Variety is reporting that John Powell will be taking another sabbatical from film music following the completion of his score for this summer’s animated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2. Instead, he will be writing a 45-minute oratorio to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of World War I. The piece, entitled Moltke will feature a libretto by artist-writer Michael Petry and is about the aide-de-camp to Prussia’s Kaiser Wilhelm II who was instrumental in making crucial decisions, before and during the war. The oratorio is expected to premiere next January with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Westminster Cathedral in London. In addition, Powell will also be expanding a piece he composed in early 2012 with composer Gavin Greenaway for a Petry installation at the Palm Springs Art Museum called The Dilemma about the biblical history of men and women. The Academy Award-nominated composer also has another concert work, Symphony of the Heart in development. The piece is related to a website where physicians can listen to recordings of heart rhythms whose slight differences reflect stages of illness and well-being.
Powell’s latest project, Rio 2, is currently playing in theaters.
As long as these new pieces get properly recorded and released to general public, it’s fine!