Austin Wintory

American film and video games composer (born 1984)Template:SHORTDESC:American film and video games composer (born 1984)

**Austin Wintory** (born September 9, 1984) is an American composer for film and video games. He is known for scoring the video games *Flow* and *Journey*, which made history as the only video game soundtrack to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.

## Early life

Austin Wintory was born in Denver, Colorado in 1984 and started learning piano when he was ten years old, after he was introduced to composer Jerry Goldsmith by his teacher. Before the age of ten, Wintory did not play any instruments and barely listened to music. By the age of sixteen, Wintory started writing for and conducting the Cherry Creek High School Orchestra during their performances of the "Spirit of the Cosmos" pieces. Two years later, at the age of eighteen, Wintory conducted the Utah Symphony during its recording of "Cosmos", which became one of his most popular projects, although he refers to it as "atrocious garbage". Since 2003, Wintory has composed over three hundred musical scores.

## Career

### Beginning of game composing career and *Flow*

Wintory met Jenova Chen while both attended the University of Southern California (USC). After networking with an interactive media student at USC and scoring a small game project, his name was passed along to Chen, who asked Wintory to score his thesis project, *Flow*, later re-released on PlayStation Network. Wintory, Chen and Nick Clarke developed the first version of *Flow* as a three-man team, with Wintory remarking that Chen had an incredible way of processing information, seeing far beyond code and reaching into the emotional implications of things. As a traditional orchestral student at the time, Wintory considered the music of *Flow* was radically unlike any he had written before. Wintory regards the pink area of the game, where the player controls a jellyfish-like creature, as the humorous area of the game, describing his music for it as almost "circus-like" compared to the overall soundtrack.

### *Monaco*

Originally, *Monaco* developer Andy Schatz sought out licensed music as a backdrop to the game's setting, feeling that the style of music needed was too esoteric to hire a composer. Wintory, however, was able to convince Schatz that he could create an original score that fit the project's vision. Likening 2D sprite-based games to the silent film era, Wintory agreed with the notion that the soundtrack to a game like *Monaco* should have an earnest yet self-aware nostalgic feeling, stating "There's no way to just objectively listen to that style of music without automatically being like 'This reminds me of a bygone era.'" Wintory was excited at the chance to create an old-timey score with wit and humor, stating "when else am I ever going to be asked to write anything remotely like this?"

## References

1. ↑ Austin Wintory. *soundtrack.net*.
2. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Morris, Christopher (December 5, 2012). "Frank Ocean, Fun lead 55th Grammy nominations". *Variety*. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
3. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Pinchefsky, Carol (December 6, 2012). "'Journey' Earns the Videogame World's First Grammy Nomination". *Variety*.
4. ↑ Wintory Biography. *Classic.FM*.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Wenzel, John (May 16, 2012). Denver-born composer Austin Wintory's musical journey.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Template:Citation
7. ↑ Campbell, Colin (June 5, 2013). Austin Wintory: Larry is more romance than sex. polygon.com.
8. ↑ Template:Citation
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10. ↑ Template:Citation
11. ↑ 2012 IFMCA Awards (en-US) (February 27, 2013).
12. ↑ 2012 Spike Video Game Awards Nominees Announced (en-US) (November 16, 2012).
13. ↑ Game Developers Choice Awards.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Template:Citation
15. ↑ Template:Citation
16. ↑ Template:Citation
17. ↑ NAVGTR Awards (2014).
18. ↑ 2014 IFMCA Awards (en-US) (February 20, 2015).
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Games in 2015 | BAFTA Awards.
20. ↑ SXSW 2015 Gaming Award Finalist Release.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 Awards – G.A.N.G (en-US).
22. ↑ 2015 IFMCA Awards (en-US) (November 23, 2016).
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 2016 IFMCA Awards (en-US) (September 14, 2017).
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 2017 IFMCA Awards (en-US) (February 6, 2020).
25. ↑ Games in 2017 | BAFTA Awards.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 'A Star Is Born,' 'Black Panther' Lead Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominees (October 17, 2018).
27. ↑ IFMCA Award Nominations 2019 (en-US) (February 6, 2020).
28. ↑ Awards - Game Audio Network Guild (en-US) (January 19, 2021).
29. ↑ Sony, Last of Us Part 2 Win Big at 2021 G.A.N.G. Awards (en-CA) (April 29, 2021).
30. ↑ Leston, Ryan (November 15, 2022). Grammy Awards Nominate Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy for Best Soundtrack. *IGN*.
31. ↑ 2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List.
32. ↑ Grammys 2023 Winners: See the Full List Here (5 February 2023).

## External links

* Official website
* Austin Wintory on Twitter
* Press and interviews of Austin Wintory
* Discography at VGMdb
* MobyGames rap sheet
* Austin Wintory at IMDb
* Template:Musicbrainz artist
* Austin Wintory's channel on YouTube

Template:International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media
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