Anita Andreis is a Croatian-born, New Zealand-based, artist, music producer, singer-songwriter and award-winning composer renowned for her works in the field of film music. Andreis has worked on a variety of films, TV, theatre and ballet productions, both independent and commercial. She has won three Best Film Music Awards for her musical scores for the animation films Guliver and Bobo.
Beginnings & Music Education
Anita Andreis was born in Zagreb, Croatia, where she grew up and completed her early education. Already as a young child, she presented an exceptional musical talent and started learning to play the guitar and a piano. A passionate film fan, Andreis set her sights on becoming a film composer and began composing at a young age. Her journey of musical discovery started with attending private classes to studying classical music forms and works of composers of classical music. She then continues her life-long music professional study at Berklee College of Music, firstly specializing in “Production of music for film and games” and then completing her Master’s studies in “Composition and Orchestration for Film and TV” after being awarded by the Celebrity Scholarship of Michel Camilo as one of the most promising Berklee students with exceptional achievements.
Composing for Film & TV
From a unique style of orchestration and orchestral colours engraved in rich textured compositions to haunting minimalistic piano melodies, she repeatedly creates the subliminal power to elicit a strong emotional response from an audience with her film scores. Composing and orchestration skills combined with her well-developed dramaturgical sensibility and precision made her a much sought-after film score composer. Film music critics describe Andreis’s music as “from haunting melancholic, ethereal expression to the dense orchestral textures with a brutal sound, she creates emotional and intellectual depths with a subliminal power that plunges into the narrative character of the film”, praising her “stellar compositional skills and an ability to express a whole range of emotions through her music, which facilitates a better understanding of the story and adding to the films she writes music for yet another dimension.”
Over the last decade, she collaborated with many prominent American and European directors, such as Silvije Petranovic (the most-watched Croatian children’s movie and TV series: The Brave Adventures of a Little Shoemaker), Zdenko Basic (critically acclaimed fantasy animation movie Guliver), Paul Sampson (Last David Carradine’s thriller movie Night of the Templar), Kirk Harris (drama The Kid: Chamaco), Taya Zubova (drama” My Dear Fish”), Andrej Rehak (mystical animated fantasy film “Bobo”) and others, for whose films she composed and orchestrated music. In 2019., the most-watched Croatian television Nova TV hired Anita Andreis for the project of Rebranding their Visual Identity, to create their new TV signature sound and compose music themes to breathe with their new visuals for the remaining years.
Collaboration with composer Evan Evans (son of legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans) as a member of Team score Composer’s Collective comprised of cinematic composers dedicated to creating dramatic scores for film, television, interactive and commercial media for Hollywood production further honed her film scoring, got accustomed to teamwork and fast-track composing under tight deadlines.
Andreis released two soundtracks “The Brave Adventures of a Little Shoemaker” and “Bobo”. Both albums received positive reviews upon release, with music critics lauding Andreis’s delicate approach to each scene enhancing the story and characters in a most meticulous way, portraying the wide spectrum of a variety of emotions and atmospheres.
Anita Andreis has been award-nominated for a Best Music Award at Pula Film Festival 2014 for her score “The Brave Adventures of a little Shoemaker” and has won three Best Music Awards for her scores, namely, for the animation movie „Guliver“ in 2010. on Croatian Festival of Animation Film and twice for score composed for the animation movie „Bobo“, in 2018 on 27h Days of Croatian Film and a Crystal Pine at the International Sound and Film Festival (ISFMF) in 2019.
Music for Ballet and Theatre
Andreis had the honour to compose music for a Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb for a ceremonial opening of its 150th season. Andreis’s music was interwoven with tunes by famous classical composers and poetry by the great Croatian poet of the 20th century Dobrisa Cesaric, for a ballet performance named “The Silence of my Murmur” by internationally recognised director and choreographer Leo Mujic.
In a ballet show “Ghost”, commissioned by the New Orleans Ballet Association and NOCA Institute, performed by Drew Jacoby, Rubinald Pronk and Prince Credell, in 2011, Anita Andreis continued her collaboration with choreographer Leo Mujic, composing music inspired by the story of an emotional metamorphosis of a Ghost. World Premiere of a Ghost was held in New Orleans, Louisiana and continued worldwide. The show was awarded in Belgrade, Serbia.
In Zagreb’s famous Comedy Theatre, Andreis composed music for the theatre show “Look Who’s Back”, based on Timur Vermes’s novel: Er is wieder da, adapted by director Marko Juraga and Jelena Veljaca. After the success of the show “Look Who’s Back”, Andreis composed jazz noir, love, action and comic music themes for the awarded show “The 39 Steps”.
Songwriting
Over her career, her musical journey has expanded into a new territory of a singer-songwriter. Her new storytelling expression has been opened to the public with the single release „Little Spring Snow Leftovers“, which premiered on the Women of Substance podcast in 2015, followed by singles „Clever Trick“, „Your Pain is My Paint“ and „Soldier“, claiming high places at top lists and alternative music radio stations and finalist positions at UK and International Songwriting Contests.
Her songs, due to unusual stories and sound, quirky musical arrangements and complex structures, defy categorisation, causing reviewers to describe it as „orchestral, ambient, indie, dark pop and art rock all at the same time“, or „an alternative pop-rock genre meshed with a film composing background where the pristine mix of instruments and layers of vocals forming a cohesive and unique piece of art“.
Her music is composed in her own recording studio, acoustically adapted and equipped with the highest quality studio gear and a wide range of instruments. The aim of cherishing and retaining the authenticity of an initial idea and emotion spark all through the release-ready material, resulted in further polishing of her recording, mixing and mastering techniques along with the songwriting and arranging capabilities. With the exception of a drummer Filip Zganec as the only constant variable in her music, she often employs and collaborates with diverse highly acclaimed studio musicians, selecting them carefully for each particular piece, according to their natural musical sensibility in order to instinctively express the closest to her envisioned sound.
The album “Chapter Three: Continuum”, inspired by her family, was released on the day she moved from her home country to New Zealand. The album was included in the “best of 2019” lists of infamous Croatian music reviewers and journalists noting her music should be “preserved, caressed and cared for as an intangible cultural heritage”. “Continuum” represents a vertical movement into the light of acceptance, awareness and exploration of a deeper inner realm as well as mysteries that connect us.
At the moment, she is working on a new EP inspired by her new-found stillness and joy in New Zealand.
Visual arts – Artistic expansion (2022 update)
After immigrating to New Zealand in late 2019, Anita’s voice and expression went through a substantial transformation. The impact of New Zealand on her creativity was first reflected in a brighter and more colourful tone and themes prevalent in her new music before it gradually shifted and expanded from auditive to visual arts. Her artworks range – from – seascapes and space in realism painted with oils – to – abstract art spiced with sacred geometry.
Organisations
- Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA AMCOS)
- Songbroker New Zealand
- American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
- Screen Composers Guild of New Zealand
- Women in Film and TV in NZ (WIFT)
Discography
Soundtracks
- December 2015 – The Brave Adventures of a Little Shoemaker (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)(music from feature movie and 4 TV miniseries), Clever Trick Music Publishing
- March 2019 – Bobo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)(music from animation movie), Clever Trick Music Publishing
Albums
- October 2019 – Chapter Three: Continuum
Singles
- 2015 – Little Spring Snow Leftovers/ Anita Andreis, Clever Trick Music Publishing
- 2015 – Clever Trick/ Anita Andreis, Clever Trick Music Publishing
- 2016 – Your Pain is My Paint/ Anita Andreis, Clever Trick Music Publishing
- 2018 – Soldier/ Anita Andreis, Clever Trick Music Publishing
Works (selection)
Film & TV Scores
- 2019 – The new audio-visual identity of the Nova TV group, new sound signature and signature theme for the most watched Croatian Television “Nova TV”
- 2019 – Dear Mrs President, documentary, director: Daniel Pavlic, Artizana
- 2018 – Bobo, animation film, director: Andrej Rehak, Zagreb Film
- 2018 – Do You Remember, animation film, director: Manuel Sumberac
- 2017 – Last War, comic book animation, director: Bruno Rodak
- 2016 – 4 TV Series: The Brave Adventures of a Little Shoemaker, feature movie, director: Silvije Petranovic, HRT
- 2015 – My Dear Fish, feature movie, director: Taya Zubova, SL Studio
- 2013 – Segrt Hlapic (The Brave Adventures of a Little Shoemaker), feature movie, director: Silvije Petranovic, Maydi Film
- 2012 – Night of The Templar, feature film, director: Paul Sampson
- 2011 – Fragments, short film, director: Matija Radeljak, Aning Film
- 2011 – Such a Beautiful Day, short film, director: Romana Rozic, Croatian Film Union
- 2009 – Life in Print, animation film, director: Bartley Taylor
- 2009 – The Kid: Chamaco, feature film, director: Miquel Necoechea, Kirk Harris
- 2009 – Zagreb Stories, feature film, directors: Nebojsa Slijepcevic, Igor Mirkovic, Propeler Film
- 2009 – Guliver, animation film, director: Zdenko Basic, Infine
- 2006 – Snow Story, animation film, director: Zdenko Basic, Infine
Music for Ballet & Theater
- 2020 – The 39 Steps, comedy theatre show, director: Marko Juraga, Theatre Skopje, Macedonia
- 2019 – The 39 Steps, comedy theatre show, director: Marko Juraga, Comedy Theater in Zagreb
- 2018 – Look Who’s Back, satirical theatre show, director: Marko Juraga, Comedy Theater in Zagreb
- 2011 – Ghost, ballet show, director: Leo Mujic, New Orleans Ballet Organisation
- 2010 – The Silence of my Murmur, ballet show, director: Leo Mujic, Croatian National Theater
Compositions
- Saviour for full orchestra (2009)
- Song of a Dead Poet (in Croatian “Pjesma Mrtvog Pjesnika” acapella (2010)
- Ghost for strings quartet (2010)
- Tale of a life long gone for piano (2012)
- The Gravity of Unwanted Thoughts for piano (2013)
- Monochromatic Recollections for piano and orchestra (2013)
- Look Who’s Back: The Main Theme for strings quartet (2018)
- The 39 Steps: Decomposed Village Brass Quintet Theme for brass quintet (2018)
- The 39 Steps: Main Theme for jazz orchestra (2018)
- Bobo: Mountains for full orchestra (2018)
Awards, Honours & Nominations
- 2019 – Won a Crystal Pine Best Score Award for music in an animation film Bobo by director Andrej Rehak at the International Sound and Music Festival’
- 2018 – Won Best Music Award for a score in an animation film Bobo by director Andrej Rehak at the 27th ‘Days of Croatian Film’
- 2013 – Nominated for an Award for best music in the feature film “The Brave Adventures of a Little Shoemaker” by director Silvije Petranovic, at 66th ‘Pula Film Festival’
- 2011 – Won Award for best music in an animation film Guliver by director Zdenko Basic at the 1st Croatian Animation Festival
- 2010 – Nominated for Award for best music in an animation film Guliver by director Zdenko Basic at the 19th ‘Days of Croatian Film’
- 20xx – Berklee College of Music – Celebrity Scholarship by Michel Camilo
- 2015 – UK Songwriting Contest, Finalist in Instrumental Category with Monochromatic Recollections
Organisations
- Croatian Composers’ Society (HDS)
- American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP),
- Screen Composers Guild of New Zealand
- Women in Film and TV (WIFT).
- Mentor Collective (as a mentor for Berklee College of Music Online Students)
External links
