Nigel Hess
Encyclopedia
Nigel John Hess is a British composer best known for his television, theatre and film soundtracks, including the theme tunes to Wycliffe
, Dangerfield
, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
and Ladies in Lavender
.
Grammar School for Boys, and went on to study music at Cambridge University, where he was Music Director of the famous Footlights
Revue Company. He has since worked extensively as a composer and conductor in television, theatre and film.
Hess has composed numerous scores for both American and British television productions, including A Woman of Substance
, Vanity Fair, Campion
, Testament (Ivor Novello Award for Best TV Theme), Summer's Lease
(Television & Radio Industries Club Award for Best TV Theme), Titmuss Regained, Maigret, Classic Adventure, Dangerfield
, Just William
, Wycliffe
(Royal Television Society Nomination for Best TV Theme), Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
(Ivor Novello Award for Best TV Theme and Royal Television Society Nomination for Best TV Theme), Badger, Ballykissangel
, New Tricks and Stick With Me Kid for Disney. His best-known film score is Ladies in Lavender
(Classical Brits Nomination for Best Soundtrack Composer) starring Dame Judi Dench
and Dame Maggie Smith
. The music has become popular worldwide, and was performed in the film by violinist Joshua Bell
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
.
While Hess was House Composer for the Royal Shakespeare Company
he contributed twenty scores for RSC productions, and highlights from his Shakespeare scores have been recorded and performed by the RPO in concert as The Food of Love, hosted by Dame Judi Dench
and Sir Patrick Stewart
. Nigel was awarded the New York Drama Desk Award
for ‘Outstanding Music in a Play’ for the productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway. His most recent theatre scores have been written for Shakespeare's Globe
in London and include The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet and Henry VIII.
The debut album of Hess’s vocal group Chameleon
(recently reissued as Saylon Dola) won the Music Retailers Association Award for Best MOR Vocal Album, with tracks from the album subsequently covered by several artists, including tenor Russell Watson
.
Hess has also composed much concert music, particularly for symphonic wind band, including commissions from the Royal Air Force and the Band of the Coldstream Guards. July 2007 saw the première of Hess’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Classical Brits Nomination for Composer of the Year), commissioned by HRH The Prince of Wales
in memory of his grandmother. The soloist was internationally-renowned pianist Lang Lang
. Other recent commissions include a new ballet based on The Old Man of Lochnagar
, a children’s story written by the Prince of Wales
in 1980, commissioned and premièred by the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain; and A Christmas Overture, commissioned by John Rutter
and premièred by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
at the Royal Albert Hall.
Hess is the great nephew of British pianist Dame Myra Hess
. He named his music publishing company Myra Music in her honour.
Wycliffe (TV series)
Wycliffe is a British TV series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe . It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a...
, Dangerfield
Dangerfield (TV series)
Dangerfield is a British drama series about a small town doctor / police surgeon, which ran for 6 series, between 1995 and 1999. Originally Nigel Le Vaillant played the central role , but this character later left the series, the focus switching to his replacement, played by Nigel Havers.The BBC...
, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is a genteel British crime–comedy drama television series which aired from 1996 to 1998 on BBC One. The series starred Patricia Routledge as the title character , Derek Benfield as her patient husband Robert, Dominic Monaghan as their lodger Geoffrey Shawcross...
and Ladies in Lavender
Ladies in Lavender
The film's original music was written by Nigel Hess and performed by Joshua Bell and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Hess received a Classical BRIT Awards nomination for Best Soundtrack Composer....
.
Biography
Hess was educated at Weston-super-MareWeston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
Grammar School for Boys, and went on to study music at Cambridge University, where he was Music Director of the famous Footlights
Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University....
Revue Company. He has since worked extensively as a composer and conductor in television, theatre and film.
Hess has composed numerous scores for both American and British television productions, including A Woman of Substance
A Woman of Substance
A Woman of Substance is a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, and was published in 1979.This novel is the first of a saga about the fortunes of a retail empire and the machinations of the business elite across three generations....
, Vanity Fair, Campion
Campion (TV series)
Campion is a television show made by the BBC, adapting the Albert Campion mystery novels written by Margery Allingham. Two seasons were made, in 1989 and 1990, starring Peter Davison as Campion, Brian Glover as his manservant Magersfontein Lugg and Andrew Burt as his policeman friend Stanislaus...
, Testament (Ivor Novello Award for Best TV Theme), Summer's Lease
Summer's Lease
Summer's Lease is a novel, set predominantly in Italy, by Sir John Mortimer, author of the Rumpole novels. It was first published in 1988 and made into a British television mini-series, first shown in 1989. The name "Summer's Lease" comes from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. The relevant line is...
(Television & Radio Industries Club Award for Best TV Theme), Titmuss Regained, Maigret, Classic Adventure, Dangerfield
Dangerfield (TV series)
Dangerfield is a British drama series about a small town doctor / police surgeon, which ran for 6 series, between 1995 and 1999. Originally Nigel Le Vaillant played the central role , but this character later left the series, the focus switching to his replacement, played by Nigel Havers.The BBC...
, Just William
Just William (1990s TV series)
Just William was a BBC television series based on the Just William series of books written by Richmal Crompton. It ran for two series from 1994 to 1995.-Cast:*Oliver Rokison as William*Jonathan Hirst as Ginger*Stephen Willmott as Henry...
, Wycliffe
Wycliffe (TV series)
Wycliffe is a British TV series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe . It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a...
(Royal Television Society Nomination for Best TV Theme), Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is a genteel British crime–comedy drama television series which aired from 1996 to 1998 on BBC One. The series starred Patricia Routledge as the title character , Derek Benfield as her patient husband Robert, Dominic Monaghan as their lodger Geoffrey Shawcross...
(Ivor Novello Award for Best TV Theme and Royal Television Society Nomination for Best TV Theme), Badger, Ballykissangel
Ballykissangel
Ballykissangel is a BBC television drama set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural community. It ran for six series, which were first broadcast on BBC One in the UK from 1996 to 2001...
, New Tricks and Stick With Me Kid for Disney. His best-known film score is Ladies in Lavender
Ladies in Lavender
The film's original music was written by Nigel Hess and performed by Joshua Bell and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Hess received a Classical BRIT Awards nomination for Best Soundtrack Composer....
(Classical Brits Nomination for Best Soundtrack Composer) starring Dame Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and Dame Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
. The music has become popular worldwide, and was performed in the film by violinist Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
.
While Hess was House Composer for the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
he contributed twenty scores for RSC productions, and highlights from his Shakespeare scores have been recorded and performed by the RPO in concert as The Food of Love, hosted by Dame Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and Sir Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
. Nigel was awarded the New York Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for ‘Outstanding Music in a Play’ for the productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway. His most recent theatre scores have been written for Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
in London and include The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet and Henry VIII.
The debut album of Hess’s vocal group Chameleon
Chameleon (British band)
Chameleon was a vocal group founded in 1989 by Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Nigel Hess, and featuring former Swingle Singers member Olive Simpson , Lindsay John , Jeremy Taylor , Michael Dore and David Beavan...
(recently reissued as Saylon Dola) won the Music Retailers Association Award for Best MOR Vocal Album, with tracks from the album subsequently covered by several artists, including tenor Russell Watson
Russell Watson
Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. The self-styled "People's Tenor" had been singing since he was a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club...
.
Hess has also composed much concert music, particularly for symphonic wind band, including commissions from the Royal Air Force and the Band of the Coldstream Guards. July 2007 saw the première of Hess’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Classical Brits Nomination for Composer of the Year), commissioned by HRH The Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
in memory of his grandmother. The soloist was internationally-renowned pianist Lang Lang
Lang Lang (pianist)
Lang Lang , born June 14, 1982, in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, is a Chinese concert pianist, currently residing in New York, who has performed with leading orchestras in Europe, the United States and his native China. He is increasingly well known around the world for his concert performances,...
. Other recent commissions include a new ballet based on The Old Man of Lochnagar
The Old Man of Lochnagar
The Old Man of Lochnagar is a children's book written by Prince Charles and illustrated by Sir Hugh Casson.The story of the old man of Lochnagar was one Prince Charles had told some years earlier to entertain his brothers, Andrew and Edward, when they were young. The book was published in 1980 in...
, a children’s story written by the Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
in 1980, commissioned and premièred by the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain; and A Christmas Overture, commissioned by John Rutter
John Rutter
John Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
and premièred by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
at the Royal Albert Hall.
Hess is the great nephew of British pianist Dame Myra Hess
Myra Hess
Dame Myra Hess DBE was a British pianist.She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal...
. He named his music publishing company Myra Music in her honour.
Notable TV compositions
Hess' notable television compositions include- TestamentTestament (film)Testament is a drama film directed by Lynne Littman and starring Jane Alexander.The film tells the story of how one small suburban town near the San Francisco Bay Area slowly falls apart after a nuclear war destroys outside civilization....
— awarded the Ivor Novello AwardIvor Novello AwardsThe Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Cardiff born entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and were first introduced in 1955.Nicknamed The Ivors, the awards take place...
for best television theme - Summer's LeaseSummer's LeaseSummer's Lease is a novel, set predominantly in Italy, by Sir John Mortimer, author of the Rumpole novels. It was first published in 1988 and made into a British television mini-series, first shown in 1989. The name "Summer's Lease" comes from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. The relevant line is...
— awarded the Television and Radio Industries ClubTelevision and Radio Industries ClubThe Television and Radio Industries Club is a British institution chartered in 1931 to "promote goodwill in the television and radio industries"...
award for best television theme - WycliffeWycliffe (TV series)Wycliffe is a British TV series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe . It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a...
— nominated for the Royal Television SocietyRoyal Television SocietyThe Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
best television theme - Hetty Wainthropp InvestigatesHetty Wainthropp InvestigatesHetty Wainthropp Investigates is a genteel British crime–comedy drama television series which aired from 1996 to 1998 on BBC One. The series starred Patricia Routledge as the title character , Derek Benfield as her patient husband Robert, Dominic Monaghan as their lodger Geoffrey Shawcross...
— awarded the Ivor Novello Award for best television theme and nominated for the Royal Television Society best television theme award
External links
- Nigel Hess's website is at www.myramusic.co.uk.
- Nigel Hess's page at Faber Music Ltd