Brian Clifton

Brian Clifton
Background information
Birth name	Dirk Thyssens
Born	March 22, 1962 (1962-03-22) (age 46) Wilrijk, Belgium
Genre(s)	Film score
Occupation(s)	Composer, conductor, record producer
Years active	1984–present
Website	www.brianclifton.be

Brian Clifton (born March 20, 1962, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium) is a Flemish Belgian composer, best known for composing the scores to the movies Ellektra by Rudolf Mestdagh and the Hollywood movie Bird of Prey featuring Jennifer Tilly, Richard Chamberlain and Lesley Ann Warren. He wrote also the end titles for the 2005 Thai historical drama film The King Maker.

[edit] Biography

Clifton made his first professional moves towards London where he met the Academy Award-winning film producer David Puttnam (Midnight Express, Chariots of Fire, The Killing Fields). Puttman gave Clifton and his then partner, Belgian composer, Steve Willaert the opportunity to write music for The Mission (1986). He was to collaborate with Beatles' producer George Martin as conductor. But an unstable financial situation over at the production company Goldcrest necessitated The Mission's scoring to be done by a much more experienced film composer. And so they went for Brian's mentor: maestro Ennio Morricone.

He moved his family and studio to Los Angeles, after he wrote music for the Belgian movie The Colleagues: A Three-Day Weekend (1988) and the tv-serie Alfa Papa Tango. In this period, Clifton composed the scores for Less Dead Than The Others (1989) by controversial filmmaker Frans Buyens and for Trouble In Paradise (1989) by Robbe De Hert. In 1989 Clifton won "Prix Italia" in Palermo & "Toyama Prize-Drama" in Japan for his score for the Belgian movie Sarah! Sarah? by Jan Keymeulen.

In 1995, Brian together with his agent Linda Kordek secured the job to score his first Hollywood movie: Bird Of Prey, produced by Steven J. Wolfe.

Clifton kept composing music for film: Rudi van den Bossche's Spike and Suzy: The Dark Diamond (2004) as well as Rudolf Mestdagh's Ellektra (2004), nominated in New York for Best Film Music, in collaboration with actress/singer Axelle Red and pianiste Claire Chevallier.

[edit] Selected works

[edit] Music for movies and series

• De Dwaling (1987) (mini) TV Series
• Het Ultieme kerstverhaal (1987) by Vincent Rouffaer
• A Three-Day Weekend (1988)
• Hoogtevrees (1988) by Vincent Rouffaer
• Sarah? Sarah (1989) by Jan Keymeulen
• Trouble in Paradise (in the Late Eighties)(1989) by Robbe De Hert
• Alfa Papa Tango (1990) TV Series by Vincent Rouffaer
• De Leraarskamer (1991) by Vincent Rouffaer
• Less Dead Than the Others (1992) by Frans Buyens
• De Ware vrienden (1993) TV Series by Vincent Rouffaer
• Over the Rainbow (1995) by Rudolf Mestdagh
• Bird of Prey (1995) by Temistocles Lopez
• Bayou Ghost (1997) by Gardner Compton
• Back in Business - Heart of Stone (1997)
• Tot mijn laatste adem (2000)
• Hollywood aan de Schelde - part 1 (2001) TV Series by Robbe De Hert
• Saturday Night Fear (2001) by Jeroen Dumoulein
• Hollywood aan de Schelde - part 2 (2004) TV Series by Robbe De Hert
• Sprookjes (2004) TV Series
• Spike and Suzy: The Dark Diamond (2004) by Rudi van den Bossche
• Ellektra (2004) by Rudolf Mestdagh - Best Film Music Nomination at Syracuse Film Festival
• WaWa (2005) TV Series
• The King Maker (2005)
• Badoir (2005) by Diego Deceuninck
• Droomtijd (2006)
• Ghajaana (2006)

[edit] Music for musicals

• De Plattegrond van het Moeras by Lulu Aertgeerts
• The Holiday Love Show by Lulu Aertgeerts
• Malus by Brian Clifton
• Prins Blauwert (of Marc De Bel) by Vincent Rouffaer

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Brian Clifton at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] See also

Other Belgian film score composers:

• Dirk Brossé
• Wim Mertens
• Michel Herr
• Frédéric Devreese
• Vincent D'Hondt
• Steve Willaert