Michael Llewelyn Barker is a film composer known for evocative, immersive scores. His music blends analogue synthesis, sampling, and tape textures with acoustic and amplified instrumentation, ranging from intimate solo performances and chamber ensembles to full orchestral forces.
A lifelong cinephile, Michael has a strong instinct for the pace, rhythm, and emotional architecture of a scene. He has led the music department on over thirty projects across short films, features, and documentaries, including The Mourning Bird, What We Wished We Could Be, Plastic Surgery, and Alasdair Mackay’s debut feature Anonymous. He has a long-running collaboration with the Academy Award-winning production company Slick Films, working closely with directors Chris Overton and Luke Shelley on multiple projects.
Michael’s writing is noted for its lyrical melodic sensibility, sophisticated yet accessible harmony, and evolving cinematic soundscapes. He regularly collaborates with world-class session musicians and leading orchestras across the UK and Europe.
His work on The Mourning Bird (Dir. George Somner) won Best Score at the British Short Film Awards 2022.
In 2024, Michael won Best Original Song (Aidan’s Song, performed by West End star, Jamie Muscato) and received a Best Original Score nomination at the prestigious International Sound and Film Music Festival for What We Wished We Could Be (Dir. Luke Shelley).
In 2025, he scored Plastic Surgery (Dir. Guy Trevellyan) and undertook his first television commissions, alongside further feature-length and short-form work.
Michael works from his studio in south-east London.
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