Mark Korven

Mark Korven
BornSwift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada
OccupationComposer
Websitewww.markkorven.com

Mark Korven is a Canadian musician and composer for film and television.[1]

Life and career

During his early career in Winnipeg, Korven performed in a variety of rock and jazz music ensembles, mostly playing the guitar and singing in local bars.[2] In 1977, he started taking formal music education at the Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton where he studied jazz and orchestration. After graduating, he developed into a singer / songwriter and recorded his first album of left-of-center pop entitled "Passengers". In 1987 he moved to Toronto, where he recorded the album "Ordinary Man" with Duke Street Records, and that same year he had his first chance at composing for film, with the score for Patricia Rozema's debut feature I've Heard the Mermaids Singing.[3] which went on to win the La Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival.

His work includes the music on the sci-fi horror cult film Cube (1997), collaborations with director Robert Eggers on the period horror films The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), Scott Derrickson's The Black Phone (2022), and Arkasha Stevenson's The First Omen (2024).

Korven plays several exotic instruments, including the Sarangi, the Nyckelharpa, the Duduk, the Erhu, and the water phone.[4] He was also responsible for the co-creation of "The Apprehension Engine", a custom made musical instrument intended for the creation of unsettling noises to be used on scoring horror films, built by guitar luthier Tony Duggan-Smith.[5][6]

Works

Film

Television

Documentaries

Video Games

Awards and nominations

During his career, Korven has received several awards, many at the Gemini Awards,[9] Genie Awards[1] and the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

List of Awards:[10]

Gemini Awards

  • 2008 – Won – Best Original Music Score for a Documentary Program or Series: "A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman"
  • 2008 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Program or Series: The Border For episode "Enemy Contact"
  • 2005 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Documentary Program or Series: "Continuous Journey", award shared with:

Philip Strong, Kiran Ahluwalia, Ben Grossman, Ravi Naimpally

  • 2000 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series: "The Sheldon Kennedy Story"
  • 1999 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series: "Win, Again!"
  • 1992 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series: "Between Two Worlds"

Genie Awards

  • 1999 – Nominated – Best Music Score: "Cube"
  • 1996 – Nominated – Best Achievement in Music – Original Score: "The Michelle Apts."
  • 1996 – Won – Best Achievement in Music – Original Score: "Curtis's Charm"
  • 1994 – Nominated – Best Music Score: "Henry & Verlin"
  • 1993 – Nominated – Best Music Score: "The Grocer's Wife"
  • 1991 – Nominated – Best Music Score: "White Room"

Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival

  • 2005 – Won Golden Sheaf Award – Best Original Music, Non-Fiction: "Continuous Journey", award shared with: Philip Strong, Kiran Ahluwalia, Ben Grossman, Ravi Naimpally

References

  1. ^ a b Geminis, Genie Award. "Canada's Awards Database Mark Korven". academy.ca/awards/. Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  2. ^ "Korven, Mark Biography". jam.canoe.ca. Jam!. 29 November 2004. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  3. ^ "Mark Korven Filmography". Time Out. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  4. ^ "Mark Korven Biography". ticketmaster.co.nz. Ticketmaster. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  5. ^ "Toronto-made 'Apprehension Engine' scores the stuff of nightmares". The Globe and Mail. 14 July 2017.
  6. ^ "The Apprehension Engine". Mark Korven.
  7. ^ "Mark Korven Filmography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  8. ^ "Credits". allgovernmentslie.com. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Mark Korven Awards". allmovie.com. Allmovie. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  10. ^ "Mark Korven, Awards". imdb.com. IMDb. Retrieved 30 July 2014.