Ben Foster

Ben Foster is a four-times BAFTA-nominated composer with extensive credits in major productions across a variety of genres.

Lauded for his distinctive and emotive voice, and strong melodic instincts, he has become known for producing powerful and character-driven soundtracks, ranging from intimate textural sound-worlds to full-scale orchestral scores. His music can be heard on Sally Wainwright’s acclaimed series Happy Valley (BBC/Netflix), Our Girl (BBC One), Good Karma Hospital (ITV), Ridley (ITV), the documentary film The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station, and 78 episodes of Thunderbirds Are Go (ITV/Pukeko) which he co-composed with his brother Nick Foster.

Further major credits include three seasons of Russell T Davies’s cult BBC sci-fi show Torchwood, which earned Ben 3 BAFTA nominations for best original score, Hidden Kingdoms for the BBC Natural History Unit, for which he was nominated for an International Film Music Critics award, and Shirley for BBC2, starring Ruth Negga, which won a BAFTA for Best Television Drama. Other television work includes current themes for Young Musician Of The Year, Question Time, Cardiff Singer of the World and Still Game, all for the BBC.

Ben is highly regarded as an orchestral arranger and conductor, frequently working on projects with iconic artists such as Paul McCartney, Jay-Z, Elton John, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Peter Gabriel, Michael Bublé, and with producers Giles Martin, Bill Ross and David Foster.

He has also worked extensively as an arranger and conductor for film working with internationally renowned composers such as John Williams, Jóhann Jóhannson, Haxan Cloak, Will Gregory, Mica Levi and Marc Streitenfeld and he arranged and conducted the music for 110 episodes of Doctor Who.

Ben regularly collaborates with David Arnold, most recently, conducting, orchestrating and providing additional music for the second series of Good Omens for Amazon.

Another frequent collaborator is composer/producer Giles Martin, and their most recent project was working with Sir Paul McCartney on the string arrangement for the last Beatles song ‘Now And Then’. Other projects with Giles include arranging the songs of Elton John for Dexter Fletcher’s film Rocketman, and an Orchestral touring show for Disney entitled Sound of Magic.

Ben has a long-standing relationship with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and most recently he has been conducting them in concert and in the studio recording the music of Hans Zimmer/Bleeding Fingers for Prehistoric Planet and Frozen Planet 2.

Ben has conducted many of the major orchestras around the world, including London Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, City Of Prague Philharmonic, Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Hollywood Studio Symphony, London Session Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of London, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Santiago de Chile Philharmonic Orchestra, Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, Brisbane Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, CBSO, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Big Band, performing at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, the Hollywood Bowl and Radio City Music Hall, NYC and regularly recording in studios around the world. He has also conducted at the BBC Proms on five occasions.

Ben is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music, where he was awarded the Lutosławski prize for composition. He works from his studio at Air Lyndhurst in Hampstead, London.