Rachel Portman is First Woman Composer to Receive Richard Kirk Award at BMI Film/TV Awards

Richard Kirk Award recipient Rachel Portman
2010 BMI Film/TV Awards
Photo by Lester Cohen/WireImage

BMI presented the Richard Kirk Award for outstanding career achievement to Rachel Portman at the annual BMI Film & Television Awards on Wednesday, May 19 in Los Angeles. Portman made history as she became the first woman composer to receive the honor. Staged at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the black-tie, invitation-only dinner saluted the composers of the past year's top-grossing films, top-rated prime-time network television series and highest-ranking cable network programs. BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and BMI Vice President, Film/TV Relations Doreen Ringer Ross hosted the event.

The Richard Kirk Award is bestowed on composers who have made significant contributions to the realm of film and television music. As the 2010 honoree, Rachel Portman joins an elite list that includes David Newman, Thomas Newman, Christopher Young, George S. Clinton, Harry Gregson-Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Michael Kamen, Mark Mothersbaugh, Danny Elfman, Alan Menken, Mike Post, Lalo Schifrin, John Barry and John Williams.

Rachel Portman composes music propelled by nuanced elegance and quirky wit. The first woman composer to win an Academy Award®, she has created rich scores for films including the Oscar-winning Emma, Nicholas Nickleby, Grammy- and Oscar-nominated Cider House Rules, Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated Chocolat, Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Hart’s War, Marvin’s Room, Beloved, The Joy Luck Club, The Manchurian Candidate, Infamous, Lake House, The Duchess, Benny and Joon and the recently finished Never Let Me Go, among others. The Oxford University graduate has also contributed acclaimed original music for top-tier television projects, including HBO's Grey Gardens, Four Days in July, Jim Henson’s Storyteller, Ethan Frome and the BAFTA-winning Oranges are not the Only Fruit.

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