James Hannigan

James Hannigan is a BAFTA award-winning composer and producer with credits ranging from multi-million-selling video games and television to cutting-edge audio drama. His work includes entries in the Harry Potter, Dead Space, Evil Genius, RuneScape, Warhammer, The Lord of the Rings, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Theme Park, FIFA, and Command and Conquer video game franchises; full-cast Audible adaptations including the NY Times #1 bestselling The Sandman, the Alien series and the newly recorded Discworld. His themes, such as the parodic “Soviet March” from Red Alert 3, have been streamed hundreds of millions of times across digital platforms, and among his other awards are a Webby People’s Choice Award for The Sandman Act II (with James McAvoy, Michael Sheen, and Regé-Jean Page) and an IFMCA (International Film Music Critics Association) Award for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince VG (also BAFTA award-nominated for Original Music, 2010).

Hannigan has recorded with world class orchestras including The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Skywalker Symphony Orchestra, at iconic studios such as Abbey Road, Air-Lyndhurst, and Skywalker Ranch. An occasional panellist at Comic-Con, interviewed by BBC Radio, Sky TV, IGN, Forbes, Music Radar and others, he has also written articles for Classic FM and other media outlets on subjects ranging from the function of screen music and interactive audio to the implications of AI in Music. He has appeared on the cover of DEVELOP magazine, spoken at conferences and institutions such as The School of Sound, EIGF, Musicworks, Ludomusicology, DEVELOP, and The Royal College of Music, and has been featured in BAFTA’s “Conversations with Composers” series at the Albert Hall.

Past projects include entries in the EA Sports, Grand Prix, Space Hulk and F1 game series;  Primeval (BBC America/ITV), Nintendo’s Art Academy (also heard in the Super Smash Bros. series), Evil Genius 2 (2022), Steelrising (2022), Call of Antia (2022), Transformers Universe, Red Alert 3, Dead Space 3, Reign of Fire, Catwoman, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Terraria: Otherworld, Chris Roberts’ Freelancer, Command and Conquer 4, Conquest, Brute Force, The Darkening (with Christopher Walken, Clive Owen and John Hurt), Theme Park World (BAFTA Award, 2000), FA Premier League (BAFTA Nomination, 2000), The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, Evil Genius (BAFTA Nomination, Original Music, 2004), Republic: The Revolution (BAFTA Nomination, Original Music, 2003), Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat, RuneScape: The Orchestral Collection, the popular Harry Potter audiobooks read by Stephen Fry, and BBC Radio 4’s adaptations of Good Omens and Neverwhere.

Deeply fascinated by the intersection of music, sound and technology, early in his career Hannigan was an innovator in the field of interactive audio. Working internally with Electronic Arts and then later from his offices at Pinewood Studios in London, he devised pioneering interactive playback systems for numerous titles – including Republic: The Revolution, designed by Google DeepMind co-founder Sir Demis Hassabis. His early work in other media includes sound design for films such as the Golden Reel-Nominated, Lost in Space.

A longstanding BAFTA member and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Hannigan has co-founded and organised industry conferences including Screen Music Connect and Game Music Connect (held at London’s Southbank Centre, in partnership with BAFTA, Classic FM, Sony PlayStation, Music Week, and The Ivors Academy), and has participated in concerts ranging from RuneFest with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra to VGL with The Philharmonia at Royal Festival Hall.

Music from Hannigan’s back catalogue can be heard in countless TV productions, documentaries, commercials, and trailers, on numerous channels and platforms including Disney+, Discovery, The BBC and Netflix.  His music has also accompanied a number of experiences, rides, installations, and immersive experiences.