| Dustin O'Halloran | |
| Birth Date: | 8 September 1971 |
| Birth Place: | Phoenix, Arizona |
| Origin: | Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation: | Pianist, composer[1] |
| Years Active: | 1994–present |
| Label: | Deutsche Grammophon |
Dustin O'Halloran (born September 8, 1971)[2] is an American composer and pianist. Aside from releasing music as a recording artist, O'Halloran is a film and TV composer, as well as one half of ambient act A Winged Victory for the Sullen.
O'Halloran was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and spent most of his childhood in Hawaii and Los Angeles. While studying art at Santa Monica College, he met singer Sara Lov, with whom he founded indie rock band Dévics in 1998. When the group signed with Bella Union in 2001, they relocated to Romagna, Italy, where O'Halloran lived for seven years.
In 2004, O'Halloran released his first record as a solo artist, Piano Solos. He has since released three more solo records, the latest of which is Lumiere (2011), which featured contributions by Peter Broderick and Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid), and was mixed by Jóhann Jóhannsson.[3]
In 2019, O'Halloran signed with Deutsche Grammophon and released his first EP on the label, entitled Sundoor.[4]
With A Winged Victory for the Sullen, his collaboration with Adam Wiltzie, O'Halloran has released four studio albums: A Winged Victory for the Sullen (2011), Atomos (2014), The Undivided Five (2019), and Invisible Cities (2021). The second was also the original score for the identically titled dance piece by choreographer Wayne McGregor and his company Wayne McGregor Random Dance.[5] [6]
In 2015, AWVFTS were invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the BBC Proms.[7] The duo scored their first film together in 2016, entitled In the Shadow of Iris by French director Jalil Lespert.
In addition to their studio outputs, they wrote the soundtrack for the 2016 film Iris.
In 2019, A Winged Victory for the Sullen signed with UK-based indie label Ninja Tune.
Since the release of Piano Solos Volumes 1 and 2 in 2004 and 2006, O'Halloran has gone on to score a number of films and TV shows. These include Sofia Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette, and Drake Doremus’ Like Crazy (2011), which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. In 2014, O’Halloran worked on Indian drama Umrika, which won the Audience Award at Sundance, and gave him his first opportunity to compose for a full string orchestra.
In the same year he was also asked to provide the music for Transparent, the acclaimed TV series created by Jill Soloway for Amazon Studios.[8]
O'Halloran was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music for his original theme for Transparent in 2015.[9]
In 2016, he collaborated with Hauschka (Volker Bertelmann) on the score for the Oscar-nominated film Lion.[10] The score of the film was nominated for many major awards including the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Critics’ Choice Awards. He has since collaborated with Bertelmann on a number of other scores, including Ammonite (2020).
| Year | Album | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Piano Solos | Splinter | |
| 2006 | Piano Solos Vol. 2 | Filter/Splinter | |
| 2010 | Vorleben | Sonic Pieces | |
| 2011 | Lumiere | Fat Cat | |
| 2017 | 3 Movements (EP) | 1631 Recordings | |
| 2019 | Sundoor (EP) | Deutsche Grammophon | |
| 2021 | Silfur | Deutsche Grammophon | |
| 2024 | 1 0 0 1 | Deutsche Grammophon |
| Year | Title | Director | Credits | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Marie Antoinette | Sofia Coppola | Composer | ||
| 2007 | Remember the Daze | Jess Manafort | Composer | ||
| 2008 | An American Affair | William Olsson | Composer | ||
| 2010 | Want to See Something? | Tomas Jonsgården | Composer | Short | |
| 2011 | Like Crazy | Drake Doremus | Composer | ||
| 2012 | The Other Dream Team | Marius A. Markevicius | Composer | Documentary | |
| 2012 | The Beauty Inside | Drake Doremus | Composer | TV Mini-Series | |
| 2012 | Now Is Good | Ol Parker | Composer | ||
| 2013 | Breathe In | Drake Doremus | Composer | ||
| 2013 | Eclipse | Linda Arkelian, David Cooper | Composer | Short | |
| 2014 | Posthumous | Lulu Wang | Composer | ||
| 2014–2017 | Transparent | Jill Soloway (creator) | Composer | TV series | |
| 2015 | Deliá | Thomas Scott Stanton | Composer | Short | |
| 2015 | Umrika | Prashant Nair | Composer | ||
| 2015 | American Masters | Susan Lacy | Composer | TV series documentary | |
| 2015 | This Is Me | Rhys Ernst | Composer | TV Mini-Series documentary | |
| 2015 | Equals | Drake Doremus | Composer | ||
| 2016 | I Love Dick | Sarah Gubbins, Jill Soloway (creators) | Composer | TV series | |
| 2016 | Lion | Garth Davis | Composer | with Volker Bertelmann[13] | |
| 2016 | Queimafobia | Daniel Sánchez Arévalo | Composer | Short | |
| 2016 | In the Shadow of Iris | Jalil Lespert | Composer | ||
| 2017 | God's Own Country | Francis Lee | Composer | ||
| 2018 | The Current War | Alfonso Gomez-Rejon | Composer | With Hauschka | |
| 2018 | Save Me | Nick Murphy | Composer | with Bryan Senti | |
| 2018 | Puzzle | Marc Turtletaub | Composer | ||
| 2018 | The Hate U Give | George Tillman Jr. | Composer | ||
| 2019 | The Art of Racing in the Rain | Simon Curtis | Composer | with Volker Bertelmann | |
| 2019 | A Christmas Carol | Nick Murphy | Composer | with Volker Bertelmann | |
| 2020 | For Life | Hank Steinberg | Composer | TV series | |
| 2020 | Save Me Too | Nick Murphy | Composer | with Bryan Senti | |
| 2020 | The Old Guard | Gina Prince-Bythewood | Composer | with Volker Bertelmann | |
| 2020 | Ammonite | Francis Lee | Composer | with Volker Bertelmann | |
| 2022 | The Essex Serpent | Clio Barnard | Composer | with Herdís Stefánsdóttir |
| Year | Award | Nomination | Title | Result | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | HMMA Award | Main Title - TV Show / Digital Series | Transparent | Nominated | |||
| 2015 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Main Title Theme Music | Transparent | Won[14] | |||
| 2016 | Critics’ Choice Awards | Best Score | Lion (2016) | Nominated | Shared with: Volker Bertelmann | ||
| 2016 | PFCS Award | Best Original Score | Lion (2016) | Nominated | Shared with: Volker Bertelmann | ||
| 2016 | HMMA Award | Best Original Score - Feature Film | Lion (2016) | Nominated | Shared with: Volker Bertelmann | ||
| 2017 | GFCA Award | Best Original Score | Lion (2016) | Nominated | Shared with: Volker Bertelmann | ||
| 2017 | BAFTA Film Award | Original Music | Lion (2016) | Nominated | Shared with: Volker Bertelmann | ||
| 2017 | Academy Award | Best Original Score | Lion (2016) | Nominated | Shared with: Volker Bertelmann[15] [16] | ||
| 2017 | Golden Globe | Best Original Score | Lion (2016) | Nominated | Shared with: Volker Bertelmann |
Dustin O'Halloran divides his time between Reykjavík and Los Angeles.