Dustin O'Halloran (born September 8, 1971) is an American composer and pianist. Aside from releasing music as a recording artist, O'Halloran is a film and TV composer, as well as one half of ambient act A Winged Victory for the Sullen.
Early life O'Halloran was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and spent most of his childhood in Hawaii and Los Angeles. While studying art at Santa Monica College, he met singer Sara Lov, with whom he founded indie rock band Dévics in 1998. When the group signed with Bella Union in 2001, they relocated to Romagna, Italy, where O'Halloran lived for several years.
Career Solo work In 2004, O'Halloran released his first record as a solo artist, Piano Solos. He has since released five more solo records, including Lumiere (2011), which featured contributions by Peter Broderick and Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid), and was mixed by Jóhann Jóhannsson.
In 2019, O'Halloran signed with Deutsche Grammophon and released his first EP on the label, entitled Sundoor. It features a 20-minute piece, "196 Hz," adapted from a 2017 site-specific composition for cross-disciplinary American artist Slater Bradley’s Sundoor at World’s End held at the Church of Mary Magdalene (La Maddalena) in Venice during the 57th Biennale. Slater Bradley's artwork would later become the cover of O'Halloran's 2024 record 1 0 0 1, also released on Deutsche Grammophon.
A Winged Victory For The Sullen With A Winged Victory for the Sullen, his collaboration with Adam Wiltzie, O'Halloran has released four studio albums: A Winged Victory for the Sullen (2011), Atomos (2014), The Undivided Five (2019), and Invisible Cities (2021). The second was also the original score for the identically titled dance piece by choreographer Wayne McGregor and his company Wayne McGregor Random Dance.
In 2015, AWVFTS were invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the BBC Proms. The duo scored their first film together in 2016, entitled In the Shadow of Iris by French director Jalil Lespert.
In addition to their studio outputs, they wrote the soundtrack for the 2016 film Iris.
In 2019, A Winged Victory for the Sullen signed with UK-based indie label Ninja Tune.
Film score works Since the release of Piano Solos Volumes 1 and 2 in 2004 and 2006, O'Halloran has gone on to score a number of films and TV shows. These include Sofia Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette, and Drake Doremus’ Like Crazy (2011), which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. In 2014, O’Halloran worked on Indian drama Umrika, which won the Audience Award at Sundance, and gave him his first opportunity to compose for a full string orchestra.
In the same year he was also asked to provide the music for Transparent, the acclaimed TV series created by Joey Soloway for Amazon Studios.
O'Halloran was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for his original theme for Transparent in 2015.
In 2016, he collaborated with Hauschka (Volker Bertelmann) on the score for the Oscar-nominated film Lion. The score of the film was nominated for many major awards including the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Critics’ Choice Awards. He has since collaborated with Bertelmann on a number of other scores, including Ammonite (2020).
Discography Solo albums YearAlbumLabel2004Piano SolosSplinter2006Piano Solos Vol. 2Filter/Splinter2010VorlebenSonic Pieces2011LumiereFat Cat20173 Movements (EP)1631 Recordings2019Sundoor (EP)Deutsche Grammophon2021Silfur Deutsche Grammophon20241 0 0 1 Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtrack albums Marie Antoinette (Verve Forecast/Polydor, 2006) An American Affair (Splinter, 2009) Now Is Good (Polydor, 2012) Like Crazy (Relativity Music, 2012) The Beauty Inside (Splinter, 2013) Breathe In (Milan Records, 2013) Umrika (Splinter, 2015) Iris (Erased Tapes, 2016) (as A Winged Victory For The Sullen) Lion (Sony Music, 2016) (with Hauschka) Save Me (Sky, 2018) Puzzle (Sony Music, 2018) The Hate U Give (Milan Records, 2018) (with Volker Bertelmann) The Art of Racing in the Rain (Hollywood Records, 2019) (with Volker Bertelmann) Save Me Too (SATV/Save Me Too, 2020) A Christmas Carol (Hollywood Records, 2020) (with Volker Bertelmann) The Old Guard (Lakeshore Music, 2020) (with Volker Bertelmann) Ammonite (Milan Records, 2020) (with Volker Bertelmann) Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (Backlot Music, 2025) Eleanor the Great (Milan Records, 2025)
With Devics If You Forget Me (Bella Union, 1998 – writer, co-producer) My Beautiful Sinking Ship (Bella Union, 2001 – writer, co-producer) The Stars at St. Andrea (Bella Union, 2003 – writer, producer) Push the Heart (Filter, 2006 – writer, producer)
With A Winged Victory for the Sullen A Winged Victory for the Sullen (Kranky, 2011 – Arranger, Composer, Engineer, Main Personnel, Score) Atomos (Kranky, 2014 – Arranger, Composer, Engineer, Primary Artist, Score) Iris (Erased Tapes, 2016) God's Own Country (2017) The Undivided Five (Ninja Tune, 2019) Invisible Cities (2021)
Other collaborations With Katy Perry: "Into Me You See" from Witness.
Filmography YearTitleDirectorCreditsNotes2006Marie AntoinetteSofia CoppolaComposer2007Remember the DazeJess Manafort2008An American AffairWilliam Olsson2010Want to See Something?Tomas JonsgårdenShort2011Like CrazyDrake Doremus2012The Other Dream TeamMarius A. MarkeviciusDocumentary2012The Beauty InsideDrake DoremusTV Mini-Series2012Now Is GoodOl Parker2013Breathe InDrake Doremus2013EclipseLinda Arkelian, David CooperShort2014PosthumousLulu Wang2014–2017TransparentJill Soloway (creator)TV series2015DeliáThomas Scott StantonShort2015UmrikaPrashant Nair2015American MastersSusan LacyTV series documentary2015This Is MeRhys ErnstTV mini-series documentary2015EqualsDrake Doremus2016I Love DickSarah Gubbins, Jill Soloway (creators)TV series2016LionGarth Daviswith Volker Bertelmann2016QueimafobiaDaniel Sánchez ArévaloShort2016In the Shadow of IrisJalil Lespert2017God's Own CountryFrancis Lee2018The Current WarAlfonso Gomez-RejonWith Hauschka2018Save MeNick Murphywith Bryan Senti2018PuzzleMarc Turtletaub2018The Hate U Give George Tillman Jr.2019The Art of Racing in the Rain Simon Curtiswith Volker Bertelmann2019A Christmas Carol Nick Murphy2020For Life Hank SteinbergTV series2020Save Me Too Nick Murphywith Bryan Senti 2020 The Old Guard Gina Prince-Bythewood with Volker Bertelmann 2020 Ammonite Francis Lee 2022 The Essex Serpent Clio Barnard with Herdís Stefánsdóttir 2025 Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy Michael Morris2025Eleanor the GreatScarlett Johansson
Awards YearAwardNominationTitleResultNotes2014HMMA AwardMain Title - TV Show / Digital SeriesTransparentNominated2015Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Main Title Theme MusicWon2016Critics’ Choice AwardsBest ScoreLion (2016)NominatedShared with: Volker BertelmannPFCS AwardBest Original ScoreHMMA AwardBest Original Score - Feature Film2017GFCA AwardBest Original ScoreBAFTA Film AwardOriginal MusicAcademy AwardBest Original ScoreShared with: Volker BertelmannGolden GlobeBest Original ScoreShared with: Volker Bertelmann
Personal life Dustin O'Halloran divides his time between Reykjavík and Los Angeles.
References
External links
psychoPEDIA interview