James Hannigan is a BAFTA and IFMCA winning composer and music producer, known for his hugely diverse output across all forms of media. Among his many credits are entries in the multi-million selling Harry Potter, Dead Space, Transformers, The Lord of the Rings, Evil Genius, Command and Conquer and Warhammer video game franchises; TV and Radio including ITV’s Primeval and BBC R4’s Good Omens; Amazon/Audible’s multi-award winning full-cast Alien quadrilogy; the New York Times No.1 bestselling audio adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (with a cast including James McAvoy, Michael Sheen and Taron Egerton) and many others.
An IFMCA (International Film Music Critics Association) Award winner for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (VG; BAFTA nomination, Music, 2010), Hannigan has scored titles such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (EA/WBIE), the Guinness World Record-breaking RuneScape, Dead Space 3, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (VG), Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (including its celebrated theme, Soviet March) and his current projects include Evil Genius 2 – the sequel to 2004’s cult hit, originally developed by Elixir Studios and Google DeepMind Founder, Demis Hassabis.
Hannigan’s other credits include Microsoft’s entry in the ‘Wing Commander’ universe, Freelancer; Catwoman, Brute Force, Privateer: The Darkening (with Christopher Walken, Clive Owen and John Hurt), Space Hulk, the BAFTA-nominated interactive score of Republic: The Revolution, Reign of Fire, Theme Park World (BAFTA Award, 2000), entries in EA Sports’ F1 and FIFA series, Nintendo’s Art Academy (often heard also in Super Smash Bros), Evil Genius (BAFTA Nomination, Music, 2004), Amazon/Audible’s adaptations of Alien: Out of the Shadows and Alien 3 (featuring Rutger Hauer and Michael Biehn) and Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals; BBC R4’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (with James McAvoy, Christopher Lee and Benedict Cumberbatch), Wizarding World and Pottermore; Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, Warhammer: SotHR, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, Transformers Universe and others. Hannigan’s music is also heard every day around the world in TV shows as diverse as The Grand Tour, Top Gear and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
With his music airing on radio stations such as Classic FM and Scala Radio, Hannigan has worked with countless world class musicians, and orchestras including the Philharmonia, The Chamber Orchestra of London (COOL), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and Slovak Symphony Orchestra, recording at locations such as Air-Lyndhurst, Abbey Road Studios and Skywalker Ranch. A regular interviewee and panellist for BBC radio, Comic Con and other international events, Hannigan has been the subject of BAFTA’s Conversations with Composers at the Royal Albert Hall, and his music has been performed in numerous concerts. He is also founder of London Southbank-based events Screen Music Connect and Game Music Connect – which in previous years have been partnered with BAFTA, PRS, Sony Playstation, EA, Music Week and the Ivors Academy.