Rachel Portman facts for kids

Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman, born on December 11, 1960, is a talented British composer. She made history in 1996 by becoming the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score. This amazing achievement was for her music in the movie Emma.

She was also nominated for two more Academy Awards for her music in The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000). Rachel Portman has created over one hundred musical scores for films, TV shows, and theatre plays. She has also worked with the BBC on several projects. These include an opera based on The Little Prince and a choral symphony called The Water Diviner.

Rachel Portman's career started with writing music for BBC and Channel 4 films. Some of these were Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Mike Leigh's Four Days in July, and Jim Henson's Storyteller series. People say her success comes from her natural talent for understanding a film's story. She is great at showing a film's feelings through her music and storytelling. She chooses projects carefully, which has helped her become known for composing music for "human-size stories." This is quite special in today's movie world, which often focuses on big blockbusters.

In 2010, she was given a special honor, becoming an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. She is also an honorary member of Worcester College, Oxford.

Early Life and Education

Rachel Portman was born in Haslemere, England. Her parents were Sheila Margaret Penelope Portman and Berkeley Charles Berkeley Portman. She went to Charterhouse and loved music from a young age. She started composing her own music when she was just 14 years old.

Starting Her Music Journey

Rachel Portman studied Music at Worcester College, Oxford. She also learned composition from Roger Steptoe. It was at Oxford that she became interested in writing music for films. She began by creating music for student films and theatre plays. She composed for Oxford Playhouse shows and made the music for a student film called Privileged. This film was later sold to the BBC.

Her first professional music job was for the 1982 film Experience Preferred... But Not Essential. Later, she started composing for BBC and Channel 4 TV shows and movies. These included Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Four Days in July by Mike Leigh, and The Storyteller by Jim Henson.

Hollywood Success and Beyond

Since 1992, Rachel Portman has been in high demand for Hollywood movies. She is one of the few female composers to achieve such great success in this field. She once said that she sees herself as a composer, not just a "female composer." She hopes that more and more women will be recognized as composers in film and TV in the future.

Portman has also written music for concerts and stage shows. This includes a musical version of Little House on the Prairie. In 2003, her opera The Little Prince first showed in Houston. It has since been performed across the United States. This opera is based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's famous book. It is one of the few operas made for both children and adults.

She also created The Water Diviner's Tale (2007), a choral symphony about climate change. This piece premiered at the BBC Proms. Later, she composed Endangered (2012), an orchestral piece. It was commissioned for a concert in Beijing on World Environment Day in 2013.

In 2019, Portman wrote Earth Song for the BBC Singers. The words for this song were by poet Nick Drake and Greta Thunberg. She also composed the music for the BBC1 Christmas special Mimi and the Mountain Dragon in 2019.

In 2020, Rachel Portman released a solo piano album called Ask The River. It features her playing the piano, along with violin and cello. In 2023, she released another album, Beyond the Screen – Film Works on Piano. This album includes some of her favorite film music arranged for solo piano. Her recent works also include Tipping Points, a violin concerto.

Awards and Honors

Rachel Portman has received many awards for her music. She won the Anthony Asquith Award for her music in The Storyteller.

In 1996, she made history by becoming the first female composer to win an Academy Award. This was for her music in the movie Emma. She was also the first female composer to win a Primetime Emmy Award. She received this for the film Bessie in 2015. She was nominated for two more Academy Awards for The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000). Chocolat also earned her a Golden Globe Nomination.

Her film music covers many different styles. She is known for her clear, string-heavy sounds, often with beautiful woodwind melodies. She often arranges her own music. She also works closely with another orchestrator, Jeff Atmajian. While she is famous for romantic comedies, she has also composed for serious dramas and thrillers. An example is The Cider House Rules, which earned her an Academy Award nomination.

On May 19, 2010, she received the Richard Kirk Award at the BMI Film & TV Awards. This award recognized her contributions to film and television music. Rachel Portman was the first woman to receive this honor.

She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2010. She is also an honorary Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal College of Music.

In 2015, Portman won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special for her work on Bessie. In 2022, she received the Career Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Her original music for the CNN film Julia won an Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition. This award was given at the 44th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

Collaborations

Rachel Portman has worked with director Lasse Hallström on films like The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000). Both of these films earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Her music for director Jonathan Demme's films, Beloved (1998) and Manchurian Candidate (2004), is very special. These scores are different from her usual orchestral sound. For example, Beloved features solo voices, a choir, and African instruments instead of a full orchestra.

She has also worked on several projects with the BBC.

How She Creates Music

Rachel Portman has a special way of composing music for films. She usually starts when most of the film is almost finished. She then tries to understand the "world" of the film to create the right music. It's very important for her to spend a lot of time just getting lost in the movie. She watches each scene many times to understand the film's speed and how long each scene is. For her, composing is very natural and comes from her feelings.

Melodies are the most important part of any music score for Portman. In her film music, she builds her compositions around one main melody. She says that if a film needs a melody, she has to "crack that melody" first. This main melody then becomes the foundation for the entire score. All other musical ideas grow from it. It's like the main musical voice of the film.

Portman also believes that film music should "light up the story." She carefully chooses instruments to create different "colors" in her music. For example, she likes using the clarinet because it can sound both happy and sad. She explains that instruments have their own unique colors. She also thinks that great music should be able to stand on its own, even without the film. She wants her music to be fresh, unexpected, and surprising.

Selected Compositions

Rachel Portman has composed music for many well-known films. These include The Manchurian Candidate (directed by Jonathan Demme), Oliver Twist (directed by Roman Polanski), and The Legend of Bagger Vance (directed by Robert Redford).

Other films she has scored are Beloved, Benny and Joon, Life Is Sweet, Never Let Me Go, and The Duchess. She also composed for One Day, The Vow, The Lake House, and Mona Lisa Smile.

Her other works include a children's opera, The Little Prince, which was later made into a TV show. She also wrote Little House on the Prairie, a musical based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In 2007, Portman was asked to write a choral music piece for the BBC Proms series. This piece was called The Water Diviner's Tale.

Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Rachel Portman para niños