Acclaimed composer Benjamin Squires, whose credits include trailers for the Wicked and Avatar films, has been named by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines as the industry’s first composer-in-residence.
Squires will join a northern lights cruise in March aboard Bolette where he will create a musical score inspired by the sea.
The aim is to deepen guests’ emotional connection to life on board, while also allowing listeners at home to experience the feeling of cruising through music.
Once written, the soundtrack will be performed and recorded by a 60-person orchestra at London’s Abbey Road before being made available on Spotify.
Squires said: “I’ve composed hundreds of pieces, but the opportunity to create a musical narrative of an entire journey through a soundtrack is a totally unique challenge.
“There are so many sights, sounds and feelings of a Fred Olsen cruise that I can’t wait to experience and start translating into music.
“It’s a phenomenal task and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in – I know there are going to be so many moments of inspiration, and it will all culminate in a timeless soundtrack, recorded at the inimitable Abbey Road Studios, that people can return to again and again.”
It follows research by the cruise line that shows three in four Brits associate specific songs with past holidays. Some 86 per cent of respondents said that music was important to their experience.
Doug Glenwright, guest experience director at Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, said: “For so many guests, the experience of travelling the high seas compares with nothing else.
“With the appointment of our first ever composer-in-residence, we want to help them relive and reconnect with their holidays long after they return home – as well as give those who haven’t cruised yet a taste of the experience.
“We’re delighted to welcome Benjamin Squires on board and look forward to hearing how he captures and translates the experience of a Fred Olsen cruise into the bold, cinematic music that he’s famed for.”
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