Alastair King

For the Lord Mayor of London, see Alastair John Naisbitt King.

Alastair King (born 1967) is a British composer and conductor, perhaps best known for his musical contributions to film and television. He frequently collaborates with composers Charlie Mole, Geoff Zanelli, Nicholas Hooper and Rupert Gregson-Williams by either conducting for them or acting as an orchestrator or both.

Alastair King
Born	1967 (age 56–57)
Genres	Film score, Classical music
Occupation(s)	Conductor, Composer, Orchestrator

Biography

King studied music at Bath College of Higher Education, graduating in 1991. He then undertook postgraduate study at Birmingham University and the University of Kansas.

His work Hit the Ground (Running, Running, Running) was the only European entry in the final of the composing competition Masterprize 2001.

In addition to his concert works, King has composed music for various films, including Shrek, Chicken Run, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and television programmes, including the FIFA World Cup 2002, The Last Detective, Second Nature and William and Mary.

King's most recent roles include conducting and orchestrating on Doctor Who for Murray Gold and Segun Akinola. He replaced Ben Foster after his departure in 2015 and took on the full role for Series 10. He left the show after the 2017 Christmas special Twice Upon a Time, then returned in 2021 for Series 13's The Vanquishers, the finale of the six-part Flux arc, as well as the final three specials of Jodie Whittaker's era as the Thirteenth Doctor in 2022.

Filmography

Year	Title	Composer(s)	Notes
2001	Shrek	Harry Gregson-Williams John Powell	Music Assistant
2002	Thunderpants	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Conductor and Orchestrator
	The Heart of Me	Nicholas Hooper	Conductor
	Plots with a View	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Conductor and Orchestrator
2003	What a Girl Wants
2004	Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London	Mark Thomas	Music Preparation
	King Arthur	Hans Zimmer	Music arranger: Choral
	Hotel Rwanda	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Additional score arranger
2005	The Magic Roundabout	Mark Thomas	Conductor: Choir
	Kingdom of Heaven	Harry Gregson-Williams	Orchestrator
	Guy X	Charlie Mole Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson	Conductor and Orchestrator
	The Island	Steve Jablonsky	Conductor: Choir
	Spirit Trap	Guy Fletcher	Orchestrator
	Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	Julian Nott	Composer of Additional Music
	Blood Rayne	Henning Lohner	Conductor
	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe	Harry Gregson-Williams	Conductor: Choir(uncredited)
2006	Goose on the Loose	Charlie Mole	Conductor and Orchestator
	Curious George	Heitor Pereira
	Over the Hedge	Rupert Gregson-Williams
	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	Hans Zimmer	Conductor: Choir
	Fade to Black	Charlie Mole	Conductor and Orchestrator
2007	Mr. Bean's Holiday	Howard Goodall	Orchestrator
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Nicholas Hooper	Conductor and Orchestrator
	Bee Movie	Rupert Gregson-Williams
	Fred Claus	Christophe Beck	Conductor
	St Trinian's	Charlie Mole	Orchestrator
2008	Made of Honor	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Conductor(uncredited) and Orchestrator
	You Don't Mess with the Zohan
	Bedtime Stories		Orchestrator
2009	The Maiden Heist		Conductor and Orchestrator
	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Nicholas Hooper
	Dorian Gray	Charlie Mole
	Harry Brown	Martin Phipps Ruth Barrett Pete Tong Theo Green Paul Rogers	Orchestrator
	St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold	Charlie Mole	Conductor and Orchestrator
2010	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Harry Gregson-Williams	Orchestrator(uncredited)
	Grown Ups	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Orchestrator
2011	Just Go with It
	Zookeeper
	Stella Days	Nicholas Hooper	Conductor and Orchestrator
	Beneath the Darkness	Geoff Zanelli	Conductor
	Jack and Jill	Rupert Gregson-Williams Waddy Wachtel	Orchestrator
2012	Red Lights	Victor Reyes	Conductor
	Should've Been Romeo	Geoff Zanelli	Conductor and Orchestrator
	That's My Boy	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Orchestrator
	Total Recall	Harry Gregson-Williams
	Song for Marion	Laura Rossi	Conductor and Orchestrator
	Here Comes the Boom	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Orchestrator
2013	Dead Man Down	Jacob Groth	Conductor and Orchestrator
	Grown Ups 2	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Orchestrator
	Gravity	Steven Price	Orchestrator(uncredited)
2014	Vampire Academy	Rolfe Kent	Orchestrator
	Winter's Tale	Hans Zimmer Rupert Gregson-Williams
	Blended	Rupert Gregson-Williams
	Postman Pat: The Movie		Conductor and Orchestrator
	Exodus: Gods and Kings	Alberto Iglesias	Orchestrator
2015	The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power	Geoff Zanelli
	Mortdecai	Geoff Zanelli Mark Ronson	Conductor and Orchestrator
	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Orchestrator
	The Martian	Harry Gregson-Williams
	The Ridiculous 6	Rupert Gregson-Williams Elmo Webber
2016	Dad's Army	Charlie Mole	Conductor and Orchestrator
	Altamira	Mark Knopfler Evelyn Glennie	Orchestrator
	The Do-Over	Rupert Gregson-William
	The Legend of Tarzan		Conductor and Orchestrator
	Masterminds	Geoff Zanelli	Orchestrator
	Winter Thaw	Nicholas Hooper	Conductor and Orchestrator
2017	The Ottoman Lieutenant	Geoff Zanelli	Orchestrator
	Sandy Wexler	Rupert Gregson-Williams
	Wonder Woman		Conductor and Orchestrator
2018	Swimming with Men	Charlie Mole
	Skyscraper	Steve Jablonsky	Conductor
	The Meg	Harry Gregson-Williams	Orchestrator
	Aquaman	Rupert Gregson-Williams	Conductor and Orchestrator

References

• Composers.co.uk profile
• Sibelius Music profile
• Music now biography in PDF

External links

• Chester-Novello bio
• Alastair King at IMDb