Jonny Greenwood

About Jonny Greenwood

Jonny Greenwood, while perhaps best known for his role as guitarist/multi-instrumentalist in the rock band Radiohead, reveals another musical personality much more at home in the classical world on his Nonesuch debut, as composer of the score to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Academy Award–nominated film There Will Be Blood. The soundtrack album features performances by, among others, the BBC Concert Orchestra, where Greenwood was artist-in-residence.

Trained as violist, Greenwood had begun studies in music at Oxford University before leaving to concentrate full-time on touring and recording with Radiohead. Nonetheless, Greenwood has maintained a passion for classical music that began at least since his teens, particularly the work of French composer Olivier Messiaen. Since the early 2000s, and particularly in 2004 when he received his BBC appointment, Greenwood has slowly been building a body of work in the classical tradition, for groups ranging from string quartet to full orchestra. With There Will Be Blood, Greenwood offers the culmination of his work in the classical vein over recent years.