Kenneth Lampl (Australian National University, School of Music)
„The Creative Practice of Film Scoring“

How we understand ourselves, our culture and the world we live in is through our stories. Our collective stories are both an expression of and an inquiry into the meaning and purpose of our lives as individuals and as a collective. What tribal storytelling, classic mythology, plays and narrative literature were to cultures for thousands of years up until the present day, movies are to us in the current age. Think of how much of our experience in the world is shaped and influenced through watching video content of film (theatrical or streaming), video games, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or even advertisement which are short narrative films.  

At the heart of this dynamic, multisensory experience is music. Music and storytelling have always gone hand and hand since the dawn of civilization. Music is the magic that has us believe that bikes and brooms fly, that giant space craft can actually cross the galaxy, that honor and love conquer all in the end. Music holds the power that propels a narrative storyline forward and has us believe and invest ourselves in what we are seeing.  

This lecture is the opportunity to take the reader by hand and explore both the creative process of film scoring and its rich history. The lecture will not only cover the evolution of film music, but the theory and creative process of scoring. 

Kenneth Lampl received his D.M.A. in music composition from the Juilliard School of Music and was a student of John Williams. His first international recognition came with the winning of the Prix Ravel in composition at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. Many awards soon followed including the Joseph H. Bearns Prize from Columbia University, nine ASCAP Concert Music Awards, and three New Jersey State Council for the Arts Fellowships. 

As a composer of film music Kenneth Lampl has scored over 100 films including: Pokemon: The First Movie: Mew vs Mew Two, Pokemon Mewtwo Returns,  Frontera (starring Ed Harris and Eva Longoria), 35 & Ticking (starring Kevin Hart and Nicole Ari-Parker), Ninja’s Creed (starring Pat Morita and Eric Roberts), Kandisha (starring David Carradine and Hiam Abbas) and Winter of Frozen Dreams (starring Thora Birch and Keith Carradine).  His recent Australian scores include: the Furies, 2067 and Sissy. The 2067 soundtrack was released by Sony/Milan Records and was also listed as “One of the Best Scores of 2021” by the Film Music Institute in LA.

Lampl is also known as an orchestral composer, arranger and conductor.  He has written orchestral arrangement for the American rock band Foreigner’s latest record Foreigner and the 21^st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus which hit #1 on Billboard Magazine Classical Charts for seven weeks and he conducted the Australian tour.  He also composed orchestral music for the band Evanescence for their Synthesis tour performing with the Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland Symphonies.