New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Lakeshore Records will release THE YOUNG MESSIAH - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack digitally and on CD February 26, 2016. The album features the film�s original score by Academy Award�-nominated composer
John Debney (DRAFT DAY, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST).
�This film was simply not complete until John had finished the score,� said director Cyrus Nowrasteh. �For this filmmaker he is answer to many prayers. He is so much more than a composer and artist - though that would be enough - but he�s also a faith-driven man who takes this story on with all the heart, soul and belief such a score requires.�
Remaining true to the character of Jesus revealed in the Bible, THE YOUNG MESSIAH is an inspirational story about the childhood of the Savior for the whole family. When the mystery of Jesus� divinity begins to unfold in His early years, He turns to His parents for answers. But Mary and Joseph, in an effort to protect their child, are afraid to reveal all they know. How do you explain the ways of the world to its Creator? How do you teach the Teacher? How do you help the Savior who came to save you?
Follow the young Messiah as He and His family take the extraordinary journey from Egypt to Nazareth and on to Jerusalem � where His true identity and profound destiny are revealed.
�Our director Cyrus is an absolute master story teller,� Debney explained. �We worked very closely to enhance every moment of the film. He is a great collaborator and I found his story sense of great help in creating the sound of the score. The score highlights the place and time and yet also conveys the emotion and beauty of the love between a son and his mother and father.�
Academy Award�-nominated
John Debney seemed destined for a career in Hollywood. The son of Disney Studios producer Louis Debney, John grew up in nearby Glendale, where he began guitar lessons at age six and played in rock bands in college. He began scoring Motion Picture projects as diverse as Star Trek: The Next Generation, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Sea Quest DSV, for which he won an Emmy for Best Main Title. In 1993 he secured his first studio feature film, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler.
Although Debney had built an industry reputation as a talented film composer, with films as The Princess Diaries 1&2, Raising Helen, Spy Kids 1&2, Elf, and Bruce Almighty, it was in 2004 that the rest of the world discovered him. Blending symphonic orchestra, a wide range of world instruments and the beauty of the human voice, Debney�s landmark score for The
Passion Of The Christ would earn him an Academy Award nomination, a Gold record and a Dove award. Debney continues to receive accolades for his outstanding work, including a received a Prime Time Emmy nomination for his work on the miniseries Hatfields and McCoys. In 2005, he became the youngest recipient of ASCAP's prestigious
Henry Mancini Lifetime Achievement Award. John Debney�s recent accomplishments include scoring the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs. His recent projects include Houdini, Draft Day, Walk Of Shame, Stonehearst Asylum, and THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER.
�John�s music is filled with power and reverence and an immediacy that puts you inside the child Jesus, a place where no other films has gone,� said Nowrasteh. �The tenderness, the love, the danger, the panorama, the vistas, are all present in the music he has written.�
�For me the key moment in the film is at the end when Mary speaks to her son about his true nature,� said Debney. �It is a wonderfully acted scene anchored by the amazing Sara Lazzaro as Mary. It is such a crucial scene that I scored it a number of ways. The music had to be emotional yet transparent. It had to be perfect. Cyrus guided me there.�
Focus Features presents THE YOUNG MESSIAH in theaters on March 11, 2016. Lakeshore Records will release THE YOUNG MESSIAH - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack digitally and on CD February 26, 2016.
