Composer Federico Jusid has been presented with the International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for Television by IFMCA members Jon Broxton and Craig Lysy, for his beautiful score for the second season of the Spanish television series Isabel.
This is Jusid’s first IFMCA win. He was nominated in the same category last year for Season 1 of Isabel, but lost to Murray Gold’s score for the popular British TV sci-fi series Doctor Who. The other nominees in the category this year were César Benito for El Tiempo Entre Costuras, Bartosz Chajdecki for Czas Honoru, Ramin Djawadi for Game of Thrones, and Bear McCreary for Da Vinci’s Demons.
Isabel is an epic Spanish-language TV series broadcast on the Televisión Española network about the life of Queen Isabella I of Castille. One of the most beloved and revered figures of Spanish history, in the 1450s she was instrumental in unifying various warring kingdoms under one crown – essentially creating the modern country of Spain – and funded the voyages of Christopher Columbus, leading to the discovery of the New World and the foundation of America. The show, which begins it third season later this year, stars Michelle Jenner as Isabel, and co-stars Ramon Madaula, Rodolfo Sancho and Ainhoa Santamaria
Jusid’s epic, sweeping score is performed by the Sinfonia Orchestra of Budapest-Eastconnection and the Orquesta Sinfónica y Coro de Radiotelevisión Española; a combination of large-scale orchestral performances and choral majesty, Jusid’s music follows the life of the young queen perfectly. He uses multiple orchestral themes to capture Isabel’s innocence and beauty, and her romantic relationships with various suitors, as well as the various political machinations that surround her court. Meanwhile, the choral aspects of the score – often singing in Latin – capture Isabel’s strength of faith and religious piety, and enhance the sense of importance surrounding her reign.
Federico Jusid is one of most exciting young film composers working today. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1973, Jusid studied piano performance and composition at the Buenos Aires Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music in New York, and spent time studying and working in Belgium, before making his film music debut composing for Argentinean films in the mid 1990s. He scored more than 20 film and television projects in both Argentina and Spain before coming to international prominence in 2009, when he co-wrote the score for the Oscar-winning thriller The Secret in Their Eyes in 2009 with his countryman Emilio Kauderer. His projects since then have included such well-regarded theatrical titles as La Cara Oculta (2011), ¡Atraco! (2012) and Todos Tenemos Un Plan (2012), and popular TV series such as Hispania (2010), Gran Reserva (2010), and the IFMCA-winning Isabel.
Click here to see Jusid’s acceptance speech, and hear some music from the Isabel score.
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