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As London's Royal Opera House gears up for the biggest night in the UK film calendar, we profile the composers battling it out to win the award for Best Original Music at the BAFTA Awards 2012.
Tipped to dominate the evening, and a Classic FM favourite, is The Artist, the black and white film which pays homage to the silent move era. The Artist leads the nominations board with 12 nods, including Best Picture and Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, and Best Original Music for it's French composer Ludovic Bource.
Bource's beautiful score has already won a Golden Globe and as last year's Golden Globe winner Alexandre Desplat went on to win the BAFTA and Oscar for The King's Speech it may be an indicator of further success to come. However, he is up against two movie music maestros in the shape of John Williams and Howard Shore.
Williams, who celebrated his 80th Birthday this month, has received his 12th BAFTA nomination for his score to Stephen Spielberg's epic Warhorse. From the 12 BAFTA nominations he has received throughout his illustrious career, Williams has a strong hit rate winning won no less than seven trophies for his memorable movie scores for films such as Jaws, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, E.T, Schindler's List and Memoirs of a Geisha.
Then there's Howard Shore, whose soundtrack to Martin Scoresese's fantasy adventure Hugo is also up for the BAFTA Music Award. The canadian composer, who has won three Oscar's for his score to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has so far missed out on winning BAFTA for his work, in spite of racking up five BAFTA nominations. Could 2012 be his lucky year?
Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias is next in line with his classy score for the British spy thriller Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy. Iglesias, who is best-known for writing the music to several Spanish films by the director Pedro Almodóvar, is also an acclaimed composer for the concert hall in his homeland, and he has written original scores for a number of ballets. His scores for The Constant Gardner and The Kite Runner both garnered BAFTA and Oscar nominations.
Then there are the young contenders Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Their score to David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larsson best-selling novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo nets the duo their first BAFTA nomination. The pair first collaborated on the score for The Social Network, also directed by Fincher, which went on to earn them an Oscar and Golden Globe. Not bad for a movie score debut!
Whoever wins they'll join a growing list of formidable composers who have won plaudits from BAFTA, including Ennio Morricone, Philip Glass, John Barry, Nino Rota and Maurice Jarre.
An array of Hollywood stars are expected at the BAFTA Awards ceremony which will hosted by Stephen Fry and shown live on TV. The evening kicks off with the red carpet arrivals at 7.30pm on BBC3, followed by the full ceremony at 9.00pm on BBC1.