Co-Organised by film music journalist and the festival’s Head of Industry, Eleni Mitsiaki, this masterclasses took place during the 8th Film Music Prague 2019 festival.

Designed as a didactic, hands-on workshop rather than a standard interview, it provided an educational dive into the mechanics of film scoring, moving past standard interview questions to function as a live, technical workshop. Drawing heavily on his early career background as a music teacher, Gregson-Williams utilized a live keyboard setup and video playback to actively dissect his orchestrations, choice of key signatures, and thematic motifs for the audience. He demonstrated the immense power of film music by playing two entirely different musical drafts over a single sequence from The Martian

Beyond science fiction, he contrasted his bright, fairytale arrangements for Shrek with the gritty, propulsive electronic pulses he built for action thrillers like Man on Fire and Tony Scott’s Unstoppable. The panel served as the creative backbone for the festival’s larger celebration of his work, tying directly into an evening “Legends: Ridley Scott” concert at Forum Karlín. During that live performance, the Praga Sinfonietta orchestra brought his dissected scores to life, culminating in Gregson-Williams taking the stage to address the crowd in Czech and personally conduct the world premiere of his symphonic suite for Exodus: Gods and Kings.

The educational session served as a prelude to an evening concert at Forum Karlín, where he conducted live suites of his music for director Ridley Scott.