SCL @ Nashville Film Festival: MAINTAINING PARALLEL CAREERS IN MUSIC

WITH

Composer & Musician

MARK ISHAM

MODERATED BY ASHLEY IRWIN

(SCL President, Composer)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Arc Studios

11 Willow St., #2

Nashville, TN 37210

Please be mindful of the SCL's Code of Conduct.

Please reach out to nashville@thescl.com with any questions and/or concerns.

Emmy-winning composer and Grammy-winning musician Mark Isham has risen to the top of his field as both a film composer and a performing artist. He will explain how he navigates scoring for film & TV, writing solo music, and performing with iconic artists. The discussion will be moderated by SCL President Ashley Irwin.

Mark Isham is an Oscar-nominee who is a filmmakers’ composer and a musicans’ musician. With over 125 film scores, Isham has been hailed as an innovator in electronics and a lush orchestral melodist. “I create emotion through music,” says Isham. “And when I can take a person on this journey through film or recordings, there’s nothing more addicting, nor satisfying.”

Isham began composing for the film Never Cry Wolf. He has since collaborated with Robert Redford (A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show, Lions for Lambs, and The Conspirator) scored the Oscar-winning Crash, and composed the score for the celebrated miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. Isham’s other scores include 42, The Longest Ride, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (co-scored with Alicia Keys), The Accountant, Sun Dogs, A Family Man, Megan Leavey, Duck Duck Goose, Bolden, A Dog’s Journey, Togo, Honest Thief, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Judas and the Black Messsiah, Needle In A Timestack, Sex/Life, The Cleaning Lady, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent starring Nicholas Cage and Pedro Pascal, and most recently, Shooting Stars.

Isham’s television projects include ABC’s Once Upon A Time, American Crime, Philip K. Dick’s Electric, the hit Netflix series Black Mirror, Cloak & Dagger, Justified: City Primeval, Godfather of Harlem, Amazing Stories, and Little Fires Everywhere, for which he was Emmy nominated.

The native New Yorker showed an early gift on the trumpet and has recorded with legends including Herbie Hancock and Bobby McFerrin. He has released nine solo albums and performed with Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson, and Kenny Loggins.

Ashley Irwin is an Emmy® award-winner who has scored over 30 feature films, 300 hours of television, and over 3,900 commercials. He relocated from his native Australia to the U.S.A. in 1990 after a successful career in theatre, records, advertising, and television.

He began his endless quest to understand the complexities of music licensing and associated contracts, as the in-house producer and A&R manager for an independent record label in Sydney, started his first publishing company in 1986, and currently maintains publishing entities at ASCAP, BMI, and APRA.

In 1998 he was awarded Best Feature Film Score by the Australian Guild of Screen Composers for his score to the restored silent classic The White Hell of Piz Palü and the following year commissioned by the British Film Archives to write a new score to Alfred Hitchcock’s silent classic The Lodger, in honor of the great director’s 100th anniversary. Both these films continue to be performed in film-live concerts throughout the world.

In 2006, Ashley received a G.A.N.G. award for EA’s The Godfather video game.

Well-known for his collaborations with Oscar® winners Clint Eastwood and Bill Conti, Ashley has arranged and composed music for 21 Academy Awards shows, several Emmys® and Grammys®, as well a slew of other TV variety shows. He was Musical Director for the inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards and for the American Giving Awards, both for NBC.

In 2015 Ashley recreated the songs of Peter Allen for the mini-series Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door and was nominated for both AACTA and APRA awards. 

He is an official APRA-AMCOS Ambassador, co-chair of Music Creators of North America (MCNA), and is currently serving his 6th term as President of the Society of Composers & Lyricists.

Arc Studios

11 Willow St., #2

Nashville, TN 37210

Parking is available on-site in designated areas. Ride-share services are recommended as parking is limited.