Fernando Velázquez is a Spanish-born film composer whose credits include the score to ‘The Impossible’ starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, and horror classics such as “Devil” (written & produced by M Night Shyamalan) and the Guillermo del Toro produced feature “The Orphanage” (earning him a Discovery of the Year nomination at the 2007 World Soundtrack Academy Awards). His other remarkable credits include “The BackWoods” starring Gary Oldman and “Savage Grace” starring Julianne Moore.
Fernando’s experience as an accomplished cello player in various orchestras and his training in conservatories as “Jesus Guridi” from Vitoria and composition studies in the RCSM Madrid and Paris are the foundations of his talent. Fernando often uses his past experience of performing as a cellist in the pit orchestra at Madrid’s Teatro Real Opera as inspiration in his film compositions. When asked about his career as a composer, he elates, “I love what I do and I feel so grateful I can do it for a living.” When he’s not busy composing, he enjoys playing guitar in rock bands – a passion of his from an early age.
The International Film Music Conference “City of Úbeda” has always devoted a special place for promising new talents in the world of cinema, as evidenced by the Jerry Goldsmith Awards for Young Composers with which Fernando was honored in 2008 at the fourth such conference. Fernando’s score to “The Orphanage” went on to become nominated in various ceremonies such as The World Soundtrack Awards, The Goya Awards, The European Film Awards, The Barcelona Film Awards, and The Cinema Writers Circle Awards, which latter he won. Other notable projects include Brett Ratner’s action-adventure “Hercules,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Mamá” and “Crimson Peak,” and Burr Steers’ “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” as well as series “El Inocente” for Netflix and “Ghosts of Beirut” for Showtime.