Inon Zur facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Inon Zur
Inon Zur in 2018
Background information
Born	Israel
Genres	Video game music Film score Trailer music
Occupation(s)	Composer
Years active	1994–present

Inon Zur is a super talented composer from Israel. He creates amazing music for movies, TV shows, and especially video games! You might have heard his music in over 80 video games, including popular ones like Dragon Age, EverQuest, Fallout, Prince of Persia, Star Trek, Syberia, and Starfield.

Inon Zur has won many awards for his music, including an Emmy. He's also been nominated for three BAFTA awards! Some of his award-winning soundtracks include Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001), Men of Valor (2004), Crysis (2007), Dragon Age: Origins (2009), The Elder Scrolls: Blades (2019), Syberia: The World Before (2023), and Starfield (2024).

Inon's Early Life and Music Journey

Inon Zur was born in Israel. He loved music from a very young age. When he was just five years old, he tried to create harmonies with his mom's singing! Classical music really inspired him.

He started learning the French horn as a child. By age eight, he was studying piano, and by ten, he was learning how to compose music. After finishing music school in Tel Aviv, he spent four years in the Israeli Army. In 1990, he moved to the United States to study music even more. He learned from famous TV music composers at the Dick Grove School of Music and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Inon's Career: From TV Shows to Video Games

Inon Zur started his career in 1994, making music for movies. One of his first movie projects, Yellow Lotus, was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

He then worked for Fox Family for six years, creating music for many children's TV shows. These included popular shows like Big Bad Beetleborgs, Digimon, and Power Rangers. By 2002, he had composed music for over 360 Power Rangers episodes! Even though he wasn't always given full credit for his work back then, he still won his first award, a Telly Award, for Power Rangers: Turbo.

Inon loved his work, but he wanted to create music for something "more intriguing." His agent convinced him to try the video game industry. His very first video game soundtrack was for Star Trek: Klingon Academy in 2000. After that, he worked on other big games like Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001) and Icewind Dale II (2002). His music for Icewind Dale II even got him nominated for a Game Audio Network Guild's Music of the Year award!

Inon Zur has also created music for dozens of movie trailers. His last full movie soundtrack was for Reclaim in 2014. Since then, he has focused mostly on video games. He composed for Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones in 2005 and Crysis in 2007. He won his first video game music award for Men of Valor in 2004.

Inon Zur is known for creating the original music for huge game series like Crysis, Dragon Age, Fallout, Syberia, and Starfield.

Some of the most famous games he has composed for include:

• Icewind Dale II (2002)
• EverQuest Online Adventures (2003)
• Men of Valor (2004)
• Crysis (2007)
• Fallout 3 (2008)
• Prince of Persia (2008)
• Dragon Age: Origins (2009)
• Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
• World of Tanks (2010)
• Dragon Age II (2011)
• Fallout 4 (2015)
• Fallout 76 (2018)
• The Elder Scrolls: Blades (2019)
• Starfield (2023)

Live Performances of Inon's Music

Inon Zur's amazing music has been played live in concerts around the world!

• In 2006, a concert in Seoul, South Korea, was dedicated to his music for Lineage II: Chronicle V: Oath of Blood.
• In 2008, music from his Crysis soundtrack was played at a Video Games Live concert in Germany.
• In 2009, his music from Dragon Age: Origins and Prince of Persia was performed in Sydney, Australia. Inon Zur was even a special guest at this concert!

In 2011, something really cool happened: a concert series dedicated only to his music from Lord of the Rings: War in the North was performed every evening at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. Inon Zur himself conducted The Hollywood Orchestra and Choir. He had originally recorded the game's music with the famous London Philharmonia Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London.

More recently:

• In 2018, the London Symphony Orchestra performed his music from Fallout and The Elder Scrolls at a concert in London.
• In 2021, the London Symphony Orchestra played his Starfield score at a concert celebrating 10 years of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
• In 2023, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performed his Starfield theme at a special concert for The Game Awards.

Inon's Impact and Legacy

Inon Zur's music is featured in many of the best-selling game series. People in the industry see him as one of the top orchestral composers for video games. Variety magazine even listed him as one of the best video game composers! He was also ranked 17th among the top 40 greatest video game composers of all time by composercode.com.

Besides games, Inon is also a specialist in creating cinematic music for film trailers. He has worked on trailers for huge movies like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Hobbit, and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Other artists have even covered his songs! For example, Raney Shockne and Elizaveta covered his song "I am the One" from Dragon Age: Origins for Dragon Age: Inquisition. In 2023, Inon Zur became a new member of The Recording Academy, which is a big honor!

Inon's Musical Style and Inspirations

Inon Zur's music often features full orchestras and choirs. For some games, like Prince of Persia, he also uses special instruments from different cultures, such as Arabic flutes and the woodwind duduk. He often works with the Northwest Sinfonia orchestra from Seattle, and he always conducts the orchestra himself when they play his music.

He gets inspiration from many different artists:

• Classical composers like Sergey Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, and Beethoven.
• Movie composers like John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith.
• Jazz artists like George Gershwin.

Inon loves composing music for games because he gets feedback from the game developers, which helps him create his best work. He feels his music sounds best when it's part of the game, but he also believes that hearing it performed live turns it into "an art form on its own." Sometimes, he even works with other musicians, like when he teamed up with Florence and the Machine for a song on the Dragon Age II soundtrack.

Inon usually starts composing for a game when it's almost finished. He finds it super important to play the game himself, even if it's just an early version, before he writes the music. Instead of just making music for a specific place in the game, he focuses on the emotion he wants the player to feel at that moment. He thinks music technology is amazing now, but game budgets can sometimes limit what he can create.

People in the industry say he's a very fast composer. He thinks this is because he composes "intuitively," meaning he doesn't spend too much time planning every detail. When he's not composing, Inon enjoys playing video games (especially the ones he's worked on!), playing basketball, and spending time with his family. In the future, he'd love to compose for children's games and create music that includes jazz!

Inon's Works

Video Games

Films

Television

Awards and Nominations

Inon Zur has won many awards for his amazing music! Here are some of them:

See also

In Spanish: Inon Zur para niños