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Rob Simonsen
American composer
American composer
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| name | Rob Simonsen |
| caption | Simonsen in 2024 |
| birth_place | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
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Rob Simonsen is an American composer and conductor. He is best known for his scores in films such as 500 Days of Summer (2009), The Age of Adaline (2015), Gifted (2017), The Only Living Boy in New York (2017), Tully (2018), Love, Simon (2018), The Front Runner (2018), The Way Back (2020), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), The Adam Project (2022), The Whale (2022), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), It Ends with Us (2024) and Elio (2025), and the television series Life in Pieces (2015–2019). He is also known for collaborating with directors Marc Webb, Julia Hart, Jason Reitman, Shawn Levy, Darren Aronofsky, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
Early life
Simonsen began playing the piano by ear at an early age. His grandmother was a voice teacher and music was around him in his family home. He later studied music at Southern Oregon University, the University of Oregon and Portland State University.
Career
Rob's first break into film composing was the independent feature Westender in 2003. In 2004 he teamed up with composer Mychael Danna and has provided additional music and arrangements on Surf's Up, Fracture, Moneyball, and the Oscar-winning Life of Pi. Simonsen and Danna co-wrote the score of (500) Days of Summer, and Joss Whedon's television series Dollhouse. Also among Simonsen's work includes the Sundance Film Festival features The Way, Way Back and The Spectacular Now, The Age of Adaline, Love, Simon, The Way Back, and Stargirl.
In 2009 he opened his own studio, and The Hollywood Reporter named him one of the "15 Composers Primed to Take Their Place on the A List."
Simonsen's music can be heard in nearly all iPhone 5 ads, and he appears in them as the conductor. "Red", one of his tracks for iPhone 5, has gained wide recognition. His music was featured in Coca-Cola's 2018 Super Bowl TV spot, "The Wonder of Us".
On September 6, 2019, Simonsen released his first solo album, Rêveries, on Sony Masterworks.
Awards
- World Soundtrack Award (nomination): Discovery of the Year for The Spectacular Now, The Way, Way Back (2013)
- International Film Music Critics Award (nomination): Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film for Nerve (2016)
- Hollywood Music in Media Award (nomination): Best Original Score in an Independent Film for The Whale (2022)
- Indiana Film Journalists Award (nomination): Best Musical Score for The Whale (2022)
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Westender | Brock Morse | M.O.B Productions | |
| 2004 | Two Fisted | Todd E. Freeman | York Entertainment | |
| 2005 | Eve and the Fire Horse | Julia Kwan | Mongrel Media | Composed with Mychael Danna |
| 2006 | Lonely Hearts | Todd Robinson | Roadside Attractions | |
| Samuel Goldwyn Films | Additional music | |||
| Score by Mychael Danna | ||||
| 2007 | Surf's Up | Ash Brannon | ||
| Chris Buck | Sony Pictures Releasing | |||
| Columbia Pictures | ||||
| 2008 | Stone of Destiny | Charles Martin Smith | Alliance Films | Additional music |
| Management | Stephen Belber | Samuel Goldwyn Films | Co-composed with Mychael Danna | |
| 2009 | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | Terry Gilliam | Lionsgate UK | Additional music |
| Score by Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna | ||||
| (500) Days of Summer | Marc Webb | Fox Searchlight Pictures | Co-composed with Mychael Danna | |
| 2010 | All Good Things | Andrew Jarecki | Magnolia Pictures | |
| 2011 | The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best | Ryan O'Nan | Oscilloscope | |
| Moneyball | Bennett Miller | Sony Pictures Releasing | ||
| Columbia Pictures | Additional music | |||
| Score by Mychael Danna | ||||
| 2012 | The English Teacher | Craig Zisk | Cinedigm Entertainment | |
| LOL | Lisa Azuelos | Lionsgate | ||
| The Final Member | Zach Math | |||
| Jonah Bekhor | Drafthouse Films | Documentary | ||
| Seeking a Friend for the End of the World | Lorene Scafaria | Focus Features | Composed with Jonathan Sadoff | |
| Girl Most Likely | Shari Springer Berman | |||
| Robert Pulcini | Lionsgate | |||
| Roadside Attractions | ||||
| Life of Pi | Ang Lee | 20th Century Fox | Additional music | |
| Score by Mychael Danna | ||||
| 2013 | The Spectacular Now | James Ponsoldt | A24 | |
| The Way, Way Back | Nat Faxon | |||
| Jim Rash | Fox Searchlight Pictures | |||
| 2014 | Wish I Was Here | Zach Braff | Focus Features | |
| Chu and Blossom | Charles Chu | |||
| Gavin Kelly | TideRock Media | |||
| Character Brigade | ||||
| Films 5 Productions | ||||
| Soaring Flight Productions | ||||
| Baked Industries | ||||
| Foxcatcher | Bennett Miller | Sony Pictures Classics | Additional music by Mychael Danna and West Dylan Thordson | |
| 2015 | The Age of Adaline | Lee Toland Krieger | Lionsgate | Additional music by Duncan Blickenstaff |
| Burnt | John Wells | The Weinstein Company | ||
| Stonewall | Roland Emmerich | Roadside Attractions | Replaced Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander | |
| 2016 | Nerve | Henry Joost | ||
| Ariel Schulman | Lionsgate | |||
| Viral | Dimension Films | |||
| RADiUS-TWC | ||||
| Miss Stevens | Julia Hart | The Orchard | ||
| Two Is a Family | Hugo Gélin | Mars Films | ||
| The Cleanse | Bobby Miller | Vertical Entertainment | Composed with Eskmo | |
| 2017 | Going in Style | Zach Braff | Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| New Line Cinema | ||||
| Gifted | Marc Webb | Fox Searchlight Pictures | Additional music by Duncan Blickenstaff | |
| The House of Tomorrow | Peter Livolsi | Shout! Studios | ||
| The Only Living Boy in New York | Marc Webb | Roadside Attractions | ||
| Amazon Studios | Additional music by Duncan Blickenstaff | |||
| The Upside | Neil Burger | STXfilms | ||
| Lantern Entertainment | ||||
| Father Figures | Lawrence Sher | Warner Bros. Pictures | Additional music by Duncan Blickenstaff | |
| 2018 | ||||
| Love, Simon | Greg Berlanti | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Tully | Jason Reitman | Focus Features | ||
| The Front Runner | Sony Pictures Releasing | |||
| Columbia Pictures | ||||
| Stage 6 Films | ||||
| 2019 | Captive State | Rupert Wyatt | Focus Features | |
| Fast Color | Julia Hart | Lionsgate | ||
| Codeblack Films | ||||
| Our Friend | Gabriela Cowperthwaite | Gravitas Ventures | ||
| 2020 | The Way Back | Gavin O'Connor | Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| Stargirl | Julia Hart | Disney+ | ||
| Walt Disney Pictures | ||||
| 2021 | Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Jason Reitman | Sony Pictures Releasing | |
| Columbia Pictures | Additional music by Duncan Blickenstaff | |||
| 2022 | The Adam Project | Shawn Levy | Netflix | Additional music by Taylor Lipari-Hassett |
| Hollywood Stargirl | Julia Hart | Walt Disney Pictures | ||
| Disney+ | Composed with Duncan Blickenstaff | |||
| The Whale | Darren Aronofsky | A24 | ||
| 2023 | Good Grief | Dan Levy | Netflix | |
| 2024 | Deadpool & Wolverine | Shawn Levy | Marvel Studios | Additional music by Taylor Lipari-Hassett |
| It Ends with Us | Justin Baldoni | Sony Pictures Releasing | ||
| Columbia Pictures | Replaced Brian Tyler | |||
| Composed with Duncan Blickenstaff | ||||
| 2025 | Elio | Madeline Sharafian | ||
| Domee Shi | ||||
| Adrian Molina | Walt Disney Studios | Additional music by Duncan Blickenstaff and Taylor Lipari-Hassett | ||
| Caught Stealing | Darren Aronofsky | Sony Pictures Releasing | Composed with the Idles |
Television
| Year | Title | Creator(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dollhouse | Joss Whedon | Fox | 2 seasons |
| Composed with Mychael Danna | ||||
| 2010 | Blue Bloods | Robin Green | ||
| Mitchell Burgess | CBS | Theme music composer | ||
| Score by Mark Snow | ||||
| 2012 | Battleground | J. D. Walsh | Hulu | Season 1 |
| 2015 | Life in Pieces | Justin Adler | CBS | 2 seasons |
| 2022 | Stranger Things | The Duffer Brothers | Netflix | Orchestral arrangements |
| Score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein |
Discography
Studio albums
- Rêveries (2019)
References
References
- "Cast & Crew". Focus Features.
- Staff. (January 28, 2013). "Meet Sundance composer Rob Simonsen". Miramax.com.
- Staff. (January 22, 2013). "Sundance Roundtable Composer of the Day: Rob Simonsen". BMI.com.
- "Coca-Cola {{!}} The Wonder of Us :60".
- (6 September 2019). "Composer Rob Simonsen releases debut solo album Rêveries".
- Catchpole, James. (22 August 2019). "Rob Simonsen - Rêveries".
- Staff. (October 29, 2013). "2013 World Soundtrack Awards". BMI.com.
- Staff. (February 9, 2017). "IFMCA Award Nominations 2016".
- Grein, Paul. (November 17, 2022). "Rihanna's 'Wakanda Forever' Song, Terence Blanchard Win at 2022 Hollywood Music in Media Awards: Full List".
- Rogers, Nick. (December 13, 2022). "Nominations Announced for the 2022 Indiana Film Journalists Association Awards". Midwest Film Journal.
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