HANS ZIMMER
ALCHEMIST | Composer
The greatest film composer of the 21st century can hack our emotions with a single note. Following the release of Hans Zimmer & Friends: Diamond in the Desert, a compilation of his most storied film compositions, he’ll translate speed into sound in this summer’s F1.
WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT? The unwritten piece of music with the deadline rushing towards me.
WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE GET WRONG ABOUT YOU? That I went to music school. I didn’t. I had two weeks of piano lessons and have been making it up ever since.
“Battling against authority, being thrown out of eight schools, and keeping the whole neighborhood up by playing the piano at 3 o’clock in the morning.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO CULTURE? Trying to make people aware of how important it is for us to support orchestral music. We are always at the precipice of losing the orchestras. Film might be the last place that consistently still commissions orchestral music. For me, watching an orchestra play together is proof of the highest achievements we humans are capable of. Hearing musicians unite in a common emotional gesture and having that reflected in the audience gives me hope that humanity is capable of great moments of profound togetherness and joy.
WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT WERE YOU KNOWN FOR? Battling against authority, being thrown out of eight schools, and keeping the whole neighborhood up by playing the piano at 3 o’clock in the morning
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SURPRISED YOURSELF IN YOUR PRACTICE? The whole joy of writing a piece of music for me—and doing something new—is that you’re aiming for something that surprises you in an exciting and unexpected way. For instance, there are two notes in the piece “Time” that shouldn’t work together, but the dissonance and conflict they create gives the piece a needed moment of tension and surprise. But really, the biggest surprise in my life is me leaving my studio and standing in front of an audience, looking them firmly in the eye, and not hiding behind a screen anymore—and loving it.
in your life?
