Biography
Shigeru Umebayashi (Japanese: 梅林茂, February 19, 1951) is a Japanese composer, famous for his film scores. He was born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan and was the leader of the Japanese rock band EX until 1984, since then he has been composing music for film.
Some of the best-known soundtracks he has composed are for Chinese director Wong Kar-wai's films In the Mood for Love (2001), and 2046 (2004). He also wrote the score for Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers (2004). In 2004, his score for the film 2046 was awarded at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan and the International Film Festival in Hong Kong.He has written music for more than 30 Japanese films and gained worldwide recognition by working with directors such as Hong Kong's Ronny Yu for Jet Li's Fearless, Italy's Roberta Torre for Mare nero (Dark Sea), Uros Stojanovic from Serbia for Tears for Sale, the Englishman Peter Webber for Hannibal Rising, the German Veit Helmer for Absurdistan, the British Sharon Maguire for Incendiary.
Shigeru Umebayashi composed the music for the official documentary film of the Beijing Olympic Games The Everlasting Flame: Beijing 2008, winning several international awards. Since 2010 he has started presenting film music at European festivals and concert halls.