Siddhartha Barnhoorn

Composer for film, video games and media

About

Photo of Sid

Siddhartha Barnhoorn is an award winning composer from The Netherlands, providing original music composition, music licensing and sound design for various projects. He is responsible for the scores of over 70 films, not to mention documentaries, games, commercials and more, best known for his work on the award winning Blade Runner-inspired prequel short film Tears in the Rain and also on video games like: Antichamber, Planet Alpha, the Out There series and The Stanley Parable (licensed the track The Floating World, from his solo album Pillars of Light), and on projects like Embrace Life (the YouTube seatbelt PSA) and the Chinese OPPO Mobile Campaign, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

AWARDS

  • 2022 - Nominated - Best Original Score for Lucas
  • 2018 - WIN - Best Original Score for Tears in the Rain
  • 2018 - WIN - Best Music for Tears in the Rain
  • 2017 - Nominated - Best Original Score for Tears in the Rain
  • 2014 - Nominated - Best Use of Sound, Game Design & New IP for Antichamber
  • 2014 - Nominated - Best Score for The Hypnotist
  • 2010 - WIN- Best Score for Paradise Regained
  • 2006 - Nominated - Best Score for Heart's Atlantis

HISTORY

Sid already had a keen interest in filmmusic early in his life, listening mainly to the soundtracks of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. His own musical journey did not start until his mid/late-teens when he inherited an old electronic guitar from his uncle, which he learned to play himself by trying to figure out the melodies of bands like Pink Floyd, Camel and Blind Guardian. After a year he bought a little amp, a distortion pedal and a mic and started recording his own ideas. Soon afterwards he discovered sample libraries in the form of Soundfonts and later also Gigasamples. Here he discovered orchestral samples and started composing various orchestral works.

Sid composed his first orchestral suite in 2003: Space Suite - The Undiscovered Journey. In 2004 a friend of his listened to his music and encouraged him to compose for film and connected him to Niels Philipsen. That same year Sid scored his first short film Temple Tumble. He got hooked! Soon after that he scored another short film that made it onto national television in the Netherlands.

In 2004 he also started his study Composition for the Media at the School of the Arts Utrecht. During his studies, Sid took a great interest in ethnic music, especially traditional Japanese music. He decided to learn the Shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute. He also took interest in various other instruments like the Armenian duduk, the bouzouki (8-string lute), Turkish ney and soprano sax to name a few. Sid also worked on various international film projects while he was studying at the School of the Arts.

In 2008 he graduated cum laude as Master of the Arts.

PRO affiliation: Buma/Stemra