About
James Hannigan is a BAFTA Award-winning composer known for his evocative, narrative-driven scores across AAA games, television, cutting-edge audio drama and other media. His game credits include entries in the Harry Potter, Dead Space, RuneScape, Warhammer, Evil Genius, FIFA, F1, Transformers, Theme Park, The Lord of the Rings, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Command & Conquer series, among others, and his work has received a further five BAFTA nominations. | LISTEN
An IFMCA Award winner for EA’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and a Webby People’s Voice Award recipient for The Sandman: Act II – featuring “The Song of Orpheus” sung by Regé-Jean Page – his audio drama credits include The Sandman (with a cast including James McAvoy and Michael Sheen; Amazon’s best-selling Audible Original to date), DC’s Kingdom Come, BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Neverwhere and Good Omens, and the Audie Award-winning Alien series. He has also written themes for the newly recorded Discworld and the much-loved Harry Potter audiobooks read by Stephen Fry. (continued below)
Hannigan’s music – including the parodic Red Alert 3 Theme: Soviet March, RuneScape Theme and other tracks – has been streamed hundreds of millions of times and performed in concerts worldwide. With his scores often combining traditional techniques, sound design and experimental production, he has recorded with ensembles including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of London and the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra. | NEWS
His television work includes contributions to Primeval (BBC America), while music from his back catalogue has been heard in a wide range of shows, including Top Gear, The Grand Tour, Emily in Paris, Saturday Night Live, and many more.
A number of his tracks can also be heard in the Terraria and Super Smash Bros. franchises, and he has scored several popular mobile and handheld titles, including Nintendo’s Art Academy and, recently, Call of Antia. Other recent projects include Rebellion’s Evil Genius 2, Steelrising, and unannounced projects for Amazon and Audible.
Earlier credits include Freelancer, Privateer 2: The Darkening (featuring Christopher Walken, Clive Owen and John Hurt), Catwoman, Theme Park World, Reign of Fire, Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat, Space Hulk, Dead Space 3, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - as well as the BAFTA-nominated Evil Genius and Republic: The Revolution - designed by Demis Hassabis (later CEO of Google DeepMind). An occasional sound designer, his early credits also include sound design for films such as the Golden Reel-nominated Lost in Space.
Hannigan is a longstanding BAFTA member and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and has co-founded sold-out industry conferences including Screen Music Connect and Game Music Connect, held at London’s Southbank Centre in partnership with organisations including BAFTA, Classic FM, Sony PlayStation, Music Week and The Ivors Academy. He has been interviewed by BBC Radio, Classic FM, Sky TV, IGN, Forbes, MusicRadar and others, and has written forewords for books including Tim Summers’ Understanding Video Game Music (Cambridge University Press, 2016) as well as articles for Classic FM, DEVELOP, Pixel Addict and other outlets on subjects including screen music, interactive audio and the impact of AI in the arts.
James Hannigan is represented worldwide by COOL Music.
James Hannigan doesn't use social media