Isobel Noeline Waller-Bridge (born 23 April 1984) is a British composer who is known for her scores for film, television, and theatre, along with her works for electronic music and contemporary classical music.[2]

Isobel Waller-Bridge
Born
Isobel Noeline Waller-Bridge

(1984-04-23) 23 April 1984 (age 40)
London, England
Alma mater
OccupationComposer
RelativesPhoebe Waller-Bridge (sister)
Michelle Dockery (sister-in-law)[1]
Websiteisobelwaller-bridge.com Edit this at Wikidata

Life and career

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Waller-Bridge received her bachelor's degree in music from Edinburgh University and a master's degree from King's College London. She was also awarded a scholarship from the Royal Academy of Music, where she received another diploma.[3]

Waller-Bridge composed the soundtrack for the BBC comedy-drama series Fleabag (2016–2019), which was written by and starred her sister, Phoebe Waller-Bridge.[4] She also wrote the score for the feature films Vita and Virginia (2018) and Emma (2020).[5][6] In 2021, she scored Netflix's Munich: The Edge of War,[7] which was released by Milan Records/Sony Music, and The Phantom of the Open.[8]

Waller-Bridge is also a performer, playing in venues such as the St James Theatre and Union Chapel. In 2016, her music appeared on albums with the Icelandic composers Ólafur Arnalds and Jóhann Jóhannsson.[3] In 2021, she was commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra to write music for their Human/Nature series. Her piece, Temperatures, was premiered in November 2021, conducted by Pekka Kuusisto at the Royal Festival Hall.[9] In 2020, she was commissioned by Sarah Burton to score Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection at Paris Fashion Week.[10] In 2021, she collaborated with ballet dancer and actress Francesca Hayward to score her dance film, Siren.[11]

For theatre, Waller-Bridge worked on Florian Zeller's The Son (West End)[12] and The Forest (Hampstead Theatre),[13] Woyzeck, adapted by Jack Thorne (Old Vic),[14] Blood Wedding (Young Vic),[15] and Knives in Hens (Donmar Warehouse).[16]

In June 2022, it was announced that Waller-Bridge would be providing an original score for an animated short film of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse, which aired on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Christmas 2022.[17] She produced the soundtrack to Sweetpea in 2024 [18]

Personal life

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Waller-Bridge is the daughter of Theresa Mary Waller-Bridge (née Clerke) and Michael Cyprian Waller-Bridge.[19] Her father founded the electronic trading platform Tradepoint and her mother works for the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers.[20][21]

The Waller-Bridge family were landed gentry of Cuckfield, Sussex.[22][23] On her father's side, she is a descendant of the Revd Sir Egerton Leigh, 2nd Baronet, and a distant relative of politician and author Egerton Leigh. Her maternal grandfather was Sir John Edward Longueville Clerke, 12th baronet, of Hitcham, Buckinghamshire.[24]

Waller-Bridge has two younger siblings: Jasper Waller-Bridge and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.[2]

Works

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  • Music for Strings (2013)[25]

Television

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Film

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References

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  1. ^ Sachdeva, Maanya (24 September 2023). "Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery marries Jasper Waller-Bridge in intimate ceremony". The Independent. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b Nepilova, Hannah (15 November 2019). "Isobel Waller-Bridge on fame, Phoebe and going from Fleabag to Austen". The Financial Times. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Waller-Bridge, Isobel. "Biography". isobelwaller-bridge.com. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "Isobel Waller-Bridge on the 'dream' of composing for Vanity Fair – and its 'weird similarities' to sister Phoebe's Fleabag". The Radio Times. 21 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Isobel Waller-Bridge Used Elizabeth Debicki's Actual Heartbeat to Score 'Vita & Virginia'". indiewire. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  6. ^ Wilde, Autumn de (6 March 2020), Emma. (Comedy, Drama, Romance), Working Title Films, Blueprint Pictures, Focus Features, retrieved 14 March 2022
  7. ^ Schwochow, Christian (21 January 2022), Munich: The Edge of War (Biography, Drama, History), Turbine Studios, Netflix, retrieved 14 March 2022
  8. ^ Roberts, Craig (18 March 2022), The Phantom of the Open (Comedy, Drama, Sport), BBC Films, Baby Cow Productions, British Film Institute (BFI), retrieved 14 March 2022
  9. ^ "Pekka Kuusisto: Four Seasons, and Four Seascapes". Philharmonia. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  10. ^ "If You Need To Escape For A Moment Today, Listen To This Soothing Alexander McQueen Playlist by Isobel Waller-Bridge". British Vogue. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Top Spot of the Week: Jess Kohl Directs Royal Ballet's Francesca Hayward in "Siren"". SHOOTonline. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  12. ^ "The Son". London Theatre. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  13. ^ "THE FOREST". Hampstead Theatre. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Woyzeck review – John Boyega shines as traumatised soldier in 80s Berlin". the Guardian. 23 May 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  15. ^ "Blood Wedding". Young Vic website. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  16. ^ "KNIVES IN HENS". Donmar Warehouse. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  17. ^ "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse coming to BBC One and iPlayer this Christmas". BBC Media Centre. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  18. ^ https://www.nme.com/news/tv/heres-every-song-on-the-sweetpea-soundtrack-3802076
  19. ^ Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. Debrett's Peerage Limited. 2011. p. 234.
  20. ^ Hattenstone, Simon (8 September 2018). "Phoebe Waller-Bridge: 'I have an appetite for transgressive women'". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  21. ^ "Engagements: Mr C. T. P. Woodman and Ms P. M. Waller-Bridge". The Daily Telegraph. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  22. ^ Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1976). Burke's Family Index. Burke's Peerage Limited. p. 18. ISBN 978-0850110227.
  23. ^ Townend, Peter, ed. (1972). Burke's Landed Gentry. Vol. 3 (18th ed.). Burke's Peerage Limited. p. 532.
  24. ^ Burke's Peerage, Knightage and Baronetage. Vol. 1 (107th ed.). Burke's Peerage Limited. 1 December 2003. p. 819. ISBN 978-0971196629.
  25. ^ "Isobel Waller-Bridge – Music for Strings". SoundCloud.
  26. ^ "Isobel Waller-Bridge to Score BBC's 'The ABC Murders'". Filmmusicreporter.com. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  27. ^ https://www.nme.com/news/tv/heres-every-song-on-the-sweetpea-soundtrack-3802076
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