| Christian Howes | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Christian James Howes |
| Born | 17 August 1986 |
| Origin | London, Middlesex, England |
| Genres | Film scores |
| Occupations | Composer and Music Programmer |
| Instruments | Cello, Piano, Guitar |
| Years active | 2004-Present |
| Labels | Chorale Music Productions |
| Associated acts | Aconite |
| Website | christianhowesmusic.co.uk |
Christian Howes (born August 17, 1986, London, England) is a Bafta nominated English/Irish musician, music programmer, arranger, song writer and film score composer. He has composed orchestral and electronic scores for a variety of films, adverts and documentaries. His clients have included Microsoft, Chrysler, Wonderbra, Al Jazeera, The BBC and Partizan Films among many others. He uses a combination of synthesizers, electronica and choir as well as both modern instruments and traditional orchestra.
Howes studied music among his subjects at the Kings School Ely in Cambridgeshire where he performed as Principal Cellist in the symphony and chamber orchestras. He was also a principal baritone in both the Ely Cathedral Chapel Choir, the school chamber choir and the Ely Early Music Consort. During this time he completed tours of both France and Germany with a number of the above ensembles.
At age 17 he moved to Cambridge to study at Hills Road Sixth Form College. He again played in both the Symphony and Chamber orchestras as well as the Chamber Choir. During the summer of 2002 Christian undertook the Eton Choral course in Edinburgh under the tuition of Ralph Allwood. He also performed regularly as lead singer and guitarist of symphonic metal band Aconite with whom he played until leaving to pursue a degree.
After completing his A Levels Howes went on to study Music with Computer Sound Design alongside the world famous Tonnmeister course at the University of Surrey. During his gap-year however Christian was commissioned to write the music for a BBC documentary 'Child' which charted the lives of HIV/AIDS affected children from the UK and Rwanda. His music for Child was nominated for Bafta's Anthony Asquith Award for best original score.
It was at this time that Howes secured work at the world famous Air Lyndhurst Studios in London. Through this and further stints at Air Christian was able to gain experience as a studio assistant working with film composers such as Ed Shearmur on Derailed, Eric Serra on Bandidas and most notably Patrick Doyle on two films Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire and The Last Legion.
Doyle subsequently offered Christian a job as his music assistant on the 2007 feature Sleuth Directed by Doyle's long-time colleague Kenneth Branagh and starring Jude Law and Sir Michael Caine. Since then Christian has worked with Patrick on two further films: Nim's Island and Igor as both assistant and music programmer.
As a composer Howes' has recently written music for a number of different projects and clients including Chrysler's 2008 Grand Voyager Advertising Campaign, Wonderbra, Microsoft Xbox 360, Al Jazeera and significantly for Partizan Films when in late 2008 Christian wrote the score for a short 'I Stood Up' which won the 2008 Smoke and Mirrors 48 Hour Film Competition and is now being promoted at festivals around the world.