Hans-Zimmer.com

On saturday october the 22th, The beautiful city of ghent (Belgium) organised its 11th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards as its Filmfestival closing ceremony.

This year, the concert was dedicated to Miss Ronni Chasen, who was the agent of many Hollywood Talents like actor Michael Douglas, for the Gent Film Festival at Hollywood & composers like Elliot Goldenthal, Howard Shore & Hans Zimmer who were there (except Mr Shore who was in New Zealand working on Peter Jackson's Hobbit) to perform pieces of their compositions for the cinema.
Performed by the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra and directed by Dirk Brossé, this concert was a tribute to this great Lady in the film industry who was murdered last year just after the "Burlesque" premiere. A shock for all her friends who describe her as a really nice and caring person.

11 years after the Hans Zimmer' notorious concert live in Ghent, which led to the "Wings Of A Film" cd, it was for us the great opportunity to meet the composer and focus on his current motivations. Time for us to have our very first interview with Mr Zimmer and share with you this great moment in our website history... Here's a 16 minutes video which summarizes this day of work, to testify that Miss Ronni Chasen remains in the heart of everyone. We have to thank the filmfestival organizers who made this interview possible & Mr Dirk BROSSE for authorizing our cameras in the heart of the orchestra.

Another friendly meeting was the one with composer Lorne BALFE who is becoming the systematic name attached to Hans ZIMMER. Thanks to his talent and friendly relationship with the german born composer, he has become maybe the most famous and followed Remote Control composer. It is with great enthusiasm that he agreed to answer our short interview...

Hans-ZIMMER.com : After that Ghent concert, what is your feeling about this event ?

Lorne BALFE : It was such an enjoyable evening. The privilege of performing with such a fantastic orchestra and soloists was unbelievable but, most importantly being able to perform the music in honor of Ronni Chasen was most important. She was a truly wonderful woman, and was always very encouraging to younger composers like myself. She would have been looking down smiling and listening I am sure. The first time I met her was actually at Ghent 11 years ago.
I also loved Hans' new arrangement of Driving Miss Daisy with Satnam doing human beat box. BRILLIANT. The festival is a wonderful event. Everyone that works there gives their hearts to it, making sure it happens perfectly.

H-Z.com : What kind of preparation is necessary for such a performance ?

LB : IT TAKES A LOT OF WORK AND TIME ! Hans is very lucky to have a great team around him. Slamm Andrews and Chuck Choi had managed to have everything set up and running for us when we arrived. Dirk had done a wonderful job rehearsing the orchestra. Having Gavin Greenaway there also was a fantastic help with the general sonic environment. Hans is fantastic when it comes to our performances. He is very hands on and always has a very clear concept for the shows. He wants the show to be visual as well as a musical performance. Hans spent a while making the structure of our performance. It had to tell a story musically, and it couldn't simply be pieces of music randomly slapped together.

H-Z.com : A composer is usually someone in the shadow, to be a performer in the light is that something you appreciate, after all could you be done for that ?

LB : When I rarely do perform, I realize what a great talent soloists have. It is the most never raking thing I have ever done ! I am far too used to sitting in my room and due to my bad piano playing, having ever third note wrong ! It is just nice to be able to play with your friends and after working with the music for so long, be able to perform it and enjoy the experience with the orchestra. Normally I see them through the glass of the studio, so it is great to be part of them. You have to pinch yourself also, you're playing and Johnny Marr is 5 feet away playing. I would have never believed it, if you were to tell me I would have been doing that a few years ago .

A more complete interview will be released in the media section very soon !

The Hans-ZIMMER.com team would like to thank Hans ZIMMER, Andrew ZACK, Jeff SANDERSON, Jan VERVAET and all at the Film Festival, Lorne BALFE & Dirk BROSSE.

More details about the winners of the World Soundtrack Awards 2011 HERE