James Brett

UK composer and arranger. Occasional keyboard player.

James Seymour Brett has garnered a worldwide reputation as a versatile, international talent, scoring projects in all genres and media.

His style ranges from the large, upscale orchestral grandeur of "Batman Live", "Walking With Dinosaurs" & "Planet 51", to smaller, more intimate works such as "L’Histoire De Nos Petites Morts", "Outpost", and "The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers". In recent years James has enjoyed success on Network TV with two seasons of the cult drama HEX for Sky 1 and CRUSOE for NBC. Also in his early career he was fortunate to have worked with the late Michael Kamen on projects such as BAND OF BROTHERS and FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.

More recently, James has collaborated with Roland Emmerich on major film work – "White House Down", "2012", "10,000 BC", "Anonymous" and with Stephen Frears on "Lay The Favourite", the latter of which demanded a quirky, Americana-style score covering rock, blues & folk genres starring Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta Jones. James has also had the opportunity to work with other renowned director’s providing all the arrangements for David Frankel’s operatic biopic "One Chance" John Wells’ acclaimed "August: Osage County" and providing additional music to Ron Howard’s "In The Heart Of The Sea".

2012 was a busy year for James as he masterminded and conducted the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations with the BBC, working on compositions, new arrangements and collaborations alongside artists such as Elton John, Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox and Stevie Wonder. He also oversaw the release of his specially commissioned London Olympics 2012 Album.

James’ previous projects include composing and writing arrangements for "Alien VS. Predator" and "Ella Enchanted". James’ successful orchestral score for the Virgin Trains advertising campaign was nominated for the 2005 BTAA Craft Award (original music). Other commercial work includes Virgin Atlantic, Three, and two campaigns for Vodafone, Flora and Stella Artoris.

After graduating from The Royal Academy Of Music in 1997 James was immediately hired by the acclaimed composer Michael Kamen. James’ further contribution to film scores includes writing collaborations with Kamen on features such as "The Event Horizon", "What Dreams May Come", "The Iron Giant", "Frequency", "X-Men The Movie", and the epic mini series, "Band Of Brothers" produced by Steven Spielberg. In this period James also co-produced and provided additional score on Paramount’s AGAINST THE ROPES.

In 1999 James helped mastermind the ambitious and groundbreaking concert that saw Metallica pair up with The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra as assistant Musical Director. The album has since sold over 5 million copies worldwide. In 2002 James went on to plan and execute, again as assistant Musical Director and in close partnership with the BBC, "Party At The Palace" (part of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations). This unprecedented and star-studded event was broadcast live to a multi-million audience worldwide with a gold CD in less than a week. James coordinated and arranged many of the collaborations both with traditional rock pairings and new orchestral interpretations.

He has also worked as an MD / Arranger with Kylie, JLS, Robbie Williams, The Royal Palace Guards, Grace Jones, Madness, Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole, The Last Shadow Puppets, Alfie Boe, Paul Mccartney, Brian Wilson, Brian May, Joe Cocker, Ozzy Osbourne, Annie Lennox, Phil Collins, Tony Bennet, Ricky Martin, Mis-Teeq, Blue, Will Young, Des’ree, Eric Clapton, Bryan Ferry, Atomic Kitten, The Corrs, Metallica & San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Hayley Westenra.