Nicholas Britell

Nicholas Britell
Britell at the premiere of 12 Years a Slave at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2013
Background information
Born	1980 (age 36–37) United States
Genres	Film score, classical music
Occupation(s)	Composer, musician, songwriter, film producer
Associated acts	Natalie Portman, Benjamin Millepied, Adam Leon, Damien Chazelle, Steve McQueen, Adam McKay, Barry Jenkins

Nicholas Britell (born 1980) is an American Academy Award and Golden-Globe nominated composer, pianist, and film producer based in New York City.

Britell was raised in an Jewish family and graduated from the historical and competitive college preparatory school, Hopkins School, in 1999. Britell is a graduate of the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard University. At school, he was a member of an instrumental hip-hop group and performed extensively as a pianist. Britell is part of an emerging generation of composers and artists who draw from an eclectic range of influences. His work is inspired by Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Philip Glass, and Zbigniew Preisner as well as by producers Quincy Jones and Dr. Dre.

In 2008, Britell gained wide notice performing his own work "Forgotten Waltz No. 2" in Natalie Portman's directorial debut Eve. He collaborated again with Portman, writing music for the film New York, I Love You. In 2011, Britell performed on piano with violin virtuoso Tim Fain in "Portals." The multimedia project also featured performances by Craig Black, Julia Eichten and Haylee Nichele and featured music by Philip Glass and Nico Muhly, poetry by Leonard Cohen and choreography by Benjamin Millepied. Vogue Magazine called Britell among "...the most talented young artists at work..."

As a film composer, Britell created the music for the movie Gimme the Loot directed by Adam Leon. The film would go on to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the SXSW Film Festival in 2012. The music for the film garnered special praise from New York Magazine and Variety. Britell's film composing career continued in 2012 with the scoring of Michele Mitchell's PBS documentary Haiti: Where Did the Money Go? The film, which aired over 1,000 times in the United States on PBS stations and was screened at the Oakland Film Festival and the Bolder Life Film Festival in 2012, is the winner of the 2013 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best News Documentary and winner of a 2012 CINE Golden Eagle Award and a CINE Special Jury Award for Best Investigative Documentary.