CRAIG ARMSTRONG studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he specialized in composition and piano. During this time he won several awards, including the Charles Lucas Prize and the Harvey Lohr scholarship for composition. In his final year, he was awarded a Fellowship in Composition from Trinity College.
Since then, Armstrong has composed several concert works, film scores, solo projects, and collaborations. He has received commissions from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the BT Ensemble and, most recently, from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He has also worked extensively for the theater, composing several works for the Tron Theatre and
recent works for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Armstrong's film scores include Peter Mullan's trilogy CLOSE (1993), FRIDGE (1996) and GOOD DAY FOR THE BAD GUYS, A (1995), as well as ORPHANS (1997), which won Best Film at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. Other film scores include PLUNKETT AND MacLEANE, BEST PLAID PLANS and, for Baz Luhrmann, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO and JULIET (1996), for which Armstrong received the Anthony Asquith BAFTA Award and an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Score.
More recently, Armstrong composed the film scores for BONE COLLECTOR, The (1999) (for which he received the 1999 ASCAP Award), the Oscar-winning documentary ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER (1999), and the upcoming action-adventure KISS OF THE DRAGON (2001) starring Jet Li and produced by Luc Besson, and released by Twentieth Century Fox.
Armstrong's orchestral work can be heard on various recordings, with such artists as Madonna, U2, Suede, The Future Sound of London, Luciano Pavarotti, The Pet Shop Boys and Massive Attack. Amstrong's first solo album was released on Massive Attack's label, Melankolic, which releases his second solo effort later this year.
