Nigel Hess

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Nigel Hess
Background information
Occupation(s)	Composer

Nigel Hess is a British composer best known for his television, theatre and film soundtracks, including the theme tunes to Wycliffe, Dangerfield, Hetty Wainthrop Investigates and Ladies in Lavender.

[edit] Biography

Hess studied music at Cambridge University where he was music director of the Footlights Revue Company. He went on to become company music director and house composer for the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1981 and 1985^[1].

In 1990, Hess founded the vocal group Chameleon which won the Music Retailers Association award for "Best MOR Vocal Album"^[2].

Hess was awarded the New York Drama Desk award for "Outstanding Music in a Play" for his compositions used in the productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway. His most recent theatre score was for Sir John Mortimer's adaptation of A Christmas Carol at the Barbican Arts Centre in London^[1].

Hess was hired by director Charles Dance to compose the music to 2004-film Ladies in Lavender, the soundtrack to which was later released by Sony Classical and features Violinist Joshua Bell as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra^[3].

The Nigel Hess homepage is at www.myramusic.co.uk.

[edit] Notable TV compositions

Hess' notable television compositions include^[4]

Testament (1988) — awarded the Ivor Novello Award for best television theme
Summer's Lease (1989) — awarded the Television and Radio Industries Club award for best television theme
Classic Adventure (1992) — awarded the Music from the Movies award for best BBC theme
Wycliffe (1995) — awarded the Royal Television Society best television theme
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1997) — awarded the Ivor Novello Award for best television theme and nominated for the Royal Television Society best television theme award