Noted for the musical scores of numerous movies - and almost all the Coen brothers' films - Carter Burwell studied at Harvard, where he was cartoonist for The Harvard Lampoon. As a child he studied piano, developing a passion for the blues at college. and was also absorbed by punk rock, going on to join various bands like The Same and Radiante and released two albums with Thick Pigeon. In 1986 Burwell composed the music for a dance piece, RAB, which premiered at the Avignon Festival and toured the world with the Harmonic Choir - an experimental vocal group led by David Hykes - and in 1991 his chamber opera The Celestial Alphabet Event was staged. Burwell's movie music career began in 1984 with Blood Simple, followed by Psycho 2 (1986) and Raising Arizona (1987). Other leading Burwell film scores include And The Band Played On (1993), Conspiracy Theory (1997), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Hamlet (2000), Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), In Bruges (2008), Twilight (2008), Where The Wild Things Are (2009), The Kids Are Alright (2010) and True Grit (2010).
