biography

James Hannigan is a BAFTA award-winning composer and producer, with credits spanning multi-million-selling video games, television, and cutting edge audio drama. His work includes entries in the Harry Potter, Dead Space, Evil Genius, RuneScape, Warhammer, Theme Park, EA Sports, Command and Conquer video game series; full-cast audio adaptations including the NY Times #1 bestselling The Sandman, the Audie award-winning Alien series and audiobooks including the newly recorded Discworld and the Harry Potter series read by Stephen Fry. He’s also the founder of several London-based events and conferences, including Screen Music Connect and Game Music Connect at the Southbank Centre, London. | LISTEN

Among Hannigan’s other awards are a Webby People’s Choice Award for The Sandman Act II (with James McAvoy , Michael Sheen, and Regé-Jean Page) and, in earlier years, an IFMCA (International Film Music Critics Association) Award for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince VG (also BAFTA Nominated, 2010). His themes have been streamed hundreds of millions of times across media platforms, and music from his back catalogue can be heard in numerous TV productions – ranging from Top Gear and The Grand Tour to The World According to Jeff Goldblum and Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking.

New: AI’s Hollow Harmony | The new Discworld Theme

An occasional panelist at Comic-Con, interviewed by BBC Radio, Classic FM, Sky TV, IGN, Forbes, Music Radar and others, he has also written articles on subjects ranging from the function of screen music and interactive audio to the implications of AI in Music. He has appeared on the cover of DEVELOP magazine, spoken at conferences and institutions such as The School of Sound, EIGF, Musicworks, Ludomusicology, DEVELOP, and The Royal College of Music, and has been featured in BAFTA’s “Conversations with Composers” series at the Albert Hall. <cont. below>

Hannigan has recorded with world class orchestras including The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Skywalker Symphony Orchestra, at iconic studios such as Abbey Road, Air-Lyndhurst, and Skywalker Ranch. Among his other credits are entries in the FIFA, F1, Grand Prix, Transformers, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, The Lord of the Rings, and Space Hulk VG series; Evil Genius 2 (2022), Steelrising (2022), Nintendo’s Art Academy (also heard in the Super Smash Bros. series), Terraria: Otherworld, Red Alert 3 (including its parodic theme, Soviet March), Microsoft’s Freelancer, Primeval (BBC America), Reign of Fire, Catwoman, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (VG), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (BAFTA Nomination, Original Music; IFMCA Award), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 &2 (EA/WB), Theme Park World (BAFTA Award, 2000), Dead Space 3, Red Alert 3 (with J.K. Simmons and Tim Curry), Evil Genius (BAFTA Nomination, Original Music), Republic: The Revolution (BAFTA Nomination, Original Music),  Call of Antia (2022), RuneScape 3 (Develop Award Nomination), RuneScape: The Orchestral Collection, BBC Radio 4’s adaptations of Good Omens and Neverwhere, and more. | VIDEO

Deeply fascinated by the intersection of music, sound and technology, early in his career Hannigan was an innovator in the field of interactive music. Working internally with Electronic Arts and then later from his offices at Pinewood Studios in London, he devised pioneering interactive playback systems for numerous titles – including Sim Theme Park, Republic and Evil Genius, the latter two designed by Elixir Studios and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis. Hannigan's early work in other media includes sound design for films such as the Golden Reel-Nominated, Lost in Space.

Music from Hannigan’s back catalogue can also be heard in numerous TV productions, documentaries, commercials and trailers, on channels and platforms including Disney+, Discovery, The BBC and Netflix - ranging from, among many others, episodes of Top Gear, The Grand Tour and SpongeBob SquarePants to Floor is Lava, Disney shorts, Impractical Jokers, Saturday Night Live, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Dance Moms, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tour of Houses and Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. His music has also accompanied numerous experiences, installations and immersive experiences

Hannigan's credits further include Command and Conquer 4, Conquest, Brute Force, The Darkening (with Christopher Walken, Clive Owen and John Hurt), The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, FA Premier League (BAFTA Nomination, Original Music), Infestation (Frontier), Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat, Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels, Cutthroat Island, Flight of the Amazon Queen, and many more.