‘Life of Pi’ Composer Mychael Danna Receives Lifetime Achievement Award at SoundTrack_Cologne in Germany

Composer Mychael Danna received a lifetime achievement award at the SoundTrack_Cologne, which was held at the Comedia Theater in Cologne, Germany, on Friday. Previous recipients of the award include Rachel Portman, Bruce Broughton, Cliff Martinez and Michael Nyman.

Danna is best known for his score for Life of Pi, for which he won an Oscar in 2013 for best original score. He won a Primetime Emmy later that same year for outstanding music composition for a miniseries, movie or a special (original dramatic score) for the miniseries World Without End.

Journalist Daniel Kothenschulte presented the award to Danna, noting, “Mychael Danna came to film music [in 1987] when that changed decisively. We can also say that he has made a decisive contribution to the expansion of the sound language of cinema since the mid-1980s.”

He added: “Danna’s music knows no hierarchies … which makes it impossible to predict where his work will go after more than 80 scores.”

The Canadian-born composer is the older brother of composer Jeff Danna. The two have collaborated on 16 scores for film and television, including Lakeview Terrace, The Breadwinner, The Addams Family (2019) and its 2021 sequel and Onward.

Mychael Danna’s other collaborators on scores include Rob Simonsen ((500 Days) of Summer and Harry Gregson-Williams (Return to Space).

Danna has amassed seven Primetime Emmy nods, two Oscar nods and two Grammy nods. His other films include On the Basis of Sex, Capote and Moneyball.

This was the 20th edition of SoundTrack_Cologne. During the event, the WDR Funkhausorchestra played pieces by such film composers as Danna, Portman, Natalie Holt and Carlos Rafael Rivera.