Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch is an award-winning French pianist/composer living in London. Spanning orchestral film score, bespoke composition and sound design, her work is connected by its evocative and meticulous craft.
Emilie began her compositional career in 2006, when she moved from Bordeaux to London to carry out a BA in Music at Westminster University, then a Master’s degree in Composition at Goldsmiths with a primary focus on contemporary classical music.
In 2013, Emilie received the Emerging Excellence Award from the Musician Benevolent Fund, and in 2015 was commissioned to create a sound-walk for London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. She has also worked on multiple projects in collaboration with visual artists Danica Dakic, Alice May Williams and Natasha Caruana. She has created music for video installations exhibited at Jerwood Project Space, Speke Hall, The ODI, Arles Photo Festival; and also, for VR installations for HOUSE Biennal. As a live performer she has played Tallinn Music Week, Brighton Festival and the Union Chapel.
In 2017, Emilie was commissioned by The London Contemporary Orchestra to write a piece for small string ensemble and live electronics, which received a premiere during the 2017 BBC Proms at The Tanks at Tate Modern.
Emilie scored Harry Wootliff’s debut feature Only You which premiered in the BFI London Film Festival in 2018. Commissions followed for the V&A Museum (London), HBO short film Love NY, and for drama / documentaries on BBC Radio 4, The Guardian and Funny or Die. In 2019, Emilie scored the critically acclaimed Rocks. Directed by Sarah Gavron, and produced by Fable Pictures, Rocks is an intimate and honest portrayal of a teenage girl in East London who suddenly finds herself struggling to take care of herself and her younger brother. Emilie was nominated for a BIFA Award for Best Music for her score to the film.
Emilie scored Prano Bailey-Bond‘s greatly anticipated debut feature, Censor, a psychological horror set in 1985, against the backdrop of social hysteria surrounding video nasties; Emilie’s score was released on the Bristol based label Invada, and nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. Her next score was for the epic World War 2 drama feature, The Forgotten Battle, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. on Netflix, which was the No. 1 streamed film worldwide on the platform during its first weekend.
In 2021 Emilie scored Oliver Hermanus‘ Living, an English language reimagining of the 1952 film Ikuru, starring Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood, winning Best Original Score in an Independent Film at theHollywood Music in Media Awards for the score. The film premiered at Sundance, generating great reviews for all aspects of the production. The film was released theatrically in the UK in November 2022, and is on streaming platforms from June 2023.
Emilie has since scored Nathaniel Martello-White‘s The Strays, starring Ashley Madekwe (County Lines) and Bukky Bakray (Rocks), made by The Bureau & Air Street Films for Netflix. The film chronicles an upper-middle-class woman’s perfectly crafted life beginning to unravel after the arrival of two shadowy figures in her town.
Her most recent score is for the upcoming Searchlight Pictures British romantic feature All Of Us Strangers, written and directed by Andrew Haigh and starring Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Claire Foy. The film premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival, was Headline Gala feature at the 67th BFI London Film Festival and will be in UK cinemas on 26th January 2024.
Emilie’s debut album, Like Water Through the Sand was released in November 2015 by the label, 130701 , with her second album Epoques following in Summer 2018. Emilie’s track And Light Spills In was included on LEITER’s compilation album, Piano Day Vol. I, in celebration of Piano Day 2021, and Emilie’s third album, Ravage, a deeply personal ‘mourning-diary’, was released in June 2022.
Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch est une pianiste/compositrice française primée qui habite à Londres. En 2006, Emilie a déménagé de Bordeaux pour entreprendre un Bachelier en musique à l’Université de Westminster, et ensuite un Master en composition à Goldsmiths avec la musique classique contemporaine comme objectif principal. Passant de la composition pour film, la composition sur mesure, à la création sonore, son travail est connecté par son art méticuleux et évocateur.
Emilie a composé la musique pour son premier film long-métrage en 2012 : (“The Sheik and I” du directeur américain/iranien) et pour le premier long-métrage de Harry Wootliff “Only You”, qui est sorti au BFI London Film Festival.
Son CV comprend aussi des commissions pour le V&A Museum (London), le court film “Love NY” de HBO, et pour des drames/documentaires sur BBC Radio 4, The Guardian, Funny or Die. En 2013, elle a recu le prix Emerging Excellence Award du Musician Benevolent Fund, et en 2015, elle a été commissionnée pour créer une promenade-son pour le Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park de Londres.
Elle a également travaillé sur de nombreux projets en collaboration avec les artistes visuels Danica Dakic, Alice May Williams et Natasha Caruana. Elle a créé la musique pour des installations vidéos exhibées au Jerwood Project Space, Speke Hall, The ODI, Arles Photo Festival ; et également pour des installations VR pour House Biennal. En tant qu’artiste live, elle a joué au Tallinn Music Week, Brighton Festival et au Union Chapel.
En 2017, elle a été commissionnée par The London Contemporary Orchestra pour écrire une pièce pour un ensemble de petites cordes et électroniques live, qui est sortie pendant le BBC Proms de 2017 au The Tanks at Tate Modern.
Le premier album d’Emilie “Like Water Through the Sand” est sorti sur 130701 en novembre 2015, et son deuxième album “Epoques” a suivi en été 2018.