Henrik Budde // Composer

LÉONIE SONNING TALENT PRIZE · DR · INTERNATIONAL ROSTRUM OF COMPOSERS · JYSK FILM · BUDAPEST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA · TONKÜNSTLER-ORCHESTER NIEDERÖSTERREICH

FEATURED PROJECT // "THE KING"

COMPOSER SHOWREEL // DRAMA & DOCU (2:40)

“One of the most powerful music experiences I have ever witnessed. I was overwhelmed and attacked at the same time. I was blown away!”

— Jesper Busk Sørensen,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
on "Terribly Cold and Nearly Dark"

SELECTED COMMISSIONS & COLLABORATIONS

Film & Media

In production (US) – Music for a Rich Royster film. Expected completion 2027
"The King" (Kongen af Danmark) (DK/HU) – Score for the promo film for a planned TV series, with leading Danish actors. Recorded with Budapest Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer
DR (DK) – Original music for the prime-time series "Maddysten" (2019–2020) and "Hvad er det værd?" (2007–2010)
"Pigen som ville ned på jorden" (DK) – Original score. Premiered at Aarhus Film Festival, 2007; distributed by Jysk Film
"Warriors at the Gates" (Rich Royster, US) – Soundtrack for the book launch
Zootropolis (Disney, US, 2016) – Assistant to orchestrator Tim Simonec: score proofing and orchestration analysis
"Editions" – Director and composer, art film. Orchestral version: "Cartoony" conducted by the composer with Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich
"Emils kryptonit" (National Film School of Denmark) – Additional music, including "The Chase", recorded by the former DR Underholdningsorkestret
Scripted series, co-written with director Julie Bille – Developed together over more than two years

Stage

"Forunderlys" (Esbjerg Kulturskole 25th anniversary, 2024) – Composer and manuscript co-writer with director Lajla Nielsen-Refs. Music for symphony orchestra, choir, and samples. 300 performers, two near-sold-out performances. Includes "Tegn mine vinger", learned by 5,000 children
"Terribly Cold and Nearly Dark" (2011) – Premiered 4 December 2011 at Granhøj Dans with Ensemble Lydenskab, and performed by the ensemble on several later occasions in Denmark. A work built on light and darkness
"What You Hear is Not an Illusion" (2013, c. 40 min) – Immersive performance for three performers, with a blindfolded audience wearing wireless headphones. Binaural 3D sound merges with the performers' live sound, synchronised with computer-controlled light (a single living-room lamp), placing the audience inside what feels like a strange, slightly eerie film scene. Premiered in Aarhus (8 December 2013) and Copenhagen (10 December 2013) by Lisbeth Sonne (DK) and BLY (NO), as one of five winning works in Aarhus Unge Tonekunstneres' Christmas Competition 2013
"…From Behind Curtains…" (2014, c. 50 min) – Concert for water-prepared trumpet, brass quintet and dripping water, for a blindfolded audience. Commissioned by Ensemble Apparat, Berlin
"The Musical Puppet Project" (2013) – Conceptual art project for musicians and an interactive audience, co-composed with Swedish artist Kajsar Magnarsson. The audience "plays" the musicians by touching them. Presented at the Setouchi Triennale (Japan) and in Lithuania, 2013

Orchestral & Chamber Music

Jesper Busk Sørensen (Berlin Philharmonic) – Two major commissioned works: "Amidst the Absence of Time" for trombone and piano, and the trombone concerto "Narrow Road to the Deep North"
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra – Live national radio broadcast premiere on DR P2 of Narrow Road to the Deep North from Musikkens Hus, Aalborg. Selected for the International Rostrum of Composers alongside Karl Aage Rasmussen and frequently featured on DR P2
Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich – Conducted Cartoony (from Editions) in a public concert as part of an elite composer-conductor workshop programme
"NOIR" (2011) – Concert piece for large brass ensemble, piano, and three percussionists. Commissioned and premiered by Niels-Ole Bo Johansen at Rama in Symfonisk
"Nebula" (2013) – Trio for flute, cello, piano, and unconventional objects, performed under candlelight. Commissioned by Thy Chamber Music Festival
"To See a World in a Grain of Sand" (2013) – Composed for flute quartet and solo performer, performed in total darkness with candlelight and burning matches. Premiered with The Lithuanian Flute Quartet in Lithuania
Chamber and ensemble work: The Silesian String Quartet (PL) · Ensemble Apparat (DE) · Lithuanian Flute Quartet (LT) · Kazuya Kato Saxophone Quartet (JP) · Setouchi International Art Festival (JP) · Esbjerg Ensemble · Aarhus Sinfonietta · Ensemble Lydenskab · Thy Chamber Music Festival (DK) · Aarhus Jazz Orchestra (DK) · Jutlandia Saxophone Quartet (DK)

[Complete Works & Archive]

HENRIK BUDDE

Henrik Budde is a Danish composer, conductor, and writer. He studied composition with Karl Aage Rasmussen, Hans Abrahamsen and Simon Steen-Andersen in Aarhus and with Lasse Thoresen in Oslo, and received the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize in 2015. His work spans screen, stage and concert hall: a film score recorded with Budapest Symphony Orchestra under his own baton, music for prime-time series on DR, and a trombone concerto premiered with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic trombonist Jesper Busk Sørensen. His stage works range from Forunderlys, made with 300 performers, to pieces that pull the audience inside the experience: blindfolded and wearing headphones, in candlelight, or touching the musicians. His concert works have been performed at festivals and in concert halls in nine countries, including the Setouchi Triennale in Japan and Thy Chamber Music Festival in Denmark. In 2015 he worked with orchestrator Tim Simonec during the scoring sessions for Disney's Zootropolis. He also writes lyrics and scripts for stage and film, and is composing the music for a US film in production, expected in 2027.

Available for film, television and concert or stage commissions.

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