Ravinia 2024 Issue 1

ONE OF THE MOTION PICTURE ACADEMY’S MOST GRIEVOUS SNUBS was denying Antonio Sánchez even an Oscar nomination for his percussive score for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman , which went on to win Oscars in 2015 for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Cinematography. The mostly drum score was the propulsive accompaniment to the film, which seem- ingly unfolded in one unbroken take. Charles Fox, the chair of the Acade- my’s music branch executive committee, informed Sánchez that “the drum score is highly effective in the places in the film where it is used. However, the fact that the film also contains over a half an hour of non-original (mostly classical) music cues that are featured very prom- inently in numerous pivotal moments in the film made it difficult for the com- mittee to accept your submission as an eligible score.” Yet when watching Birdman , what is the takeaway from the soundtrack—the snatches of classical music or the drums? Ravinia attendees can ponder this when Sánchez performs the score live during a 10th-anniversary screening of Birdman on June 26. Mexico City native Sánchez, a four- time Grammy-winner, is perhaps best known for his decades-long association with Pat Metheny. He learned to play drums at the age of 5, and in his early teens, performed professionally in a variety of music genres. After gradu- ating magna cum laude in Jazz Studies at the New England Conservatory, in 1999 Sánchez moved to New York City, where, if you can make it there … well, you know. Birdman was his first film score. He has since scored the TV series Get Shorty and is at work on Seth Rogan’s upcoming AppleTV+ series The Studio . Performing Birdman live has been a re- velatory and radical experience for him, he told Ravinia in a phone interview from his home in Barcelona. To hear him tell it, his collaboration with Iñárritu seemed almost fated. And as with many future musicians, it all began with rock and roll radio. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.) RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JUNE 7 – JUNE 30, 2024 20