Jon Opstad (born 1983) is a British composer. His work spans music for film and television, contemporary dance, concert music and album projects. He has collaborated with other artists, such as Max Richter.[1] Opstad is classically trained, having studied music at Cambridge University, before graduating with an MA in film composition from the National Film and Television School.[2]
In television, Opstad is best known for his scores for dark dramas such as Netflix's Bodies and Black Mirror. His score with Max Richter for Elisabeth Moss thriller The Veil was acclaimed by IndieWire as one of "The Best TV Scores of 2024".[3]
Opstad's 2014 contemporary dance score Ignis was nominated for a British Composer Award (since rebranded as Ivors Classical Awards) for "Best Stage Work".[4][5] Tracks from Ignis have been used extensively in other productions, with the composition "Ignis IV" featuring in the trailer for Hollywood feature film Ad Astra,[6][7] a trailer for Amazon Prime series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, and the drama series The Veil.[8] The track "Ignis I" was featured in the opening episode of Paramount drama series The Man Who Fell To Earth.[9]
In 2021, Opstad was featured as an answer to a question on the long-running British TV game show Mastermind, as part of a specialist round on Black Mirror. Opstad has been quoted on his approach to scoring the Black Mirror episodes White Bear and White Christmas in the official book on the series written by Charlie Brooker, Annabel Jones and Jason Arnopp, "Inside Black Mirror"[10]
In 2015 the WNYC radio show New Sounds, presented by John Schaefer, focussed an episode on Opstad's music. Opstad's music has also featured on BBC Radio 3 programmes Late Junction, In Tune and Unclassified[11] amongst others.
Filmography
Television
| Year | Title | Studio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Silent Witness (series 16) | BBC | co-composed with Sheridan Tongue |
| 2013 | Black Mirror (episode White Bear) | Channel 4/Netflix | |
| 2014 | Black Mirror (episode White Christmas) | Channel 4/Netflix | |
| 2015 | Cyberbully | Channel 4 | |
| 2016 | The Murder Detectives | Channel 4 | |
| 2016 | Louis Theroux: Savile | BBC | |
| 2017 | Safe House (season 2) | ITV | |
| 2018 | The Woman In White | BBC | |
| 2019 | The Feed | Amazon Prime Video | |
| 2020 | We Hunt Together | BBC | |
| 2021 | Surviving 9/11 | BBC | |
| 2022 | We Hunt Together (season 2) | BBC | |
| 2022 | Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 | Netflix | |
| 2023 | Bodies | Netflix | |
| 2024 | The Veil | FX/Hulu/Disney+ | co-composed with Max Richter |
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Uncle David | David Hoyle | co-composed with Richard Thomas |
| 2012 | A World Not Ours | Mahdi Fleifel | |
| 2014 | Theeb | Naji Abu Nowar | (additional music) |
| 2014 | X+Y | Morgan Matthews | (additional music) |
| 2022 | Merkel | Eva Weber |
Games
| Year | Title | Studio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-present | Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege | Ubisoft | composer from Year 3 onwards of the game |
Discography
Albums
| Title | Album Details |
|---|---|
| Still Picture |
|
| Interpretations |
|
| Ignis |
|
| Extensions: Music for Computer-Controlled Prepared Piano |
|
Singles
| Title | Single Details |
|---|---|
| Blue Sky, White Clouds |
|
Soundtrack Albums
| Title | Album Details |
|---|---|
| Black Mirror: White Bear (Original Television Soundtrack) |
|
| Black Mirror: White Christmas (Original Television Soundtrack) |
|
| Safe House Series 2 (Original Television Soundtrack) |
|
| The Woman In White (Original Television Soundtrack) |
|
| Surviving 9/11 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
|
| The Feed (Original Television Soundtrack) |
|
| Bodies (Soundtrack from the Netflix Series) |
|
| The Veil (Original Soundtrack) |
|
References
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