Telling stories through music has put composer Rachel Portman at the top of her game
She was the first woman to win an Academy Award and Emmy for film composition, the artist behind the music of Chocolat and Emma, and this summer, Rachel Portman will bring her timeless sound to the hilltops of Paphos. Ahead of her Cyprus debut at the Minthis Music Festival (July 9-13), she says she was charmed by what the island had to offer.
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“I remember seeing a video of last year’s Exclusive Nights at Minthis, and I thought, ‘Gosh, what a beautiful place and setting for these concerts. I would love to be part of that’. So I was thrilled to be invited,” she says.
In just a few weeks, in the resort’s lush green grounds, Portman will offer Cyprus audiences a glimpse into her world; from writing music for Hollywood films and the stories behind them to deeply personal compositions. She has written music for iconic films such as One Day, The Duchess, Mona Lisa Smile, The Vow and The Cider House Rules, so I am a little starstruck.
Her July 11 concert will blend her film scores and solo work, enriched with behind-the-scenes stories. Expect reflections on the art of writing music for films, working in Hollywood and composing for both concert hall and stage. She tells me the music for the film Chocolat, for example, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination, she wrote in just three and a half weeks; “a deliciously effortless project.”
More storytelling awaits at the concert. After all, it was always stories she wished to tell with her music. “I think a lot of my path was made easy for me by knowing very early what it was that I wanted to do – I wanted to write music for film, and for my music to tell stories”.
Her first composition came at 14 but it was during her studies at the University of Oxford that she realised her path. When Portman started, the music scene was a highly male-dominated field. Yet she broke industry barriers when she became the first female composer to win an Academy Award (for Emma) in 1997 and an Emmy (for Bessie) in 2015. Two years ago, she received her second Emmy for Julia and even more Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy nominations throughout the years.
This summer, Cyprus audiences will finally experience her music live. A strong international line-up of artists will perform at the festival each evening, including violinist Niklas Liepe, who has collaborated with Portman in the violin concerto she wrote Tipping Points – a piece rooted in environmental themes that showcases a more recent direction her music has taken.
“I’m doing a lot of concert hall and choir commissions centred around this theme,” she explains. “It is a way to connect and do something about the world that we’re living in.”
Her nature-focused projects touch on climate emergency, as a call to recognise for example, the rise of forest fires and “how we need to reenchant the Earth again, look after it and love it.” Storytelling is again present here as Portman collaborated with a poet to accompany the music with short poems.
As she speaks about her work, I am struck by the artistry of it all. But how does one actually begin to compose music? Does a melody come first or a specific instrument perhaps?
“I don’t think you can think about it too much in a way,” she says. “It just happens. I don’t know where ideas come from, but they do. It’s that place that you go to where you’re not actually conscious of what you’re thinking about the whole time.”
It needs a certain kind of magic to able to compose and grasp the feeling of a story that holds the body of a film. Cinematic music has to be timely and knowing when not to use it is just as vital.
“When I start working on a film I map out where music should be, where it comes in, where it goes out, where there should be no music. That’s a big part. Normally I vote for less music because I always think not to saturate the film with it. There’s a tendency, particularly in American cinema, to have some music or sound design going on. A film should stand on its own. Then music is much more effective.”
It takes a combination of instinct and insight to produce captivating film scores, and Portman has both. Her curiosity about human psychology – at one point even leading her to train as a psychotherapist – seems to sharpen her ability to evoke feelings and capture the emotional core of a story.
Portman says she owes much of her love for music to her late mother who always encouraged her to write. “She fostered my musical education. She listened to opera all the time, had the radio on and her records of classical music and went to every concert she possibly could. She was so excited when finally, her fifth child turned out to be musical,” she says smiling. And perhaps that’s the other key to pursuing your dreams – not just knowing what you want but having someone who believes in you.
Now, with a trailblazing career in music composition, Portman has been in the field long enough to see it change. She witnessed the transformation of television and streaming now producing quality works, saw more women entering the industry, and technology changing the landscape. Still Portman has remained faithful to her approach – sitting at her piano with pen and paper.
“I’m a purist. I write very much in the classical tradition still – at my piano. That’s how I think and it is how my writing comes to me.”
For emerging composers, including those in Cyprus’ growing music and film industries, Portman is full of encouragement. She recommends unwavering determination and life-long learning from university degrees and online forums to joining associations such as the Alliance of Women Film Composers. “Back in my day, there was no help at all. Now there’s so much out there. You want to build up as many muscles as you can for the industry, keep knocking on the door.”
A creative career is nothing like the rest. It’s not 9-to-5. Inspiration can’t be forced, but you can’t just wait for it either. Our fields, writing and composing, may have something in common, I tell her half-joking; very tight deadlines.
She smiles knowingly and tells me that her process is founded on scheduling and something more intangible – having faith. “The first few days are awful because nothing good comes and you have to keep the hope and put in the hours, working through every initial thought. You start with nothing. Each time we begin a new project, however experienced we are, it’s like the first time.
“You have to be kind to yourself and have faith,” she ends by saying “when I stop worrying and I know what I’m looking for it just happens.”
All artists experience the highs and lows of creation. Portman is a reminder that creativity, at its core, is about trusting the process, showing up and tuning in. From Oscar-winning scores to nature-inspired symphonies, Rachel Portman will soon bring her mesmerising music to the hills of Paphos. Cyprus, are you ready?
Catch Rachel Portman live at Minthis Music Festival, July 9-13. www.minthisresort.com/music-festivals. Tickets available at SoldOut. For full list of programme click here
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