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, Craig Lysy and Kaya Savas, for his majestic score for the third season of the Spanish television series Isabel.
This is Jusid’s second IFMCA win, having won the same award in 2014, for his score for Isabel, Season 2. He was also nominated in the same category in 2013 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 Jeff Russo for Fargo, Yūgo Kanno for Gunshi Kanbei, Max Richter for The Leftovers, and Abel Korzeniowski for Penny Dreadful.
Isabel is an epic TV series broadcast on the Televisión Española network in Spain 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 concluded its third and final season in 2014, starred Michelle Jenner as Isabel, and co-starred 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), Todos Tenemos Un Plan (2012), and Anna (2013), writing additional music for Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), and scoring popular TV series such as Hispania (2010) and Gran Reserva (2010)
Click here to watch “The Composers Speak”, a 20-minute interview with Jusid accepting the IFMCA Award and talking about the score.
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