The annual World Soundtrack Awards are held every year in the town of Ghent in Belgium, and this year (2006) they were held on 14th October.   The event was held as part of the Flanders International Film Festival which ran from 11th-21st October.

As always, the event consisted of the awards ceremony and a concert afterwards, both held in the towns large concert hall (which is actually a converted church).   Each year there is a guest of honor, and 2006 proved to be that year for Powell.   Not only this, but Powell was also nominated for the "Film Composer Of The Year Award" for his work on "Ice Age: The Meltdown".   Read on to find out if he won...

Part 1: Arrival in Ghent and the Concert Hall

I went to the concert hall earlier on during the day to have a peek at everything being set up for the evening.   While there wasn't that much to see at that point, the building did look rather impressive.   While it used to be a church (a huge one I must add), it has now been converted to the towns concert hall.   If I worked it out right it can hold about 1000-1200 people quite easily.   A new, modern reception area has been built on and it looked like they were adding another building onto the other side of the hall as well.

Part 2: Arrival at the World Soundtrack Awards

Anyway, onto the evening.   On walking to the reception, several WSA logos were projected onto various buildings and candles lit the path to the entrance.   I waited in the reception for a while to see if any composers did show up, however it seemed they were either already backstage, or turned up after all the audience was moved into the hall.

The hall did look incredibly grand, with several dimmed lights at the edges, a row of flowers between the audience and the orchestra and a large projected screen at the front of the hall.

Part 3: First half and Awards

The lights dimmed and the ceremony started.   Elmer Bernstein's "World Soundtrack Awards Fanfare" opened the evening and then BBC radio presenter, Tommy Pearson, the host, came on stage and welcomed everyone.

The awards ceremony quickly got underway, starting with the "Sabam Award For The Most Original Composition By A Young Belgian Composer" which went to Alexis Koustoulidis for his score to the short, silent film, "Le Fauteuil Vivant".   The orchestra then played this.   It took them a couple of attempts to get the music in synch with the film, and even then the music fell a few seconds behind.   Even though the concept of fitting the music to the film was flawed in this performance, it was still a nice opening to the evening.

Next came the nominations for the "Public Choice Award", featuring some clips from the films the scores represented (this occurred for all scores and performances throughout the evening).   This award went to Gustavo Santaolalla for his score to "Brokeback Mountain".   As expected, he came on stage and said a few words.

After this was the award for "Best Song For A Film", which went to Randy Newman and James Taylor for their song "Our Town" from the Pixar film, "Cars".   While Newman and Taylor were not present, a friend came on and said a few words.

The last award for this part of the ceremony was the "Discovery 2006" award which went to Evanthia Reboutsika for his score to "My Father & My Son".

Next we had a short web-cast from Michael Giacchino who was in LA busy writing for the next Pixar film, "Ratatouille".   He said how he'd much rather be in Ghent than working, but explained how he was very busy, and how he hoped to be there next year.   After this there were two grand suites from "Lost" and "The Incredibles" (both by Giacchino).

After this came the "Composer Of The Year" award, for which Powell was nominated for his score to "Ice Age The Meltdown".   Sadly, Powell didn't win and the award went to Alberto Iglesias for his score to "The Constant Gardener".

Next was the "Award For Best Score" which also went to Alberto Iglesias for his score to "The Constant Gardener".

Lastly was the "Lifetime Achievement Award" which was presented to Peer Raben.   Sadly however, he was not able to attend as he had fallen ill, but since he knew he had won anyway, a friend read out a few words on behalf of him.   After this we had six performances from his various scores.   While they weren't at all bad, this did seem like it went on forever!

Part 4: Interval

Then came the interval, where Powell did a short autograph signing session in the reception.   Anyway, an interval is an interval, so not much else happened.

Part 5: Second Half Part 1

After the interval, the concert was meant to begin with three performances from Piet Goddaer's "Crusade In Jeans".   Instead however, we had an unannounced performance of a couple of bits of music from Brokeback Mountain, performed like Gustavo Santaolalla on his guitar.   This extended the concert by a good 15 minutes.

Eventually we had the three "Crusade In Jeans" performances, but like the Raben performances, it seemed like it never ended, but I think at this point, a lot of people really did want to get to the Powell performances.

Part 6: Second Half Part 2 and Powell Performances

It was when Powell finally came on stage that things started to get seriously good.   After a short interview summing up what we pretty much know already (upcoming scores, common writing techniques etc.) he took his place, with Germaine Franco (his assistant on his more recent scores) on percussion, and the performances began.

It started off slowly with the "Main Titles" from "The Bourne Identity".   Apart from switching all of the electronics to percussion, this did sound exactly the same as the regular version.   (Which could be viewed in a good or bad way.   Personally, I like a bit of variation).

Next came "Suite from X-Men: The Last Stand", which was actually the ending of "Phoenix Rises" leading into "The Last Stand" with an alternate ending to the main X-Men theme (one which sounds similar to the ending of "Bathroom Titles").   This probably was the best choice for a concert piece as performing some of the quieter cues heard earlier on in the film wouldn't have been as good, plus most of the action cues couldn't be performed properly due to a lack of choir.   However looked at, it still sounded great, and the sudden crescendo at the start of the X-Men theme still made most people jump which was quite amusing!

After this was a nice little performance of "The Great Tree" from "Endurance" and the "Love Theme" from "Two Weeks Notice".   Nothing was particular noteworthy about these two - they sounded just as good as their recordings - however it's interesting to mention that the "Love Theme" was re-arranged as a concert piece, and instead of just a solo piano performance, the orchestra joined in towards the second half.

Penultimately was "Tango De Los Asesinos" which most people know as "Assassins Tango" from "Mr. & Mrs. Smith".   This sounded really great nearer the end when a lot of percussion was being used, possibly better than the original version due to lack of electronics.

Lastly was "Suite from Ice Age: The Meltdown" which was, not surprisingly, "The Meltdown" and "Mammoths" with the alternate ending used in the end credits of the film.   Not just this, but it was re-orchestrated so instead of going out quietly like the film version, it went out with a bang!   This really did sound awesome, the best performance of the night probably, and what a great way to go out!   With lots of added percussion to replace the electronics and the whole orchestra playing, "Mammoths" especially, this really was impressive.

After all the composers who won an award or had a performance went on stage and received flowers, a final reprise of the "World Soundtrack Award Fanfare" ended the concert.

Many thanks to the Flemish Radio Orchestra for performing and Dirk Brossé for conducting - fantastic job!