Rick Wentworth
Rick Wentworth is a BAFTA-nominated film and TV composer, conductor, orchestrator and arranger.
Contents
Composer
His work in film began with composing the score for Withnail and I, directed by Bruce Robinson in 1987. followed by Bruce Robinson's second film "How To Get Ahead in Advertising". Both were produced by Handmade Films. Wentworth's TV credits include the Jonathan Creek (series and specials), four seasons of the ITV drama Ultimate Force for Bentley Productions, Between the Lines and Cracker for which Wentworth received a BAFTA nomination. He has also written music for many advertising campaigns, including Nissan, Kellogs, American Express, Burger King, American Airlines, Ford and Guinness.
Conducting
In addition to conducting his own work, Wentworth has conducted film scores including Tomb Raider, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Hellboy II, Notorious B.I.G., the Oscar-nominated Milk (2008), The Boys Are Back (2009), Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows (film) and Frankenweenie (film 2012). His string arrangements can be heard on tracks from artists including The Lightning Seeds, Blur, Del Amitri and in 2008/09 Musical Direction for the Rough Trade artistes Belle & Sebastian and Codeine Velvet Club (2009).
Collaborations
His formative work involved assisting the late composer Sir Michael Tippett bring his opera The Ice Break to its premier performance at the Royal Opera House. Wentworth has a long association with Pink Floyd founding member Roger Waters, and co-produced, orchestrated and conducted the music for his opera, Ça Ira. The opera was recorded in USA and Europe featuring Bryn Terfel, Paul Groves and Ying Huang. It reached No.1 in the American classical chart, and received Platinum sales in Poland. He conducted the world premiere of the overture from Ça Ira in 2002, played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. He also arranged and conducted a collection of Roger Waters's tracks, fronted by Waters and his band. He has since conducted the world premier performance of the opera in Rome followed by performances in Poland, Kiev and at the Manaus Opera House in the Brazilian Rainforest of the Amazon. Ça Ira opened the opera season at the Theatro Municipal in São Paulo in April 2013. All performances were conducted by Rick to sell-out audiences. In August of the same year he conducted Ça Ira which opened the annual Cultural Festival at the Gotaplatsen in Gothenburg and featured an international cast of singers, Sally Matthews, Bryan Hymel, Owen Gradus and Christian Van Horn including Roger Waters who acted as narrator to an audience of over ten thousand.
Wentworth also orchestrated and conducted the modern opera Guilietta e Romeo in 2007 for European composer Riccardo Cocciante, which had its premiere at the Arena in Verona and has subsequently toured throughout Italy. Other collaborations include writing and producing songs with George Benson, Patti Austin, Grace Jones and Paul McCartney, who commissioned him to orchestrate and conduct a personal animated film entitled The Light From Within (yet to be released). Wentworth also orchestrate arrangements for McCartney's televised appearance at the Nobel Peace Prize presentations. He also collaborated with writer David Levin and wrote six songs for his 2009 musical production People, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in that year. Wentworth has served on the panel of judges for the British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) and the Royal Television Society Awards (RTS), and is a current serving Board member of the Akram Khan Dance Company.
Credits
Film composer credits
1999
- Monsieur Pett
1999
- The Dybbuk
1992
- Freddie as F.R.O.7
1989
- How To Get Ahead in Advertising
1987
TV composer credits
2014
- Jonathan Creek – The Curse of the Bronze Lamp
- Jonathan Creek – The Sinner and the Sandman
- Jonathan Creek – The Letters of Septimus Noone
2013
- Jonathan Creek – The Clue of the Savant's Thumb
2010
- Jonathan Creek – The Judas Tree (feature-length TV Special)
2009
- Jonathan Creek – The Grinning Man (feature-length TV Special)
2007
- Robbie The Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind (Comic Relief)
2006
- Ultimate Force (4 Seasons, 21 Episodes from 2002 – 2006)
- The Good Housekeeping Guide
- Dalziel and Pascoe (5 feature-length episodes from 2004 – 2006)
2003/4
- Jonathan Creek (12 one-hour episodes)
2002
- D.I.Y. Hard
- Paradise Heights (6 episodes)
- Little Ghosts (48 episodes)
2000
- The Last Polar Bears
- Blind Ambition
1999
- The Alchemists (6-hour episodes)
1998
- Silent Witness (6-hour episodes)
1997
- Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America (12 Episodes)
- Cracker – White Ghost (Feature Length TV Special)
1996
- Cracker (2 Seasons from 1995–1996)
- The Moonstone
- The Writing On The Wall (4 Feature Length Episodes)
1995
- Rules of Engagement
1993
- Between The Lines (13 hour episodes)
1992
- Sam Saturday (6 hour episodes)
1991
- Sleepers (4 hour episodes)
- White Goods (4 hour episodes)
- Work![1]
Musical/opera credits
2010
- Bet Your Bottom Dollar
2009
- People
2007
2004
Conductor/Musical Director credits
2014
- Big Eyes
- Roger Water's The Wall
2013
- Peabody and Sherman
2012
- Hitchcock
- Promised Land
- Dark Shadows
- Frankenweenie
2010
- Alice in Wonderland
2009
- The Boys Are Back
- Terminator Salvation
- Notorious
- Monsieur Pett
2008
- Milk
- The Duchess
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army
- Journal of a Contract Killer
2005
Orchestrator/arranger credits
2014
- Roger Water's The Wall
2007
- Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind
2005
- Goal!
2001
- Rat Race
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
2000
- Love's Labours Lost
1996
- All Dogs Go To Heaven 2
1990
1989
- How To Get Ahead in Advertising
1988
- The Adventures of Baron Münchausen
