall (from 2001), a blues rock duo. His older brother Justin Kurzel is a film director and screenwriter. Life an ...

and

Gustavo Santaolalla Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla (born 19 August 1951) is an Argentine musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for composing his film scores with his collaborator and acclaimed director Alejandro González Iñárritu, which composed the ...

Personal life

Holt was born in

Worthing, West Sussex Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

, studied violin at the

and composing at the

. She resides in

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 ...

. Holt has a daughter.

In popular media

In the 2013 final of ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially ...

'', Holt was performing in the backing orchestra of finalists Richard & Adam. During their performance she walked on stage and threw eggs at the judge,

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...

. She was protesting Cowell's "dreadful influence on the music business".

Discography

Film

Television

Short films

References

External links

* *
Allegro Talent Group

British Music Collection – Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Natalie Living people 21st-century English composers 21st-century women composers Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music British film score composers British television composers Ivor Novello Award winners People from Worthing Women film score composers Women television composers Alumni of the National Film and Television School 1982 births