Filmcomposer |Songwriter
BIOGRAPHY
Daan Hofman is a multi-award winning composer and songwriter, born and based in Amsterdam
In 2003 he graduated from the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht as an actor with a special interest in music theater. He wrote his first show Wat Kruipt Daar Uit De Zee, tutored by Erik de Jong a.k.a Spinvis at Huis aan de Werf Utrecht. In the following years, he continued writing songs and toured with a live band, among others as support act for André Manuel, Raymond van het Groenewoud and even Ramses Shaffy. All this resulted in the debut album Fakkels van Suiker (2008) with which he was praised by Jazzism as "A very special talent”.
After years of touring, Daan went to study at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he holds a degree in jazz harmony, arranging, orchestration and music production. He also studied Composing for film with Jurre Haanstra.
As a result, he started writing music for the stage. After a workshop with Orkater, he worked with theater groups such as Echo, Breekgoed and Amsterdamse Bos Theater. In 2015, he was invited by the Kruller Muller Museum to compose the live radio play Seurat, vanger van het licht as part of the exhibition on George Seurat.
Frederic & de katoenvelden (2013) was his second album as a songwriter, a blend of French chanson with blues. "Daan Hofman reveals himself as a true Popchansonnier" Heaven Magazine wrote. Daan has since appeared in De Beste Singer-songwriter van Nederland, reached the semi-final of De Grote Prijs and won the Prix de Publix at Concour de la Chanson with his performance of Jacques Brel's Mathilde. As a singer and performer, he subsequently worked with Kamer Opera Huis on the opera Bake that awesome Pie and with Asko Schonberg Ensemble on Wonderlijke klanken at Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
Since 2018, Daan is primarily focused on composing for film. In recent years he has built a studio for his music productions. He studied Advanced Sound Design at Point Blank in London and became interested in electronics. He set up a new songwriter project Phonettes and the EP Algorithm Love was successfully released by TCBYML last year.
He has scored a total of 15 short films, 5 animations, a feature film, and 2 full-length Documentaries. Two of his soundtracks were nominated for Best Musical Score on the 48-hour film projects and he won the award in Rotterdam. More recently he composed the music for the BNNVara documentary De Schrijver, De Moordenaar & Zijn Vrouw, broadcasted on Dutch television.
May 19th Daan won the BMIM Best New Talent award with his orchestral re-score of 'Danny and the wild bunch'. Read the interview with Score magazine HERE. With his score for the short film 'I'll Be Here' (Directed by Tiffany Murray), he was runner up at the scoring competition of the California Independent Film Festival (US)
In September 2019, Daan was admitted to a Masters program in Media Composition at Chichester University (UK). He lives with his wife and two sons near the Dutch seashore.
FILMWORKS
Film & TV
Animation
Selected Projects
I'll Be Here shortfilm
Directed by Tiffany Murray
CAIFF Scoring Competition
Who's James Payton? Documentary
Directed by Oliver Guy Watkins
-Coming 2021-
Het Zoemt Animation
Directed & animated by Bart Karpe
Short animation film with an orchestral score about mother nature and the destruction of the earth.
Documentary about a well known Dutch kidnap Case in the 80ies. Writer Tim Krabbe, on his obsession with the case and his friendship with perpetrator Ferdi E.
Directed by Twan Huijs
Produced BNN Vara
Watch HERE
De schrijver, de moordenaar & zijn vrouw Documentary
Out of Focus Shortfilm
Portret of a polaroid photographer on a Saturdaynight in Amsterdam
Directed by Jesse & Jesse
Produced Icarus film
Directed by Robert Rugan
Zurich Filmscoring Competition
Original score: Brooks Ball
Danny & the Wild Bunch Short film
Directed by Limbert Fabian & Brandon Oldenburg
Berlin Filmscoring Competition
Original score: Imogen Heap
Escape Animation
Directed by Sverre Aune
Composed and Recorded at Fusion Filmscoring Workshop, Thessaloniki
DIS Shortfilm
Directed by Pelle Smit
Dieter, an unexpected guest on Christmas eve, causes a crack in the cemented family roles within the family.
Awards:
EFF Best Talent
OVT Shortfilm
Multi Award-winning short film screwed, is a silent comic movie with a jazzy soundtrack. A date takes a strange twist when an man can't find a corkscrew.
Directed by Tim Schijf
Produced by IFAN
SCREWED Shortfilm
Christmas evening in all it's painful glory.
Directed by Wouter vd Watering
Award: Best Musical score
Watch HERE
VAN TAFEL Shortfilm
THEATRE
PHONETTES
About two years ago, Daan started his solo project 'Phonettes' with only an analog synthesizer, two guitars and a computer. He wrote, produced and played all the tracks on the EP ‘Algorithm Love’.
The songs of Phonettes are shaped by Minimalistic rhythmic patterns, New wave grooves with dreamy vocal choirs, pickin’ guitars, and warm analog synth sounds, even flirting with lay back techno but preserving the song as its beating heart.
Under license of TCBYML Amsterdam 2019
ALBUMS
Debut album 'Fakkels Van Suiker' presents 11 richly arranged songs with a bluesy tone, but among the poetic lyrics, you can hear snatches of French chansons, Italian arias, and even gypsy swing. "He has the ability to write songs that nestle in your head" newspaper Trouw wrote.
For his next album, Daan Hofman traveled to the southern states of the VS to look for the roots of pop music. At Frederic & de katoenvelden, the traveler comes home and the musician gets to work. Daan created a sound in which the color palette of European chanson merges with the raw edges of American roots music.
CONTACT
Studio Hofmusik
Swalmstraat 2B
1079 ZG Amsterdam
Tel: 06-41766368
