Biography

Aardman Animations, BBC Audiobooks, Harper Collins, The Daily Telegraph, The Economist, Transport for London, The St Paul’s Cathedral Choir, The Bach Choir, The Brodsky Quartet, Motion Group Pictures, The Arcola Theatre and the Soho Theatre; some of the world class organisations that Jools Scott has composed music for over the last 15 years.

Jools Scott is a highly creative and versatile composer, as much at home in writing for media as he is spearheading his own contemporary composition projects.

In the last four years he has written three major musical theatre works in collaboration with lyricist, Sue Curtis. Vice, a two hour jazz musical based on The Revenger’s Tragedy by Thomas Middleton, has had performances in the Arcola and Soho Theatres in London in 2010. Demon Lover, a chamber opera based on The Demon Lover by Elisabeth Bowen, was performed as a work-in-progress at the Grimeborn Opera Festival in August 2011. Goose, a children’s musical written in 2011, is currently being distributed to theatres by Berlin Associates.

In 2010 a collaboration began with award-winning director Andrew Steggall of Motion Group Pictures. Jools, together with Beth Porter, wrote and performed the score for Sparrow, a short film that premiered at the BFI. In 2011, Jools wrote the score for his next film, The Door, starring Charles Dance and Harriet Walter, and recorded it with members of the Brodsky Quartet at Air Studios. The Door was screened at the Soho Hotel in London and is at present being entered for all the major international Festivals.

In 2006 Jools was commissioned to write the soundtrack for Aardman Animations first HD short, Off Beat, with lead animator Will Becher. In 2002 he wrote the theme for Will Becher’s BAFTA nominated animation, Boxed In.

From 2008 to 2009, Jools worked with BBC Audio Books and Talking Issues on commissions from Harper Collins, Littlebrown and The Daily Telegraph, including titles from Eric Carle, Alexander McCall Smith, Ngaio Marsh, Dr Seuss, Rob Scoton and Mark Hadden. Other media/corporate work for organisations such as The Economist and Transport for London followed.

As a 17 year old Jools won the Bach Choir Carol competition with So Long Ago which received two performances in the Royal Albert Hall and was broadcast on Danish National Radio. So Long Ago is published by The RSCM in a volume of Anthems alongside Malcolm Archer, Mozart and other esteemed composers. Aged 13, Jools wrote the closing piece for his last performance as a choirboy in the St Paul’s Cathedral Choir.

Whatever material Jools is working with, his sensitivity to tone and atmosphere and wide range of reference creates uniquely individual and intelligent music which illuminates his subject and blends faultlessly with the words and spirit which informs it. Whether it is a breathtaking choral piece, a raucously comic work for children, a complex and exhilarating jazz number, or a haunting evocation of mood, Jools produces work which comes straight from the soul.

His work with corporate clients has been praised for its versatility, time-critical execution and contextual relevance.

In 2008, Jools was brought into the stable of composers of London-based film, television and theatrical agents, Berlin Associates.

As a professional piano player, Jools has recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, been a regular performer at the Glastonbury Festival, is resident pianist at the Bath Pump Rooms, and plays regularly with several touring bands. He also sings and plays the accordian, guitar, cello, drums and pitched percussion as well as being versed in all the major music IT packages.

Jools’ musical education began when he became a choral scholar in the St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir, and continued at Sherborne School on a major music scholarship. He went on to study composition at the Royal Academy of Music.