Those of you planning a trip to the cinema to see the much acclaimed La La Land, starring Ryan Goslyn and Emma Stone, will be interested to know that Old Bedfordian, Marius de Vries (75-80), played a key role with the musical direction. Marius, a multi-award winning music producer and composer, came to the School from St Paul’s Choir School in London on a scholarship and went on to study at Peterhouse, Cambridge.  His younger brother Benjamin (75-81) is now a leading volcanologist.

Having started his music career playing keyboards for the English 1980s pop-soul band ‘The Blow Monkeys’, by the late eighties Marius had already established himself as one of the UK’s most in-demand session keyboard-players/programmers, working with top artists such as Annie Lennox, David Bowie, U2, and Lisa Stansfield. He has since produced records with the likes of Madonna, Elbow and Björk to name but a few!

A truly diverse musician, Marius’ work in Musical Theatre includes collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber on several projects including West End hits Bombay Dreams, Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies and Jerry Springer The Opera.

Marius has also worked his magic in the film industry and now has an impressive five Grammy nominations, two BAFTAs, and an Ivor Novello award under his belt! He has worked on the music scores for a variety of hit films, including Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and the ground-breaking Moulin Rouge! –  for which he was awarded his two BAFTAs. 

We very much look forward to seeing La La Land and any other great projects 2017 has in store for Marius!

Find out more about Marius and his work on his website.

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