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Craig Armstrong, born in Glasgow, Scotland 1959. Studied composition and piano at the Royal Academy of Music London from 1977 to 1981. Since then from his base in Glasgow he has written award winning film scores, classical and theatrical compositions and recorded his own solo albums.

Craig’s score for Baz Luhrmann’s groundbreaking musical Moulin Rouge! earned him AFI’s Composer of the Year, a Golden Globe for Best Original Score of the Year and a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music. Craig was awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score for Phillip Noyce’s The Quiet American. His other feature film scoring credits include the Oliver Stone drama World Trade Center; the Oscar®-winning bio-pic Ray for which Craig was awarded a Grammy for Best Original Score; and the worldwide ensemble comedy smash Love Actually. His scores can also be heard in The Magdalene Sisters, Kiss of the Dragon, The Bone Collector, The Clearing, Plunkett & Macleane, Best Laid Plans and Orphans. His score to William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (again with Baz Luhrmann) also earned him a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music and an Ivor Novello. In 2007 Craig was Brit and Bafta nominated for his score for Shekhar Kapur’s film Elizabeth: The Golden Age. His most recent film was summer 2008’s blockbuster ‘The Hulk’.

Craig has had many collaborations including recording and performing the album ‘Dolls’ with the Berlin laptop artist, AGF and Vladislav Delay. He has worked with a wide variety of artists, including U2, Madonna, Luciano Pavarotti, and Massive Attack.

Over the last decade Craig has released two solo records to Massive Attack’s label Melankolic, Piano Works on Sanctuary in 2004 and Film Works on Universal in 2005.

Craig formed a band called ‘Winona’ in 2007 with long term collaborator Scott Fraser. Two singers Lucy Pullin and Laurence Ashley make up the band whose first release ‘Rosebud’ came out on Annalog Records in March 2008.

Armstrong has written several classical commissions for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Hebrides Ensemble and the Scottish Ensemble.

In 2006 Craig collaborated with the visual artists Dalziel and Scullion for the reopening of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow with a joint exhibition called Once. In 2007 Craig’s first opera was premiered as part of the Scottish Opera ‘5:15 - Opera’s made in Scotland’, a 15min opera with a libretto by Ian Rankin.

In 2007 Craig recorded his first classical record for EMI Classics France with the BBC Symphony Orchestra released in March 2008 which includes a violin concerto for Clio Gould . Craig also continues teaching as visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music London.

As a sought after composer for commercials Craig has worked with brands such as Chanel No5, Audi, Citroen, and Guinness to name a few.