Kevin Sargent - Composer Profile

In October 2003, an unexpected email popped up in Kevin's inbox. In response to his music for the film Crush, it read:

"Your score besides being so right for the movie, also displayed a rare quality among composers these days: You write terrific melodies! I was very impressed."

Burt Berman, President, Music Division, Paramount Pictures.

How many composers can boast Kevin Sargent's multi-faceted background as a musician and stage performer? Perhaps it is this which gives his work such appeal, work in which memorable, evocative themes are integrated in an imaginative, poly-stylistic approach. Whether it's the vibrancy of his jazz scores for his most recent commissions, the incredible John McKay directed retelling of David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton's relationship, We'll Take Manhattan (winner of the Prix Europa for Best Drama 2012), and the second series of the BBC's The Hour, (for which Kevin was BAFTA nominated), or a sinister, deadpan bossanova (BBC TV's recent Macbeth) or timeless autumnal lyricism (William Boyd's meditation on the Sonnets, A Waste of Shame: The Mystery Of Shakespeare And His Sonnets, starring Rupert Graves), Kevin's artful and haunting scores never fail to lift the work they serve;  he has that rare ability of capturing the very spirit of any project, and that certainly describes his deceptively simple but hugely evocative score for Lilies, the World Productions period drama serial for the BBC.Kevin has also scored Saddam's Tribe, adapted from Alan Bashirs & Lars Sigurd Sunnanaa's book "The Insider" and focusing on the lives of Saddam Hussein's closest friends and family. He completed a magical score for the BBC's Christmas adaptation of Noel Streatfield's much loved novel, Ballet Shoes, as well as scoring Honest for Greenlit Prods and ITV. He then scored Blue Murder series 5 for Granada. Most recently Kevin finished scoring the slick BBC drama, The Last Days Of The Lehman Brothers, a fantastic dramatic realisation of the events which led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Bank. Recently he completed Joe Maddison's War for Mammoth Screen, written by the late, great, Alan Plater.

Although an accomplished, classically-trained pianist, he in fact began his career as a drummer, percussionist and keyboardist with cult dance/rock pioneers Thrashing Doves. Signed to A&M and Elektra Records, he learnt his craft at the elbow of legendary producers Chris Thomas, Jimmy Iovine and jazz luminary Tommy Lipuma, recording three critically-acclaimed albums in Los Angeles, London and New York and touring the US and Europe. Their funky, and controversial, Jesus on the Payroll reached the Billboard Top Twenty dance chart.

As a founder member of acclaimed comedy team The Hurricane Club, Kevin also boasts a parallel background in theatre and comic improvisation, performing off-the-cuff sketches for many years at their weekly West End residency. As journal Music from the Movies noted of Crush, "his music not only supports but adds to the comedy." A flair for dramatic and often mischievous juxtaposition reflected in a refined compositional style, blending passion and imagination with great timing, taste and attention to detail. Kevin's bolder ideas can be cunning; for the Joan Allen/Kevin Costner dramatic comedy The Upside of Anger, his witty and affecting score included a set of variations on a non-existent Scandinavian folk tune, while for crime caper Fakers, an Italian arietta was given a zestful swing-Bach treatment. A Waste of Shame: The Mystery Of Shakespeare And His Sonnets (for which he was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award) gave us the chance to enjoy his serious side, with a tender chamber score, rich in the mystery and finely-felt English melancholy of Shakespeare's inner world.

Killing Joe, directed by Mehdi Norowzian, and which Kevin scored, was nominated for an American Academy Award as Best Live-Action Short. Selections from his score for Crush were premiered to great acclaim before an audience of ten thousand by the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra in Cincinnati, sharing the programme with music by Leonard Bernstein, John Williams and Danny Elfman.

Kevin has also forged an enviable reputation in commercials, where his characterful, stylish and eclectic contemporary voice has complimented a host of international and prestigious campaigns including Guinness, Adidas, Cerruti, Peugeot, Financial Times, Eurostar, Dulux, Harrods, Goodyear, Glenfiddich, Hyundai, Ford Galaxy, Land Rover and Patek Philippe . His work for Barclays, featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins and directed by Tony Scott, was rewarded with top honours from both the D&AD and Creative Circle, while Adidas 'Tim Henman', featuring counter-tenor James Bowman, saw him a finalist in the British Television Advertising Awards for Best Original Music.

Kevin is rightly building a reputation as a gifted composer for all media, whose versatility and passion is reflected in music of genuine individuality and heart. And as for actually working with him, as producer Lee Thomas discovered:

"With music, I usually reckon on either the process or the result being rewarding. With Kevin, both."

Kevin is represented by Claire Baughan at Blaze Music, London and by Seth Kaplan at Evolution Partners in the USA for commercials.

Television/Short Films

THE HOUR	(Series II) Kudos Prods / BBC Directors: Sandra Goldbacher, Catherine Moreshead, Jamie Payne Producer: Ruth Kenley Letts Executive Producers: Jane Featherstone, Abi Morgan, Lucy Richer, Derek Wax Starring: Anneurin Barnard / Karen Gillan	*** BAFTA Nominated: Best Music 2013***
WE'LL TAKE MANHATTAN	BBC / Ovation Directors: John McKay Producer: Rebecca Hodgson Executive Producers: Ruth Kenley Letts, Lucy Richer, Claire Parker, John McKay Starring: Anneurin Barnard / Karen Gillan	Winner Prix Europa for Best Drama 2012
JOE MADDISON'S WAR	ITV / Mammoth Screen Director: Patrick Collerton Producer: Howard Ella Executive Producers: Michele Buck, Damien Timmer
THE LAST DAYS OF LEHMAN BROTHERS	BBC Director: Michael Samuels Producer: Lisa Osborne Executive Producer: Ruth Caleb
BLUE MURDER (Series 4 & 5)	Granada Directors: Juliet May, Graham Theakston Executive Producer: Carolyn Reynolds Producer: Mike Dormer, Hugh Warren, Jane Macnaught
HONEST	Greenlit Prods / ITV Directors: Julian Holmes / Brian Kelly Producers: Jill Green / Eve Gutierrez Writer: Heidi Thomas Starring: Amanda Redman
BALLET SHOES	BBC Director: Sandra Goldbacher Producer: Piers Wenger Writer: Heidi Thomas Starring: Emma Watson, Emeila Fox, Mark Warren, Richard Griffiths
SADDAMS TRIBE	World Productions / BBC2 / Discovery USA Director: Chris Menaul Producers: Monica Garnsey, Roberto Troni
LILIES	World Productions Director: David Moore Producer: Chrissy Skins
AFTERSUN	Tiger Aspect Director: Peter Lydon Producer: Rhonda Smith
A WASTE OF SHAME:	The Mystery Of Shakespeare And His Sonnets BBC Director: John Mckay Producer: Chrissy Skinns	Ivor Novello Award Nomination 2006: Best Original TV Music
MACBETH	BBC Director: Mark Brozel Producer: Pier Wilkie
THE CANTERBURY TALES	BBC Director: John McKay Producer: Kate Bartlett
E=	Liberty Films Director: Alexander Ross
KILLING JOE	Joy Films Too Director: Mehdi Norwozian Academy Award Nominee - Best Short - Live Action 2000
WET AND DRY	BBC/C4 Brief Encounters Director: John McKay
OUT & ABOUT WITH HP LOVECRAFT	National Film & TV School

Film Credits

THE UPSIDE OF ANGER	Sunlight Productions UK Score Director: Mike Binder Producer: Jack Binder Starring: Kevin Costner, Joan Allen
CRUSH	FilmFour Director: John McKay Producer: Lee Thomas Starring: Andie Macdowell, Anna Chancellor, Imelda Staunton
FAKERS	Director: Richard Janes Producer: Richard Janes Starring: Matthew Rhys, Kate Ashfield, Art Malik

Commercials

ADIDAS Finalist Best Original Music British TV Advertising Craft Awards OTHERS INCLUDE: KERRYGOLD, BT, DULUX, BARCLAYS, MASTERCARD, HYUNDAI, LE SHUTTLE, VOLVO, GLENFIDDICH, FORD GALAXY, RENAULT, HARRODS, MOTOROLA, EQUITABLE LIFE, PATEK PHILIPPE, CERRUTI, THE GUARDIAN, VIDAL SASSON, VELUX, PAINE WEBBER INVESTMENTS, TALUS WINES, BASS ALES, FANTA, EAST MIDLANDS ELECTRICITY, RIMMEL, SHELL, WEEKEND FT and THE OBSERVER.

www.kevinsargent.co.uk
Kevin's IMDB page
Wikipedia