Anne Dudley

Having studied at the Royal College of Music and Kings College, Anne went on to become a founding member of the avant-garde group Art of Noise with Trevor Horn, as well as arranging and producing for artists such as Tom Jones, Elton John, Pulp, Phil Collins, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Seal, Travis, Robbie Williams and Will Young on his number 1 single “Leave Right Now”.

Anne’s film scoring career was launched after her brilliant score to the British film Buster, starring Julie Walters and Phil Collins. Since then she has won an Oscar, a Grammy, a Brit, an Ivor Novello, and score produced the Vertigo Films musical feature, Walking On Sunshine, and the Working Title film adaptation of Les Miserables. Her film score credits now include Paul Schrader’s The Walker starring Woody Harrelson and Kristin Scott Thomas; Tony Kaye’s Oscar nominated American History X; Paul Verhoeven’s Elle, upcoming Benedetta and acclaimed World War II film Black Book; Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game; Mike Newell’s Pushing Tin, starring John Cusack, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett and Billy Bob Thornton; Ol Parker’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!; and MGM’s The Hustle starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson. Anne won an Oscar for her score to Peter Cattaneo’s The Full Monty, now the highest grossing film in the UK of all time. The soundtrack won a BRIT at the 1998 awards and is now a triple platinum album.

This experience of working on all sides of the music profession has led to her becoming one of the most sought-after composers of her generation. There are not many composers who have won an Oscar, a Grammy, a Brit and a Billboard award! Perhaps the best way to describe Anne’s approach is this quote from director Paul Verhoeven:

“When I had to choose a composer for Black Book, I was listening to an enormous amount of soundtracks. It was then that I discovered a composer who had been working in very many different styles: Anne Dudley. That is very important to me, a composer who can completely adapt to the movie, who is able to change her style radically because the movie scores are very different, such as American History X, The Full Monty or The Crying Game… On top of that, listening more precisely to Anne’s scores, I realized the beauty of her orchestrations. The subtlety in her transitions. And then to find a composer who likes Stravinsky, Shostakovich, John Adams and Ravel, all of my favourite classical composers. I asked Anne to do my score and gave her the script. She liked it and wrote the most wonderful music….dynamic and romantic, harsh and tender, charming and tragic! Her score brought my movie to another level, gave it a heart and soul.”

In 2002, Anne was the first composer appointed in association with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Her first commission was Music and Silence, an orchestral score based on scenes from Rose Tremain’s novel, which received its premiere at the orchestra’s 50th Birthday Celebration Concert at the Royal Festival. With the BBC Concert Orchestra, she collaborated with top UK comedian Bill Bailey at three sell-out live shows at the Royal Albert Hall. She also collaborated with Stephen Fry for a wonderfully witty new pantomime of Cinderella, starring Sandi Toksvig. The show aired at the Old Vic with creative director, Kevin Spacey.

Anne’s first solo album, Ancient and Modern, was released on Echo Records in the UK, and EMI Angel in the USA, in 1995 to critical acclaim. Her second album, A Different Light, including a classical arrangement of Moments In Love, was released in 2002.

For television, Anne has scored the classic series Jeeves and Wooster, The Commander, written by Lynda La Plante and directed by Gillies MacKinnon, and Trial and Retribution, produced by Jolyon Symonds. She scored both BBC TV films based on David Walliams’ best-selling books, The Boy in a Dress and Billionaire Boy, starring Jennifer Saunders, James Buckley and Kate Moss, Sky’s silent comedy drama, Ruby Robinson, all five seasons of the hugely successful 8-part BBC drama, Poldark, for which Anne has been nominated for two consecutive BAFTAs and most recently Mammoth Screen’s The Singapore grip and the BBC series Black Narcissus.