FMS FEATURE ["Downton Abbey", "Hemingway & Gellhorn" Win Music Emmys

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FMS FEATURE...

September 17, 2012
Downton Abbey, Hemingway & Gellhorn Win Music Emmys
Six of seven winners take home top award for first time by Jon Burlingame

John Lunn
(photo by Frank Micelotta / Picture Group, courtesy ATAS)

LOS ANGELES—Downton Abbey, Hemingway & Gellhorn and The Kennedy Center Honors were among the programs that won Emmy Awards for their music during the Creative Arts Primetime Emmy ceremonies Saturday at L.A. Live's Nokia Theatre.

It was an especially international crowd that won in the composition categories. British composer John Lunn won his first Emmy, in the category of Music Composition for a Series, for PBS's popular Downton Abbey. Fellow Brit Paul Englishby, on his first nomination, won for Main Title Theme Music for his theme for Page Eight, which aired on PBS's Masterpiece.

Javier Navarrete
(photo by Frank Micelotta / Picture Group, courtesy ATAS)

Spanish composer Javier Navarrete (best known for his big-screen scores for such films as Pan's Labyrinth) won for Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or Special for his colorful score for HBO's Hemingway & Gellhorn. It was also his first nomination and first win.

Veteran music directors Rob Berman and Rob Mathes finally won an Emmy for Music Direction for The Kennedy Center Honors. It was Mathes' fifth nomination for the program, Berman's fourth, for the annual CBS telecast of the December arts event in Washington, D.C.

In an upset, composer Adam Schlesinger and lyricist David Javerbaum won the Music and Lyrics category for "It's Not Just for Gays Anymore," the Neil Patrick Harris song-and-dance number that opened the 65th Annual Tony Awards. (Songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman had been expected to win for their showstopping number from Smash, "Let Me Be Your Star.")

It was Javerbaum's 12th Emmy (he has won 11 as a writer-producer on The Daily Show) and Schlesinger's first.

Composers and songwriters who were acknowledged in the evening's In Memoriam tribute included Pete Rugolo, Joel Goldsmith, Marvin Hamlisch and Mort Lindsey.

©2012 Jon Burlingame