David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998) and the television series Little Britain and Sherlock. For Independence Day, he received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and for Sherlock, he and co-composer Michael Price won a Creative Arts Emmy for the score of "His Last Vow", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC / Amazon Prime series Good Omens (2019) adapted by Neil Gaiman from his book Good Omens, written with Terry Pratchett. Arnold is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
Career
While attending a Sixth Form College in Luton, Arnold became friends with director Danny Cannon. Cannon initially created short films for which Arnold was asked to write the music. The two made their respective major film debuts with The Young Americans. "Play Dead", a song from the film with singer Björk, charted No. 12 in the UK. The following year he scored Stargate and Last of the Dogmen, with excerpts from the former ranking third in the most commonly used soundtrack cues for film trailers.
Arnold then composed music for Stargate director Roland Emmerich's next two movies, Independence Day and Godzilla, as well as four movies for director John Singleton. In addition, he has scored various comedies, dramas, and nineteenth-century period pieces, as well as providing music for several British television shows including the 2000 remake of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Little Britain. During film production, his compositions are conducted by Nicholas Dodd. In 2010, he composed the music for Come Fly With Me, a British television series from the producers of Little Britain.
He is a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). On Thursday 29 November 2012, Arnold received an honorary degree from University of West London. Now a university honorary, he will work closely with the University in particular London College of Music, a faculty within the institute. In 2014, he appeared as himself in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern.
Film music concerts
Arnold performed his debut orchestral concert, showcasing his film and television music, on Sunday 6 July 2014 at London's Royal Festival Hall. The line-up featured Nicholas Dodd conducting, David McAlmont as surprise guest vocalist ("My secret weapon!" said Arnold) and the Urban Voices Collective choir, plus Mark Gatiss and Amanda Abbington introducing the suite of Sherlock music, for which Arnold's collaborator on the project, Michael Price, replaced Dodd.
He performed his music in a series of orchestral concerts in 2015: Dublin) in January (with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra); Manchester (with the Manchester Camerata) in April; and London (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Birmingham and Nottingham (with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO)) in June 2015. He was also the special guest at 'The music of David Arnold', a concert in Lucerne in October 2015, with Ludwig Wicki conducting the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. On 5 June 2016 Film Music Prague performed a concert of his work, with Arnold in attendance (and performing) as special guest. In February 2016 the Royal Albert Hall announced the premiere of Independence Day Live on 22 September 2016. This celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film's release with a live orchestral performance. David Arnold gave a pre-show talk about his work and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Maida Vale Singers (conducted by Gavin Greenaway) performed the original music while the film screened. The Upcoming magazine gave the event a five star review noting that "with unrivalled acoustics and a ceiling filled with floating UFO-shaped objects, the Hall set the ideal scene for the audience and the musicians alike" and that the production "kept the audience on the edge of their seats as if the film had just been released for the first time."
Arnold hosted another two concerts of his music in Dublin, at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on 19 and 20 May 2017, with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The first concert showcased his career in writing music for film and television, the second was Independence Day Live with the film screened as the orchestra played the score alongside. The first James Bond film ever to be screened with a live orchestra was Casino Royale in Concert which took place at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 30 September 2017; David Arnold held a pre-concert question and answer session.