Carter Burwell

Early life and education

Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie (née Benedict), a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd. with George Hofecker and other notables and Harvard College, where he was a cartoonist for The Harvard Lampoon.

Career

As a film composer, Burwell has had a long-working relationship with the Coen brothers, providing music for every film they have made (except for Inside Llewyn Davis and O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Among his best known film scores are Miller's Crossing (1990), And the Band Played On (1993), Conspiracy Theory (1997), Hamlet (2000), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), In Bruges (2008), Twilight (2008), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), The Blind Side (2009), and Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) and Part 2 (2012). Burwell wrote and recorded the original score for the film The Bourne Identity, but director Doug Liman wanted something else and replaced it with a score by John Powell.

The ethos of the punk rock movement gave Burwell the impetus to start performing. He performed in New York with several bands, notably The Same, Thick Pigeon, and Radiante. Burwell played in Thick Pigeon with Stanton Miranda; the group released two albums, Too Crazy Cowboys (Factory) and tracks on Miranda Dali (Crepuscule), originally released as a Miranda solo project but later reissued as a Thick Pigeon release. On Burwell's soundtrack for Psycho III, Miranda was a featured singer.

By 1986 he had composed the music for a dance piece, RAB, which premiered at the Avignon Festival. At the same time, he was touring worldwide with The Harmonic Choir, David Hykes' experimental vocal group, which specialized in overtone singing.

Burwell used the country music genre as the basis for his score for the Coens' Raising Arizona in 1987. From 1982 to 1987 he worked at the New York Institute of Technology.

His work has alternated between live performance, dance and theater commissions, and film scoring. His chamber opera, The Celestial Alphabet Event, was presented in New York in 1991, and other theater pieces include Mother (1994) and Lucia's Chapters (2007), both with the experimental theater group Mabou Mines.

In April 2005, Burwell composed and conducted music performed by The Parabola Ensemble for the plays Sawbones, written and directed by the Coen brothers, Hope Leaves the Theater, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, and Anomalisa, written and directed by Kaufman as Francis Fregoli. This was a segment of the sound-only production "Theater of the New Ear", which debuted at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, with support from Sirius Satellite Radio. It was also performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England, in May 2005, and at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California, in September 2005, as part of the UCLA Live Festival.

In 2009, Burwell was the recipient of the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. In 2010, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for Where the Wild Things Are.

In 2015, he received the Distinguished Film Composer award from the Middleburg Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Music Score for Anomalisa and Carol. He was nominated for the Annie Award for Music in an Animated Feature Production for Anomalisa and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for Carol. In 2016, he received the Satellite Award for Best Original Score and the Best Score award by the International Cinephile Society for Carol. Burwell was awarded Film Composer of the Year by the World Soundtrack Awards, and the score for Carol received the Public Choice Award for the Best Score of the Year.

Burwell received his first Academy Award for Best Original Score nomination for Carol, his second for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and his third for The Banshees Of Inisherin.

Personal life

Burwell married Christine Sciulli in 1999.

Since 2009, Burwell has lived in Napeague, New York.

Filmography

Films

Television

Accolades

References

References

1. (February 24, 2010). "Natalie Benedict Burwell Obituary: View Natalie Burwell's Obituary by Northern Virginia Daily".
2. "Carter Burwell". [[AllMusic Guide]].
3. "Carter Burwell Biography - Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com.
4. (June 1, 2014). "John Powell interview: 'I sold myself to the Devil, just a bit'". The Independent.
5. "Carter Burwell - Biography".
6. (February 7, 2016). "Love The Music Of Coen Brothers Films? You Can Thank Carter Burwell". [[NPR]].
7. (March 3, 2005). "Carter Burwell to score "Theater of the New Ear" with Coen Brothers and Charlie Kaufman".
8. (April 10, 2005). "Celebrities Opt to Be Heard Rather Than Seen". [[The New York Times]].
9. (May 8, 2005). "Theater tunes 'Ear'". [[Variety (magazine).
10. (May 14, 2009). "Carter Burwell Receives ASCAP Mancini Award". [[The Film Music Society]].
11. (December 15, 2009). "Golden Globes nominations: the 2010 list in full". [[The Guardian]].
12. (September 2, 2015). "Middleburg Film Festival to Honor Composer Carter Burwell and Cinematographer Dante Spinotti".
13. (December 2015). "41st Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association]].
14. Tapley, Kristopher. (December 6, 2015). "Los Angeles Film Critics Name 'Spotlight' Best Film of the Year". [[Variety (magazine).
15. (December 1, 2015). "Nominations for 43rd Annie Awards Announced".
16. (December 10, 2015). "2016 Nominations Announced!". [[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]].
17. "Satellite Awards 2015". [[International Press Academy]].
18. (February 21, 2016). "'Carol' Named Best Picture by Intl. Cinephile Society". [[Variety (magazine).
19. (October 19, 2016). "Winners of the 16th World Soundtrack Awards". [[World Soundtrack Academy]].
20. (October 19, 2016). "Carter Burwell Named Film Composer of the Year at World Soundtrack Awards".
21. (January 14, 2016). "Oscar Nominations: The Complete List". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
22. (February 27, 2016). "Where You've Heard First-Time Oscar Nominee Carter Burwell's Scores Before".
23. "Notes on Hamlet Soundtrack".
24. Fairbanks, Amanda M.. (June 24, 2022). "Truck Beach Was For Locals. Then the Oceanfront Homes Arrived.". [[The New York Times]].
25. (June 1, 2020). "Carter Burwell to Score Joel Coen's 'The Tragedy of Macbeth'".
26. (March 30, 2022). "Carter Burwell Scoring Martin McDonagh's 'The Banshees of Inisherin'".
27. (September 19, 2025). "Road Restrictions: Filming in Glasgow for Joel Coen movie starring Josh O'Connor". [[National World]].
28. "Carter Burwell to Score HBO's 'Olive Kitteridge' - Film Music Reporter".
29. (May 12, 2020). "Carter Burwell Scoring Netflix's 'Space Force'".
30. "Film in 2002".
31. "Winners & Nominees 2010".
32. "2015 Academy Awards".
33. "Winners & Nominees 2016".
34. "2017 Academy Awards".
35. "Winners & Nominees 2018".
36. "2022 Academy Awards".
37. "Film in 2022".
38. "Winners & Nominees 2023".