Michael Giacchino Honored With ASCAP Henry Mancini Award; Pinar Toprak Receives ASCAP Shirley Walker Award; Stage & Screen Songwriters Benj Pasek & Justin Paul Recognized With ASCAP Vanguard Award At 2019 ASCAP Screen Music Awards

LOS ANGELES, May 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) 34th Annual ASCAP Screen Awards returned to the historic Beverly Hilton tonight to celebrate the greatest names in today's film, television and video game music. This year's show was hosted by actor Richard Kind who added a special touch to the evening's programming for a packed room of VIP composers and music industry executives.

Blockbuster film composer Michael Giacchino was honored with the prestigious ASCAP Henry Mancini Award for outstanding achievements and contributions to film and television music. The Oscar, Emmy and three-time Grammy Award-winning composer is best known for his Disney and Pixar film scores, including The Incredibles and Ratatouille, as well as hits like Lost, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Jurassic World, Inside Out, Doctor Strange, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Coco and Incredibles 2. His music will also be heard in the upcoming Spider-Man: Far from Home, due in theaters on July 2. Brad Bird, director for Ratatouille and The Incredibles, bestowed the award to Giacchino.

Composer Pinar Toprak was recognized with the ASCAP Shirley Walker Award for her achievements and contributions to the diversity of film and television music. Toprak, the first woman to score a billion-dollar film (Captain Marvel), landed one of her breakout assignments composing for the video game Fortnite and is also the recipient of two International Film Music Critics Association Awards. Toprak's colleague and mentor, David Ellison, CEO and Founder of Skydance Media, presented her with the award.

Broadway legend Stephen Schwartz, mentor to songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, presented them with the ASCAP Vanguard Award — the first time the award has been given to music creators known for their film and musical theatre accomplishments. The pair made their debut on Broadway with the Tony-nominated score for A Christmas Story in 2012 and went on to create the six-time Tony-honored Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen as well as award-winning songs for films La La Land and The Greatest Showman. Their multiple Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Golden Globe wins and nominations leave much to anticipate for their upcoming projects, including Disney live-action movies Aladdin and Snow White.

The three ASCAP Composers' Choice winners were also revealed at the invitation-only event. Established by ASCAP in 2014, the awards are voted on exclusively by the ASCAP composer and songwriter community. The 2019 Composers' Choice Film Score of the Year was awarded to John Powell for Solo: A Star Wars Story; TV Composer of the Year went to Jeff Cardoni; and the Video Game Score of the Year winner was Lena Raine for her work on the original soundtrack to Celeste. 

A special segment was dedicated to the inaugural presentation of the ASCAP Harmony Award, a new honor created in partnership with the Guild of Music Supervisors to recognize a composer and music supervisor for outstanding collaboration on an audio-visual work. Colman Domingo, who played Joseph Rivers in If Beale Street Could Talk, presented the award to composer Nicholas Britell and music supervisor Gabe Hilfer for their work on the film.

Composers David Vanacore, Joel Beckerman, Michael Giacchino, Cat Gray, Jared Gutstadt, Didier Lean Rachou, Jeff Lippencott, Ed Robertson, Mark Snow, Mark T. Williams and Hans Zimmer were recognized in the Most Performed Themes and Underscore category. Top Box Office Film went to Michael Giacchino for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Top Television Network Series winners were Dan Foliart and Howard Pearl for ABC's Roseanne; and Top Cable Television Series was presented to ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop alum Maurizio Malagnini for his work on the PBS series, Call the Midwife.

In addition to a medley of scores from Giacchino's catalog, the attendees enjoyed live performances of music created by this year's top honorees. Keala Settle sang Pasek and Paul's "This is Me" and Tim Davis performed "Come Alive" (both from The Greatest Showman). The house orchestra also performed Pinar Toprak's themes from Pixar's Purl, a computer-animated short film released in February.

The complete list of 2019 ASCAP Screen Awards winners is available at http://www.ascap.com/screenawards19.

About ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business - from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 700,000 members representing more than 11.5 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter @ASCAP and on Facebook.

SOURCE ASCAP

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