Personal Info
Austin Wintory
Austin Wintory began his obsession with composing back when he was ten years old, when he discovered Jerry Goldsmith’s scores to PATTON and A PATCH OF BLUE. After a busy high school career composing for the student orchestras, Austin went on to study at NYU and USC with composers Morten Lauridsen, Charles Fussell, and Erica Muhl. Never satisfied with working in a single medium, Austin has worked in the concert world, film music, video games, and miscellaneous others.
In March 2012, the PlayStation3 game Journey was released, after three years of work. The game instantly became Sony’s fastest-selling PlayStation title, and the soundtrack album debuted on the Billboard charts higher than any original score in gaming history. In December 2012, more history was made when it was announced that Journey had become the first-ever Grammy-nominated videogame score. The score features the Macedonia Radio Symphonic Orchestra and a lineup of top soloists (Audio excerpts available here). Orchestral excerpts, and the stand alone mini-concerto “Woven Variations” are currently scheduled for concert performance all over the world.
Austin’s previous PlayStation3 game, flOw, made him the youngest composer to ever receive a British Academy Award nomination, and also won him a wide variety of other game industry accolades including the Game Audio Network Guild’s “Rookie of the Year.” This music, originally entirely electronic and deeply interactive, was re-concieved as an orchestral work which has seen several performances including at the Smithsonian Museum as a part of their “Art of Games” exhibit which opened in spring 2012. flOw is also currently on display at Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art.
Outside of games, Austin is also very busy working in films and composing / conducting for the concert stage. The Boulder Symphony named Austin their Composer in Residence in 2011, first premiering the award-winning orchestral/choral work “Gray Rain.”
Austin has also scored over 40 feature films, and his first major film score, for the Sundance Film Festival-winning film Captain Abu Raed, was shortlisted for the 2009 Academy Awards for Best Original Score. Shortly afterward, the Hollywood Reporter named Austin “One of 15 Composers Primed to Join the A-List.” His next major film, Grace, was also a hit at the Sundance Film Festival. Austin’s score (which featured a wild array of custom-recorded sounds such as babies crying and horse flies, in addition to a large ensemble of clarinets at London’s famed Abbey Road Studios), was also highly lauded, earning a notorious Fangoria Chainsaw Award nomination and being cited by “Visions in Sound” (a popular film scoring radio program) as among the Top 10 Scores for 2010.
Passionate about education, Austin is a regular public speaker at schools around the world, in addition to pre-concert talks and workshops. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the non-profit Education Through Music – Los Angeles (www.etmla.org).
United States of America
Burbank
California
91505
Work
2013 – Grammy Awards, “Best Score Soundtrack Album” (Journey); nominated
2012 – Spike TV Video Game Awards, “Best Original Score” (Journey); winner
– Spike TV Video Game Awards, “Best Song in a Game” (‘I Was Born For This,’ Journey); nominated
– Destructoid.com, “Best Soundtrack of 2012;(Journey); winner
– Square Enix Music Online, “Best Score – Western” (Journey)nominated
– Square Enix Music Online, “Outstanding Achievement – Western” (Journey); nominated
– Square Enix Music Online, “Outstanding Achievement – Main Theme” (‘Nascence’); nominated
– Square Enix Music Online, “Outstanding Achievement – Vocal Theme” (‘I Was Born For This’); nominated
– IGN.com Best of 2012, “Best Overall Music” (Journey); nominated
– IGN.com Best of 2012, “Best Sound, PlayStation3;(Journey); nominated
– Fun & Serious Games Festival, Best Game Soundtrack (Journey); winner
– Game Music Brasil, “International Trophy: Critics’ Choice” (Journey); winner
– Hollywood Music in Media Awards, “Best Original Score – Video Game” (Journey); nominated
– Global Music Awards, “Best in Show” (Journey); winner
– Global Music Awards, “Award of Merit” – Original Song (Journey: ‘I Was Born For This’); winner
– Global Music Awards, “Award of Excellence” – Symphonic Music (‘Gray Rain’); winner
2011 – Hollywood Music in Media Awards, “Best Original Score – Indie Feature,” for The River Why; nominated
– Hollywood Music in Media Awards, “Best Original Score – Mobile Video Game,” for The Blunder Brothers and the Curse of the Bog Frog; winner
2010 – Hollywood Music in Media Awards, “Best Original Score – Indie Feature,” for A Little Help; nominated
– Hollywood Music in Media Awards, “Best Original Song – Film” (shared with co-writer / performer Celeigh Chapman) for A Little Help; nominated
2009 – International Film Music Critics Association, Breakout Composer of the Year (2009) (for Captain Abu Raed Grace, and Make the Yuletide Gay); nominated
– Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, Best Original Score (for Grace); nominated
– Sammy Awards, Best Overlooked New Film Score, 2009 (for Captain Abu Raed)
– Film Music Review, Editor’s Choice, December ’09 (for Captain Abu Raed)
– Visions in Sound (Radio show, hosted/produced by Rob Daniels), Best Original Scores for 2009 (Grace); Top Ten Scores for 2009 (4th)
2008 – Hollywood Music Awards, Best New Film Composer (for Captain Abu Raed); winner
– Game Audio Network Guild Awards, Rookie of the Year; winner
– Game Audio Network Guild Awards, Best Interactive Score (for flOw); nominated
– Game Audio Network Guild Awards, Most Innovative Use of Audio (for flOw); nominated
– Telly Award, Original Score (NASA: “The Hidden Universe: Trilogy of Terror”), winner
– Beverly Hills Shorts Festival, Best Original Music and Sound Design (The Procedure),
winner
2007 – British Academy Awards, Innovation (for flOw); nominated
– Film and TV Music Awards, Best Score for an Indie Feature (for Back Soon); nominated (1st runner-up)
– Film and TV Music Awards, Best Score for a Student Film (for Morning Latte); winner
– IGN.com Best of 2007 (PS3), Best Artistic Design (for flOw); winner
– Aegis Film and Video Production Award, composer (for “M51 and Gizmo”); winner
– CINE Golden Eagle Awards, composer (for “M51 and Gizmo”); winner
– ASCAP Morten Gould Young Composer winnerAwards (for “Space, Time, and Plexiglass”)finalist
2006 – GameShadow Innovation in Games Festival, Innovative Use of In-Game Audio
(music and sound design for fl0w)nominated
– Society of Composers, Inc., Best Original Score (Oleg’s Overcoat)winner
– ASCAP Morten Gould Young Composer Awards (“Wooden Rain”)finalist
2005 – Alan Menken Young Composer Awardwinner
– Prism Brass Quintet competition (“Hymn”)winner
– NYU Orchestra Competition (“Symphony for Today”)winner
2004 – Prism Brass Quintet competition (“Fanfares”)winner
– Lincoln Center Golden Silent film score competition (Nuts & Bolts)winner
2003 – Lumina String Quartet competition (“Fear in Motion”)2013 – Monaco (PC) / Pocket Watch Games
– The Banner Saga (PC, etc) / Stoic Studios
– Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded (PC, etc) / Replay Games
2012 – Kinect Party (Xbox360) / Double Fine
– Horn (iOS) / Phosphor Games
– Journey (PlayStation3) / thatgamecompany
2010 – Super Awesome Mountain RPG (PlayStation3) / Codename Games
2009 – My Virtual Tutor (Nintendo DS) / 1st Playable Productions
– Census 2010 (PC)/ Draft FCB
2008 – GroundTruth 2: Lock Down (PC) / Sandia Nat’l Lab, USC-Gamepipe
2007 – flOw Expansion Pack (PlayStation3)/ ThatGameCompany & Super Villain Studios
– GroundTruth: Toxic City (PC) / Sandia Nat’l Lab, USC-Gamepipe
– Replay (PC)/ Take Action Games
– flOw (PlayStation3) / ThatGameCompany
2006 – flOw (PC) / ThatGameCompany, USC IMD
2002 – Ages of Athiria [theme only] (PC)/ Elysian Productions
Wintory Global Engineering
Music Composer
