Mark Slater (composer)

Mark Slater

Mark Andrew Slater (born 1 April 1969) is a British film composer, conductor, cellist and pianist.

Early years

Slater was born in Reigate, England into a musical family. His father Christopher Slater, a professional conductor and organist, was a professor at Royal College of Music in London. Slater started playing the Cello and Piano at the age of 5. His early musical gifts earned him a scholarship as a chorister in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Slater got another scholarship this time to one of the oldest schools in the UK, Oakham School. After Oakham School Slater studied composition at London College of Music and techniques for composing for film at the Ealing Studios (1998). Slater studied with Nick Ingman and Rodney Newton.

Recent years

Debut as concert pianist in 1998 at the Dorking Halls performing Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Slater has worked on several films, documentaries, plays, and concert commissions over the last several years since 1998. Slater worked briefly with David Arnold on The Musketeer (2001). In 2007 Slater composed music for the Philips Aurea website. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with members of the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 2005 Slater was a runner-up in the Gary Garritan Competition.

In 2008 Slater scored the music for 400 Years of the Telescope, a PBS special for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, with the London Symphony Orchestra. This also involved a related fulldome video project, Two Small Pieces of Glass, which became the most played planetarium fulldome film shown for the next 3 years.^[1] This marked the start of several projects for the fulldome world, which includes nearly 1000 theaters around the world. In 2010, Mark scored Natural Selection, a fulldome film from Mirage 3D, produced by Robin Sip about Charles Darwin. This score was recorded in Budapest with the Budapest Film Orchestra and won an award for Best Audio at the Imiloa Fulldome Film Festival in Hawaii.

In 2011, Slater scored further fulldome films for Planetarium Hamburg and Morehead Planetarium and Immersive Entertainment work for Evans & Sutherland. Other notable work has included the multi-award winning animation short Broken Wing and other shorts, independent features and documentaries.

In 2013, Slater again recorded with the Prague Philharmonic for another Mirage 3D fulldome film, Dinosaurs at Dusk.

Works

Films

• Dinosaurs at Dusk (2013) Mirage 3D
• Swan Cake (2013) Nikitha Mannam^[2]
• Broken Wing (2012) [Amos Sussigan & Nikitha Mannam]
• Solar System Odyssey (2011) Morehead Planetarium & Science Center
• Expedition Green (2010) Hamburg Planetarium
• Urban Scumbags vs Countryside Zombies (2010) MMC Productions
• Natural Selection (2010) Mirage 3D
• Hive Mind (2009) Ladd Ehlinger Jr.
• Two Small Pieces of Glass (2009) Interstellar Studios
• Storm (2008) Labrys Film & Video [Joan Beveridge]
• Universal Senses (2008) [SKS Films]
• Flatland the Film (2007) Ladd Ehlinger Jr.
• Inside (2005) Lioness Films Lucy Brooks
• Lubbos Frau Wartet (2002) Ipanema Film Berlin Birthe Templin
• Black Velvet (2002) Coney Island FilmsSimon Cathcart
• Panchreston (2000) [Puckler Brothers Ltd]
• Silverfish (1999) Birthe Templin
• The Venus (1999) [Saara Haley]
• Heart of Africa (1998) [Craig Galbraith]

Documentary

• 400 Years of the Telescope (2009) Interstellar Studios / PBS
• Dodging Bullets (2006) [Puckler Brothers Ltd]
• The Orphans of Malawi [Mirrorplanet Productions]

Theatre

• The Beaux Stratagem (2006)
• The Master Builder (2006)
• The Unvarnished Truth (2005)
• A Murder is Announced (2004)
• A Thousand Pounds by Friday (1999)

Concert Commissions

• Awakenings (2011)
• The Knight of the Red Crosse (2005)
• Snakes and Ladders(2004)
• A New Beginning (2004)
• Seven Decades (2002)

External links

• The Official Mark Slater

References