Austin Wintory
Guest Composer/Conductor
Austin Wintory has built his career on curiosity and experimentation. He began his obsession with composing at ten years old, when he discovered Jerry Goldsmith’s scores to Patton and A Patch of Blue.
After a busy high school career composing for student orchestras, Austin went on to study at NYU and USC with composers Morten Lauridsen, Charles Fussell, and Erica Muhl. Never satisfied with working in a single medium, Austin has worked in the concert world, film music, video games, and others.
In March 2012, the PlayStation3 game Journey was released, after three years of work. The game instantly became Sony’s fastest-selling PlayStation title, and the soundtrack album debuted on the Billboard charts higher than any original score in gaming history. In December 2012, more history was made when it was announced that Journey had become the first-ever Grammy-nominated videogame score. The score subsequently won an Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences D.I.C.E. award, two British Academy Awards, a Spike TV VGA, and IGN’s “Overall Music of the Year,” five G.A.N.G. Awards and host of others.
Austin’s next major game effort was Stoic Studio’s The Banner Saga, a unique and mature turn-based strategy/RPG hybrid with a dazzling art direction. Austin scored the debut title for Giant Squid Studios, ABZÛ, and in 2015, he wrote and produced the score for Ubisoft’s latest blockbuster: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. The score earned Austin his 6th British Academy Award nomination, and second ASCAP Composer’s Choice Award win, and was lauded as among the top game scores for 2015.
Austin has also scored nearly 50 feature films, and his first major film score, for the Sundance Film Festival-winning film Captain Abu Raed, was shortlisted for the 2009 Academy Awards for Best Original Score by the LA Times.
Austin maintains a busy concert composing schedule, with regular appearances throughout the world. Most recently he premiered the commissioned work This Gaming Life with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. His chamber music show Mythos, combining his own music with other contemporary works, went on tour following a successful world premiere in Manhattan at New York Comic Con in 2014.
Passionate about education, Austin is a regular public speaker at schools and events around the world, in addition to pre-concert talks and workshops.