David Hirschfelder

David Hirschfelder is recognised globally as one of Australia’s most distinguished screen-composers, having garnered Oscar nominations for Scott Hicks' "Shine" and Shekhar Kapur’s “Elizabeth”.

He is also the winner of two BAFTA (British Academy) awards for "Strictly Ballroom" and "Elizabeth".

David’s recent film-scores include Jonathan Teplitzky’s "The Railway Man", which won AACTA and APRA film score awards in 2014; Russell Crowe's "The Water Diviner", which won the 2014 FCCA Regal Cinema Award for Best Music Score, and also APRA-AGSC Soundtrack of the Year Award in November 2015. In December 2015, David received an AACTA nomination for his eclectic score to Jocelyn Moorhouse’s "The Dressmaker", starring Kate Winslet, Judy Davis and Hugo Weaving; and in 2019 David has garnered AACTA and FCCA nominations for his score to Rachel Griffith's "Ride Like a Girl", starring Teresa Palmer and Sam Neil.

Other works include “Eternity” for orchestra, choir and 1000 tap-dancers (commissioned for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony), “Mixed Doubles” for string quartet (2004 Adelaide Fringe Arts Festival), and “To a Child” for soprano and string quartet, recorded and released in 2016 by Katie Noonan and The Brodsky Quartet. In 2018 David completed another commission for Katie Noonan and the Australian String Quartet, setting music to a poem titled “No More Boomerang”, by indigenous artist Oodgeroo Noonuccul.

2023 saw the cinematic release of “John Farnham: Finding The Voice”, featuring David’s score and music-direction; an APRA Best TV score nomination for co-composition with son Samuel Hirschfelder for Netflix series “Irreverent”; a body of symphonic arrangements for Russell Morris’ Australia-wide series of orchestral concerts; and the completion of a score for US/Australian co-production “Sleeping Dogs”, starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan, to be released in March 2024.