Laura Rossi is a composer for film, television and concert music. Her music has been described as ‘hauntingly atmospheric with emotional depth and beauty’ and ‘truly breathtaking, on par with those of the great Hollywood composers’.
She has written extensively for film and television, including scores for Paul Andrew Williams' critically acclaimed features: London to Brighton (BAFTA nominated), The Cottage (Starring Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith), BBC The Eichmann Show (starring Martin Freeman and Anthony La Paglia) and Song For Marion (starring Vanessa Redgrave, Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton and Christopher Ecclestone). Other scores include The Firm directed by Nick Love, Broken Lines (starring Paul Bettany and Olivia Williams), The Man Inside by Dan Turner (starring Peter Mullan), BBC1 Prisoners Wives (series 2) directed by Harry Bradbeer, Hurricane by David Blair (starring Iwan Rheon), 6-part ITV series Redemption and 4-part thriller The Night Caller.
The British Film Institute has commissioned Laura to write many new scores for re-releases of early silent movies. These include Silent Shakespeare (seven short films) which she toured performing live with film at The Globe, the Barbican and London, Madeira, Belfast, and Sao Paulo film festivals. Other BFI films include Twilight of a Woman’s Soul by Evgenii Bauer, C.O.D. by Desmond Dickinson, Tusalava by Len Lye, and the first British epic silent film by Ealing Studios' founder Will Barker - Jane Shore performed live with film including at the National Film Theatre and the British Silent Film Festival.
The Imperial War Museum commissioned Laura to write an orchestral score for the UNESCO listed 1916 film The Battle of the Somme. The score premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, was recorded and performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra and released on CD and DVD to worldwide critical acclaim. For the centenary one hundred orchestras worldwide performed Laura's score live with film. The live screenings were attended by an audience of over 37,000 people, involved over 4,200 musicians, was featured on BBC's The One Show and The Andrew Marr Show, and The BBC Symphony Orchestra performance at Thiepval, France was televised live on BBC1. Laura’s score for the Somme sequel, The Battle of the Ancre premiered at the London Film Festival, was released on DVD and toured the UK with live orchestral screenings.
This year she scored the third in the Trilogy of IWM feature length war films - Battle of Arras. This was recorded by The Chamber Orchestra of London and The Guildhall Session singers and will feature in the IWM London new Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries. The score will be premiered live with film in 2025.
Laura has been commissioned to write numerous concert works including Voices of Remembrance, a choral/ orchestral work, commissioned to mark the Centenary of the First World War, which features war poems read by Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave. This was released on CD and has been performed multiple times to critical acclaim, including at Manchester Cathedral, Jersey Opera House, Worthing Assembly Hall and Dartington Hall with Vanessa Redgrave narrating. The American premiere was performed by Coro Lux and New Mexico Philharmonic.
Other works include Under the Rainbow (a choral/ orchestral work featuring Er-hu, Sitar, Koto, African drums, saxophone and children's choir), Jailhouse Graffiti (for orchestra), The River (performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall by the Solaris String Quartet), Remember Them commissioned by Jersey and Chetham's School of Music for youth choir and chamber orchestra, jazz orchestra works performed at the London Jazz Festival and music for animation, dance and music theatre. Laura has composed education music for the London College of Music jazz piano syllabus and LCM Percussion grades published by Stainer & Bell. She has also written and recorded albums for EMI and Imagem, including Under the Stars, Italian Cinema, Dreamscapes and has her own ensemble that performs both her film and concert music.
She has recently composed a 2 hour ballet score Atonement for Zurich Ballet and Joffrey Ballet, Chicago. Based on the novel by Ian McEwan, the ballet is choreographed by Cathy Marston. The Ballet premiered in April 2024 with Ballet Zurich with Laura’s score performed by Philharmonia Zurich conducted by Jonathan Lo. The American premiere is in October 2024 with Joffrey Ballet, Chicago performed by the Lyric Opera Orchestra conducted by Scott Speck.
Laura was given the prestigious accolade of being made an Academy Member for ‘exceptional accomplishment in the field of theatrical motion pictures.’ Her music has been recorded and performed worldwide by the Philharmonia Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Her works have been performed at the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Laura has been on many judging panels including the Ivor Novello & BAFTA Awards. She is a professor for film music at the Guildhall School of Music & Trinity Laban and London Film Academy and regularly gives masterclasses at colleges and festivals about composing for film.
Press
'A new music score by Laura Rossi, brilliantly effective’
Geoff Brown, The Times.
‘Extremely accomplished music’
Annette Morreau, The Independent.
‘A terrific composer’
Simon Bates, Classic FM
‘Her orchestrations are on par with those of the great Hollywood composers. This is a truly breathtaking score, incredibly well written and performed.’
Oscar Flores, Filmmusicsite.com.
'Laura Rossi very adeptly creates an emotional picture through impressive orchestral writing which is at once colourful, honourable, celebratory and moving.’
Michael Beek, Music from the Movies.
‘Rossi’s masterful knowledge of orchestration is evident from the very start of the CD, never allowing for a dull moment in the music. Her orchestrations are on par with those of the great Hollywood composers. This is a truly breathtaking score that will positively influence other young composers. Incredibly well written and performed, Rossi’s score for The Battle of the Somme was among the best of 2008.’
Oscar Flores, Filmmusicsite.com
‘A work of emotional depth and beauty… Laura’s music, recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conducted by Nic Raine, reflects the event’s heroism with superlative accuracy… A truly important piece’
Keith Ames, Musician Magazine
‘Rossi supplies a rich, subtle and binding score that connects 2008 to 1916.’
Luke McKernan, The Bioscope
‘an admirable accompaniment to this monumental film’
Jeff Hall, Screen Sounds
‘A thoughtful, elegiac work which wonderfully matched the images.’
Jerome Kuehl – History Today.
‘And these troops in the mud grinned or stared at us to a new music score by Laura Rossi, brilliantly effective, played with typical dexterity and polish by the Philharmonia Orchestra under the conductor Nic Raine. Whatever piercing image you might pick — the troops’ cheerful waves, the mascot dog dead with its master, the trench channel’s mud and corpses — Rossi’s score and the IWM’s new print will help them to reverberate even further into the future.’
Geoff Brown, The Times. ***** Read article
‘You cannot deny the power of this score; Laura Rossi very adeptly creates an emotional picture through impressive orchestral writing which is at once colourful, honourable, celebratory and moving. The performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra, under Nic Raine, is pristine and the CD package hugely interesting as it features extracts from the diary of a stretcher-bearer from the 29th Division – Fred Ainge, Laura Rossi’s Great Uncle. The Battle of the Somme is a fine memorial of music, for a point in history that should never be forgotten.’
Michael Beek – Music from the Movies
‘Rossi supplies a rich, subtle and binding score that connects 2008 to 1916.’
Luke McKernan, The Bioscope
RADIO
‘Watching them – hearing the cellos and violins, the piano solos – becomes a dream-like experience.’
Nicci Gerrard, The Observer. Read article
‘Laura Rossi has composed a hauntingly atmospheric accompaniment to the seven Silent Shakespeares featured on this tape. A graduate of the London College of Music, Rossi is an award-winning young musician making a startling debut. Under Rossi’s direction, the mood sweeps through a spectrum of spine-tingling emotions, encapsulating the drama and poetry of each tale.’
British Film Institute.
'One of those few film music releases which also has considerable appeal to the classical music collector who wouldn’t normally consider buying a soundtrack album.'
Gary Dalkin, Film Music on the Web.
'One of the film’s biggest weapons is Laura Rossi’s amazing score. Rossi’s work in The Cottage helps set a fairytale-like tone that makes for a bracing, fascinating mash-up with the more intense elements.'
Phillip Karagas, The VHS Graveyard.
‘Sonorous soundtrack by Laura Rossi - a dream to be shared.’
Sergio Salvia Coelho, Folha de Sao Paulo. *****
'Contemporary British film composer Laura Rossi’s admirably restrained, sympathetic and euphonious score.'
Richard Amey, The Newsroom.
'The BFI should be congratulated on this DVD. It provides a rare opportunity to see these beautiful early films which are now much too fragile to project'
Martin Scorsese.
‘Haunting Score’
Geoffrey Macnab, Sight and Sound.
‘Laura Rossi’s tremolo sound effects portentously drive home the horror of the experience. A sensuous attraction for eye and ear.’
Kenneth S. Rothwell, Shakespeare Quarterly.
‘a wonderful contemporary orchestral score soundtrack’
Alt-flix
'An original and inventive score.'
Philip R Buttall - Seen and Heard International.
'One of the most interesting new voices in British film music a talented composer who infuses her music with a large dose of inspiration and originality.'
Mikael Carlsson, Movie Score Media.
'A hugely impressive piece of work - if more contemporary films were scored with this clarity of purpose and integrity of musical vision, cinema would be in a far more healthy state. Indeed, with more music of this calibre contemporary classical music might regain some of its lost audience.'
Gary Dalkin, Music Web International.
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