Geoff Zanelli

Geoff Zanelli (born September 28, 1974) is a composer working primarily in the medium of film music. His early career was notable for scoring additional music on roughly 30 film scores written by Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell, Klaus Badelt and Steve Jablonsky including several blockbuster films. He has since moved on to more solo work.

Aside from film and television scores, Zanelli has also worked with recording artists, writing string arrangements for the bands Mest, Story of the Year, and for Robbie Williams. He has also been credited as a guitarist/bassist/synthsist on the song "I'm Not Dead" from recording artist Pink.

Early life

Zanelli is from Westminster, California, and is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. Zanelli began his musical career as a guitar player and songwriter for numerous local acts in Southern California. While attending the prestigious Berklee College of Music on scholarship, Zanelli dual majored in Film Scoring and Music Production/Engineering. He was the recipient of both the Doug Timm Award in recognition of his film scoring work and the Music Production and Engineering Scholar Award.

In 1994, Hans Zimmer recognized Zanelli as a promising young talent, prompting Zimmer to invite him to Los Angeles to join his group of extraordinary film music talent. Zanelli quickly earned his reputation as a workhorse, becoming versed in many facets of music while working as an engineer on the debut album from Goldfinger as well as Zimmer's Oscar Award-nominated score for The Preacher's Wife.

Career

Zanelli's experience and desire to collaborate led him to work with British composer John Powell on his first Hollywood feature, Face/Off. Throughout the following years he would build the foundation for his scoring career, being called on to compose with Powell, Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt, Harry Gregson-Williams and Steve Jablonsky on many feature films, including:

Pirates Of The Caribbean 1, 2 and 3, the Golden Globe-nominated scores for The Last Samurai and Pearl Harbor, Hannibal, Live From Baghdad, Antz and Chicken Run, Shark Tale and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

The composing experience Zanelli accrued while collaborating with such industry luminaries prepared him for a kinetic start to his solo career. One of his earliest solo works, Steven Spielberg's miniseries Into The West, earned him an Emmy.

Showcasing his versatility, in just over one year Zanelli scored the films Disturbia, Hitman, Outlander, Delgo, Ghost Town and Gamer, each with a unique approach. Harkening back to his earlier days as a songwriter, he co-wrote the song "Don't Make Me Wait" for Disturbia.

Zanelli has written music for an impressive group of distinguished filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gore Verbinski, Jeffrey Katzenberg, DJ Caruso, David Koepp, Ed Zwick, Ridley Scott, John Woo, Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, Howard McCain and Michael Bay.

Zanelli is known for his versatility, often combining music from different genres and cultures to produce an original, contemporary result. He brings with him a formidable combination of composition skills, production technique, and love of all kinds of music. With a reputation for consistent quality and boundless energy, Zanelli continues to be attached to a slate of landmark projects. He currently writes at Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions.

Filmography (as principal composer)

2011

• Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (composer: Spain theme)
• Rango (composer: Rattlesnake Jake theme, Mayor's theme, Holy Spigot theme)
• Beneath The Darkness
• Should've Been Romeo

2010

• The Pacific (miniseries) -- Emmy Award nominated score
• You May Not Kiss The Bride

2009

• Gamer

2008

• Ghost Town
• Outlander
• Delgo

2007

• Hitman
• Disturbia

2005

• Into the West (miniseries) -- Emmy Award winning score

2004

• House of D
• Secret Window

2001

• Feast

External links

• Geoff Zanelli's imdb.com entry
• Article about Zanelli's Emmy win for Into The West
• Soundtrack.net's coverage of the recording of Zanelli's score for Disturbia