Jocelyn Pook’s distinctive style is a product of her diverse experiences in classical, commercial and world music. She composes music for film, television, theatre, dance and the concert platform. Since graduating in 1983 from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied the viola, she has also toured and recorded extensively with many leading names in rock, pop and classical music, both as a soloist and with her ensemble the Electra Strings. She has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including The Communards, Laurie Anderson, Massive Attack, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Peter Gabriel.
Her original scores for Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and Laurent Cantet’s Time Out (L’emploi du temps) have established her as a highly original composer of screen music. Another notable film credit is Michael Radford’s adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. “Dionysus,” the first track on Untold Things, her most recent CD, features in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. During the last two years has scored several French feature films including Comment j’ai tue mon pere, directed by Anne Fontaine and La Repentie, directed by Laetitia Masson.
Jocelyn co-wrote with Harvey Brough the music for the recent BBC2 10-part drama series In A Land of Plenty. For S4C, she wrote the music for Saints and Sinners, a 6-part documentary series about the history of the papacy, shown in more than twenty countries.
Her 1994 piece Blow the Wind / Pie Jesu, a setting of Kathleen Ferrier’s Blow the Wind Southerly against the contemporary voice of Melanie Pappenheim, became a crossover hit when it was used by Orange for their TV advertising campaign in 1997.
Jocelyn’s scores for Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and Laurent Cantet’s Time Out (L’emploi du temps)have established her as a highly original composer of screen music. Dionysus, the first track on her CDUntold Things, features in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. Jocelyn has scored several French feature films including Comment J’ai tue mon pere, directed by Anne Fontaine and La Repentie starring Isabelle Adjani and directed by Laetitia Masson. More recent film scores have included Michael Radford’s The Merchant of Venice (2004) starring Al Pacino, Sebastian Lifshitz’sWild Side (2004) and a remake of the classic Heidi (2005).
Jocelyn has written the score for the Spanish film Chaotic Ana, the film was released in Spain in August, as yet no UK release date.
Jocelyn's latest project Brick Lane is set for a UK cinema release on the 18th November. Jocelyn Pook is the sole composer for this film, in addition to the score two Pook tracks Adam's Lullaby and Meeting of Hands were placed by Music Sales in the film. The soundtrack will be released to coincide with the film's release. The film is based on the best selling book by Monica Ali and has been greeted with critical acclaim at pre-screenings.
TV
Jocelyn has written extensively for television. Credits include her RTS nominated score to Granada's The Butterfly Collectors, S4C's Saints and Sinners, a six-part documentary on the history of the papacy which was shown in more than twenty countries, and the major BBC2 ten-part drama In a Land of Plenty in 1991 which she co-wrote with Harvey Brough. In 2004 Jocelyn was commissioned as composer forThe Government Inspector, Peter Kosminsky’s drama-documentary for Channel 4, the story of the late Dr David Kelly and the events leading to the invasion of Iraq.
Currently in post production is Everest, based on the story of the first Canadians to reach the peak of Mount Everest.
Jocelyn has provided original music for Enron and Visa advertising campaigns and her 1994 piece Blow the Wind /Pie Jesu, a setting of Kathleen Ferrier’s Blow the Wind Southerly against the contemporary voice of Melanie Pappenheim, became a crossover hit when it was used by Orange for their TV advertising campaign in 1997.