Galway composer joins Hollywood royalty for premiere of new movie

by Martha Brennan

A young Galway composer who started out on the cornet in her local brass band is now writing movie scores in Hollywood – and rubbing shoulders with Sarah Jessica Parker at the premiere of their latest collaboration.

But Amie Doherty hasn’t forgotten her family – or Ballinasloe – roots, because her red carpet guests at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival were none other than her mother and sister!

Amie, who has been working in Hollywood since 2013, told the Connacht Tribune that bringing her mother and sister to the premiere of her latest work, Blue Night, was a “very proud moment”.

Amie composed the entire score for Blue Night, which stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Renee Zellweger, and she recorded Parker’s vocals in the studio with her. The blockbuster hasn’t been released in Ireland yet but should make its way across the Atlantic over the coming months.

In just a few years the young composer and orchestrator has racked up credits for her work on numerous Hollywood movies and television shows.

Some of these include Emmy award winning series Fargo, Netflix series Altered Carbon, CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery and HBO series The Night Of. She scored the music for Keep the Change which won Best Film at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Amie cites her Ballinasloe upbringing as a major influence in her musical career. The Doherty house, she said, was always surrounded by music.

Her mother Martina has been putting on musicals and concerts in local schools since Amie was young. She also runs the choir at the East Galway and Midlands Cancer Centre and teaches music with the Ballinasloe Town Band, where Amie played the cornet as a young girl.

“Music was always accessible in our house, but no one was ever forced to practice. We all just loved it”

Amie started to play the piano at a young age and said that “everything blossomed from there”.

The young musician dreamt of a career in music early on when she became mesmerized by various types of film music.

“I had no idea how I would do it, but I always knew I wanted to spend my life working in music,” she said.

Read the full interview in this week’s Connacht Tribune.