This was the 12th International Film Music Competition

A three-time Oscar winner as jury president, a top-class competition and a wide range of live soundtracks: there were many reasons to celebrate at the 12th International Film Music Competition organised by the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich and the Zurich Film Festival on Saturday in the sold-out Tonhalle Zürich - and they were used extensively.

At the centre of the evening was the competition, which is unique in its kind worldwide: 192 composers from 37 countries submitted soundtracks to the short film "The Flying Sailor" by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby. Three of them were invited as finalists: Krzystzof Dobosiewicz from Poland, Théo Schmitt from Switzerland, who lives in Los Angeles, and Ahmed Soroko from Canada.

"Wonderful lyricism"

As different as their music was, played live by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under the direction of Frank Strobel, as different was the effect of the film. You always saw the same memories of the flying sailor - of a beetle he had seen in the grass as a little boy, of a slap in the face or a seagull. But they were musically charged with very different emotions. The jury, chaired by three-time Oscar winner Howard Shore, was most impressed by the "wonderful lyricism" and the "quiet moments" in Ahmed Soroko's score. He received the Golden Eye of the Zurich Film Festival.

Before the competition, the orchestra had presented excerpts from film scores by Swiss composer Nicolas Rabaeus, who took part this year as a Suisa Act and member of the jury - and also joined the orchestra as a guitarist. In conversation, he revealed that he often dances when composing, "I have to develop a physical feeling for the scenes". The reaction from presenter Sandra Studer was prompt: "Then we'd love to watch you compose!"

"Reading and dreaming"

After the break, there were works by Howard Shore, who was honoured with a Golden Eye and the ZFF Career Achievement Award. From his more than 80 soundtracks, those for films by Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs", "Philadelphia"), Martin Scorsese ("Hugo", "The Aviator") and David Cronenberg ("The Fly") were selected - and of course there were also excerpts from his legendary music for Peter Jackson's film trilogy "Lord of the Rings", which earned him three Oscars.

In conversation with Sandra Studer, Shore explained that he always begins his compositions "in the 19th century", "with paper and pencil". Only when it came to orchestration did he arrive in the 21st century and with the technology available today. The fact that he is still composing film music at the age of 77 has to do with the fact that he finds it fascinating "to discover the worlds in the films".

Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of the Zurich Film Festival, explained how he does this in his laudatory speech. Among other things, he quoted an answer Howard Shore once gave when asked about his working methods: "Reading and dreaming".