Inon Zur

Inon Zur was born in Israel. At the age of five, he was trying to compose harmonies with his mother's singing, and became inspired by classical music.[2] He learned to play French horn as a child, studied piano by the age of eight, and was studying composition by the age of ten.[2][3] He graduated from the Music Academy of Tel Aviv, and spent four years in the Israeli military. He emigrated to the United States in 1990 to study at the Dick Grove School of Music for a year, and then under private tutor Jack Smalley, a television music composer, and others for two years at the University of California, Los Angeles.[3][4]

Zur began his career in 1994 by working on soundtracks for movies, such as Yellow Lotus, featured at the Sundance Film Festival. He signed on to compose for Fox Family for six years, and made soundtracks for various children's television shows, including Digimon and Power Rangers. By 2002, he estimated that he had composed the soundtrack to over 360 Power Rangers episodes.[4] He won his first award during this period in his career, a Telly Award for his work on Power Rangers: Turbo.[5] While he enjoyed the work, he began to want to go work somewhere "more intriguing, more advanced, and basically a place that people really appreciate music more"; his agent overcame his initial reluctance and convinced him to work in the video games industry.[6] His first video game soundtrack was 2000's Star Trek: Klingon Academy, which he started composing for the game in 1997.[3] Zur moved on to prestigious titles, composing for the award-winning and critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal in 2001 and Icewind Dale II in 2002, among many others. Icewind Dale II earned him the first of many nominations for video game music awards, that of the Game Audio Network Guild's Music of the Year award.[7] He continued to work on movies and television programs during these years, composing the soundtrack to Au Pair in 1999 and the English version of the 2000 anime series Escaflowne.[8]

Zur's latest movie soundtrack to date was that of 2001's Au Pair II. He has worked on a few television series since then; his last traditional television soundtrack was for The Bachelor in 2002, though he has composed music for three webisode series since then. He continued to work on numerous video games, including Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones in 2005 and Crysis in 2007.[9] He has garnered several nominations for video game music awards, including his first win, for Men of Valor in the Best Original Instrumental track category of the 2004 Game Audio Network Guild awards.[10] His latest released titles have been Fallout 3 and Prince of Persia in 2008, Dragon Age: Origins and the Nintendo DS version of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game in 2009, Fallout: New Vegas in 2010, and Fallout 4 in 2015.[9][11] His work on Dragon Age: Origins has earned Zur his third career award, that of Best Original Song – Video Game for "I Am the One" in the 2009 Hollywood Music In Media Awards.[12]

Zur penned the original musical score for The Lord of the Rings: War in the North video game, conducting and recording with the London Philharmonia Orchestra and the Pinewood Singers Choir at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. In an industry first, a dedicated concert of his music from War in the North was performed each evening at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. The one-hour concert series was conducted by Zur and performed by The Hollywood Orchestra and Choir with the participation of The Lyris Quartet and solos from celebrated vocalist Aubrey Ashburn.