Byrne adds to reputation with 'SATC 2' soundtrack

Navan composer and conductor Brian Byrne, now based in Los Angeles, arranged and played piano on the soundtrack for the new 'Sex And The City 2' movie due to be released at the end of this month. "The soundtrack was recorded in LA with an amazing group of session musicians," Byrne said. The work involved arranging a well-known standard for a large string section and the Jerry Hey horn section, and Byrne also plays piano on two songs for the movie. 'Sex And The City 2' picks up two years after the first movie left off, and finds the four New York friends embarking on the trip of a lifetime to the exotic world of the Middle East. Carrie's filled her enormous closet and is living the life with Big, Samantha is taking more pills than an octogenarian, Miranda seems to have found the balance between mother and professional woman, and Charlotte is crumbling under the pressure of being mother to two children. Then a little sparkle comes in, shaped in the form of a flirty Penelope Cruz. Stanford wears white to his wedding where Liza Minelli performs, and the girls jump at the chance for an all-expenses-paid trip to Abu Dhabi. The writer and director is Michael Patrick King, and the movie stars Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis. Brian Byrne will be back in Ireland this summer for a performance in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on 24th June, for a programme entitled 'In Concert with Brian Byrne and the RTE Concert Orchestra plus guests'. Simon Delaney from 'Zonad', which Byrne also worked on, will be a special guest on the show and there will be two world premieres, 'Images of Robert Burns Suite' and a brand new saxophone concerto commissioned by RTE. There will also be music from 'Sex and the City 2', 'The Late Late Show' (another Byrne work), a little music from the IFTA award-winning score 'Zonad' and material from The Beatles, Motown and Mel Brooks. Byrne moved to Los Angeles in July 2003 to pursue a career as a film and television composer. Since his move, he has been very much in demand as a composer, conductor, songwriter, arranger and pianist, both in America and in Europe. In 2007, he composed two film scores in Hollywood, 'The Grand Design' directed by Eric Stoltz and 'A Line in The Sand' directed by Jeffrey Chernov. He recently composed incidental music for the NBC show 'Quaterlife'. Since moving to the United States, the Navan man has repeatedly been invited back to Dublin to present his own 'Swingin' at Movies' concerts. He has appeared as conductor and musical director with the RTE Orchestra and Big Band at the National Concert Hall. RTE presenter Ryan Tubridy is an admirer of Byrne's work, and commissioned him to work on the theme music for the current 'Late Late Show'.