About

David Hirschfelder is recognised globally as one of Australia’s most distinguished screen-composers, having garnered Oscar nominations for Scott Hicks' "Shine"

and Shekhar Kapur’s “Elizabeth”.

He is also the winner of two BAFTA (British Academy) awards

for "Strictly Ballroom" and "Elizabeth".

David’s other acclaimed film-score credits include the following:

Roger Spottiswoode's Chinese epic "The Children of Huang Shi" starring Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat, which received an APRA-AGSC Film-Score-of-the-Year award in 2008; Zack Snyder's 2011 animated feature "Legend of the Guardians", which received AACTA, APRA-AGCS and Annie nominations for best score; Jonathan Teplitzky’s "The Railway Man", which won AACTA and APRA best score awards in 2014; Russell Crowe's "The Water Diviner", which won the 2014 FCCA Regal Cinema Best Score Award and APRA-AGSC Soundtrack-of-the-Year Award; in 2015, David received an AACTA nomination for his eclectic score to Jocelyn Moorhouse’s "The Dressmaker", starring Kate Winslet, Judy Davis and Hugo Weaving; 2019 David garnered AACTA and FCCA nominations for his score to Rachel Griffith's "Ride Like a Girl", starring Teresa Palmer and Sam Neil; and in 2020 David received an APRA-AGSC Film-Score-of-the-Year nomination for "Escape from Pretoria", starring Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Webber.

Concert works include “Eternity” for orchestra, choir and 1000 tap-dancers (commissioned for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony),

“Mixed Doubles” for string quartet (2004 Adelaide Fringe Arts Festival), and

“To a Child” for soprano and string quartet, recorded and released in 2016

by Katie Noonan and The Brodsky Quartet. In 2018 David completed another commission for Katie Noonan and the Australian String Quartet, setting music to

a poem titled “No More Boomerang”, by indigenous artist Oodgeroo Noonuccul.

2024 saw the release of Jocelyn Moorhouse's comedy “The Fabulous Four" starring Susan Sarandon and Bette Midler, featuring a multi-faceted score

composed by David with his son Sam. Later that year, David received an

APRA-AGSC Soundtrack-of-the-Year nomination for "Sleeping Dogs"

starring Russel Crowe and Karen Gillan.

Early 2025 sees the release of an album of contemporary art music titled UNFOLD 缘启 - marking David's first collaboration with internationally

acclaimed Guzheng virtuoso, Mindy Meng Wang 王萌