‘Conclave,’ ‘The Brutalist’ Scores Win at World Soundtrack Awards

German composer Volker Bertelmann was named Film Composer of the Year at the Ghent Film Festival’s prestigious World Soundtrack Awards on Wednesday for his work on Edward Berger’s “Conclave” and James Hawes’ “The Amateur.” This is the second time Bertelmann has won the award, having nabbed it just two years ago for his scores for “War Sailor,” “Memory of Water” and his Oscar-winning music for “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

Bertelmann couldn’t attend the ceremony but sent a video message thanking both Berger and Hawes for “giving me the chance to experiment.” “I recognize it’s so nice to have directors who let you do your thing when you can stretch the boundaries and experiment a bit more. It’s a collaborative process, but ultimately you have to find your voice.”

British composer Daniel Blumberg, the recipient of this year’s best original score Oscar for his work on Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” won the Discovery of the Year award. Several other awards were also handed out at the ceremony, which was interspersed with a concert by the Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Dirk Brossé. Theodore Shapiro won Television Composer of the Year for his work on “Severance,” and Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard were others to repeat their Oscar feats by winning best original song for “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez.” 

Shapiro thanked “Severance” while accepting his award. “I want to thank working on a show that is so incredibly generous in the space that it allows for music to have a real voice and character on the show. Not every project gives music that kind of space, so I want to thank Ben Stiller for his vision of what language this show was going to be. I’m grateful to have him as a friend.”

This year marks a landmark 25th edition for the World Soundtrack Awards. The event originated from Belgium’s Film Fest Ghent, which cleverly realized it needed to set itself apart from similar film festivals in the 1980s. The festival’s focus on film music eventually settled into the World Soundtrack Awards and its parent organization, the World Soundtrack Academy, in 2001.

The anniversary begged for “unique celebrations,” with the WSA choosing to honor two “absolute legends of the game” in Philip Glass (“The Hours”) and Michael Nyman (“The Piano”). The duo received the Lifetime Achievement Awards and are being further honored at the festival with a special concert titled “Minimalism in Motion: Glass, Nyman and Beyond” on Thursday. Their music will be performed live alongside the work of contemporary minimalists Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch (“All Of Us Strangers”) and Martin Phipps (“Napoleon”).

The WSA also highlighted two guests of honor in Debbie Wiseman and A. R. Rahman. Wiseman is one of the most prolific British and television composers of her time, with work that includes “Tom & Viv” and “To Olivia and Wilde.” Meanwhile, Rahman is a two-time Oscar winner and is “arguably the biggest Indian composer for the screen working today.” He has numerous credits in Bollywood and won the Oscar for his work on Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.”

“Bugonia” composer Jerskin Fendrix returned to Ghent after making history at the awards in 2024, becoming the first person ever to win both Film Composer of the Year and the Discovery of the Year Award for his work on Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things.” Speaking from the stage before his award-winning music was played live, Jerskin, who also scored Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” said he is at a point where he has “no other choice” but to continue to collaborate with the Greek director.

“I was writing songs before I started working with Yorgos,” he recalled of the beginning of their collaboration. “To a certain extent, songwriting can be very self-centered, and when you’re writing for something like ‘Poor Things,’ you have to wipe yourself off the desk. Through doing these scores with Yorgos, I think I gained a good amount of artistic empathy. It’s been really, really helpful. He’s really supportive. I feel very lucky, generally.”

To mark the 25th anniversary, the WSA released a triple album including: “Debbie Wiseman: Music for Film and Television,” featuring all-new studio recordings from the British composer behind “Edie” and “Tom and Viv”; “Craig Armstrong: Music For Film,” an expanded reissue of the first album launched by the festival back in 2007; and “World Soundtrack Awards – 25th Anniversary Celebration,” a limited-edition vinyl set bringing together over two decades of WSA history and featuring live recordings of memorable live and studio performances at the festival.

Full list of winners below:

Film Composer of the Year:

Volker Bertelmann – “Conclave,” “The Amateur”

Television Composer of the Year:

Theodore Shapiro – “Severance” (Season 2)

Best Original Song:

“El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez” – written by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard; performed by Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón

Discovery of the Year:

Daniel Blumberg – “The Brutalist”

Public Choice Award:

Laetitia Pansanel-Garric – “Hola Frida”

Game Music Award:

Lorien Testard – “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33”

Belgian Film Composer of the Year (Powered by Sabam):

Ruben De Gheselle – “Young Hearts,” “There Was, There Was Not”

Award for the Best Original Composition by a Young Composer (Powered by Vienna Synchron Stage):

Bongseop Kim

Lifetime Achievement Award:

Philip Glass and Michael Nyman