Alberto Iglesias

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Iglesias and the second or maternal family name is Fernández-Berridi.

Alberto Iglesias
Iglesias at Film Music Festival in Kraków, 2013
Background information
Birth name	Alberto Iglesias Fernández-Berridi
Born	(1955-10-21) 21 October 1955 (age 69) San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain
Genres	Film score, contemporary classical music
Occupation	Composer
Years active	1983–present

Alberto Iglesias Fernández-Berridi (born 21 October 1955)^[1] is a Spanish composer. He was first noticed as a score composer for Spanish films, mostly from Pedro Almodóvar and Julio Medem.^[1] His career became more international with time and he eventually started to work also in Hollywood. Since then, he has been nominated four times for an Academy Award for his work in the films The Constant Gardener (2005),^[1] The Kite Runner (2007), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), and Parallel Mothers (2021). His other film credits include soundtracks for Steven Soderbergh's Che.^[2] and Hossein Amini's The Two Faces of January (2014).^[3] Iglesias also has worked for ballet and has done other classical music work.

Early and personal life

Alberto Iglesias Fernández-Berridi^[4] was born in 1955 in San Sebastián, Spain.^[5] His sister is visual artist Cristina Iglesias.^[6][7] Iglesias was the brother-in-law of the late Spanish sculptor, Juan Muñoz.^[6][7]

Career

Iglesias studied harmony and counterpoint at the Conservatory of his home city, with Francisco Escudero, continuing his education in Paris, where he studied composition and piano, and at Phonos studios, in Barcelona, where he learned electronic music. Afterwards, he created a duo of electronic music with Javier Navarrete, who worked and performed together from 1981 to 1986. Iglesias began working in film composition in the 1980s.^[8] He has composed a number of scores for films directed by Pedro Almodóvar, such as The Flower of My Secret (1995), Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Talk to Her (2002), Bad Education (2004), Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009) and The Skin I Live In (2011).^{[5][9][10][11][12][13][14]}

Iglesias also composed the music for Sex and Lucia (2001), directed by Julio Medem^[5] and for Oliver Stone's documentary, Comandante (2003).^[5]

Iglesias garnered his first Oscar nomination for his score in Fernando Meirelles's film adaptation of The Constant Gardener (2005).^[5] Iglesias also composed the score for The Kite Runner (2007), based on Khaled Hosseini's 2003 novel of the same name.^[9] Iglesias earned his second Oscar nomination for that score.^[13][15][16]

In 2008, Iglesias composed Steven Soderbergh's 2008 two-part biopic, Che (2008), starring Benicio del Toro as Che Guevara.^[17]

That same year, Iglesias composed the music for Tomas Alfredson's film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, starring Gary Oldman as George Smiley. Iglesias told the Los Angeles Times: "(Alfredson) explained to me very well what this film is about. It's a film about loyalties and human relationships. Their spies are victims of this moment. That was the most important thing he told me. The film and the music show the more human side."^[18] He received his third Oscar nomination for the latter film.^[19]

Work

Film

Composer credits

Year	Title	Director	Refs
1983	La conquista de Albania	Alfonso Ungría
1983	La muerte de Mikel	Imanol Uribe
1987	Adiós pequeña
1992	Cows (Vacas)	Julio Medem
1993	Outrage! (¡Dispara!)	Carlos Saura
1993	The Red Squirrel	Julio Medem
1995	Una casa en las afueras	Pedro Costa
1995	The Flower of My Secret	Pedro Almodóvar
1997	Live Flesh
1997	The Chambermaid on the Titanic	Bigas Luna
1998	Lovers of the Arctic Circle	Julio Medem
1999	All About My Mother	Pedro Almodóvar
2001	Sex and Lucia	Julio Medem
2002	Talk to Her	Pedro Almodóvar
2002	The Dancer Upstairs	John Malkovich
2004	Bad Education	Pedro Almodóvar
2005	The Constant Gardener	Fernando Meirelles
2006	Volver	Pedro Almodóvar
2007	The Kite Runner	Marc Forster
2008	Che	Steven Soderbergh
2009	Broken Embraces	Pedro Almodóvar
2010	Even the Rain	Icíar Bollaín
2011	The Skin I Live In	Pedro Almodóvar
2011	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Tomas Alfredson
2012	I'm So Excited	Pedro Almodóvar
2014	The Two Faces of January	Hossein Amini
2014	Exodus: Gods and Kings	Ridley Scott
2015	Ma Ma	Julio Medem
2016	Julieta	Pedro Almodóvar
2017	The Summit	Santiago Mitre
2018	Quién te cantará	Carlos Vermut
2018	Yuli: The Carlos Acosta Story	Icíar Bollaín
2019	Pain and Glory	Pedro Almodóvar
2020	The Human Voice
2021	Parallel Mothers
2021	Maixabel	Icíar Bollaín

Ballet

Iglesias composed the musical score for four ballets produced by Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato and the Spanish National Dance Company.

• 1992 – Cautiva
• 1994 – Tabulae
• 1995 – Cero sobre Cero
• 1997 – Self

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Project	Result	Ref.
2005	Academy Award	Best Original Score	The Constant Gardener	Nominated
2007			The Kite Runner	Nominated
2011			Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Nominated
2021			Parallel Mothers	Nominated
2007	Golden Globe Awards	Best Original Score	The Kite Runner	Nominated
2022			Parallel Mothers	Nominated
2005	British Academy Film Awards	Best Original Music	The Constant Gardener	Nominated
2007			The Kite Runner	Nominated
2011			Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Nominated
2004	European Film Awards	Best Composer	Bad Education & Take My Eyes	Nominated
2006			Volver	Won
2011			The Skin I Live In	Nominated
1992	Goya Awards	Best Original Score	Vacas	Nominated
1993			La ardilla roja	Won
1996			Tierra	Won
1998			Los amantes del círculo polar	Won
1999			Todo sobre mi madre	Won
2001			Lucia y el sexo	Won
2002			Hable con ella	Won	[20]
2006			Volver	Won
2008			Che	Nominated
2009			Broken Embraces	Won
2010			Even the Rain	Won
2011			The Skin I Live In	Won
2015			Ma Ma	Nominated
2016			Julieta	Nominated
2017			The Summit	Nominated
2018			Yuli	Nominated
2019			Pain and Glory	Won
2021			Maixabel	Nominated
2019	Cannes Film Festival	Best Soundtrack	Pain and Glory	Won	[21]
2011	Hollywood Film Festival	Soundtrack Composer of the Year	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy / The Skin I Live In	Won
2019	Platino Awards	Best Original Score	Yuli	Won
2004	World Soundtrack Awards	Soundtrack Composer of the Year	Bad Education	Nominated
2005			The Constant Gardener	Won
2012			Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy / The Skin I Live In	Won	[22]

See also

• List of Spanish Academy Award winners and nominees

References

1. Gutierrez, Evan C. "Alberto Iglesias Biography". Allmusic. Netaktion LLC. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
2. Baker, Aaron (31 May 2011). Steven Soderbergh. University of Illinois Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0252036057.
3. Amini, Hossein (2014). The Two Faces of January. Magnolia Pictures. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
4. "Alberto Iglesias". People.theiapolis. Retrieved 18 October 2015.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
5. "Composer Iglesias Wins Spain Film Award". Fox News Channel. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
6. Lingwood, James (2 September 2001). "'He made the world larger'". The Observer. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
7. "Juan Munoz". The Daily Telegraph. 31 August 2001. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
8. Alberto Iglesias Biography, Allmusic
9. "Spain Honors a Film Composer". The New York Times. 4 September 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
10. Wilmington, Michael (25 December 2002). "In 'Talk to Her,' Almodovar creates his masterpiece". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
11. Phillips, Michael (22 November 2006). "In 'Volver,' Almodovar masters a melange of genres". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
12. Mira, Alberto (2005). The Cinema of Spain and Portugal. Wallflower Press. ISBN 9781904764441.
13. "Alberto Iglesias, The Sound of Almodovar". WQXR-FM. 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. Phillips, Michael (20 October 2011). "Sleek, lovely 'Skin I Live In' reveals elegance in the grotesque -- 3 stars". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Alberto Iglesias". Hollywood.com.
16. "Overview for Alberto Iglesias". Turner Classic Movies.
17. Phillips, Michael (16 September 2014). "'Che' stars Benicio Del Toro, Demian Bichir". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. Martens, Todd (8 December 2011). "The Scores: Iglesias searches for the sound of loyalty in 'Tinker'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "The 84th Academy Awards". The Boston Globe. 24 January 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. Mira, Alberto (2010) The A to Z of Spanish Cinema, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 978-0810876224, p. 158
21. EFE (25 May 2019). "La banda sonora de Alberto Iglesias para "Dolor y Gloria", premiada en Cannes". ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 May 2019.
22. Kilday, Greg (21 October 2012) "Alberto Iglesias Named Film Composer of the Year at the World Soundtrack Awards", The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 September 2013

External links

• Alberto Iglesias Official Site
• Alberto Iglesias at IMDb
• "ALBERTO IGLESIAS San Sebastián (Spain) 1955"