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Mark Korven

Mark Korven is a Canadian musician and composer for film and television.

Life and career

During his early career in Winnipeg, Korven performed in a variety of rock and jazz music ensembles, mostly playing the guitar and singing in local bars. In 1977, he started taking formal music education at the Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton where he studied jazz and orchestration. After graduating, he developed into a singer / songwriter and recorded his first album of left-of-center pop entitled "Passengers". In 1987 he moved to Toronto, where he recorded the album "Ordinary Man" with Duke Street Records, and that same year he had his first chance at composing for film, with the score for Patricia Rozema's debut feature I've Heard the Mermaids Singing. which went on to win the La Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival.

His work includes the music on the sci-fi horror cult film Cube (1997), collaborations with director Robert Eggers on the period horror films The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), Scott Derrickson's The Black Phone (2022), and Arkasha Stevenson's The First Omen (2024).

Korven plays several exotic instruments, including the Sarangi, the Nyckelharpa, the Duduk, the Erhu, and the water phone. He was also responsible for the co-creation of "The Apprehension Engine", a custom made musical instrument intended for the creation of unsettling noises to be used on scoring horror films, built by guitar luthier Tony Duggan-Smith.

Works

Film

1987 – I've Heard the Mermaids Singing
1990 – White Room
1991 – Sam & Me
1992 – The Grocer's Wife
1992 – Voices from the Shadows
1994 – Henry & Verlin
1994 – The Michelle Apartments
1995 – Curtis's Charm
1996 – Lyddie (TV)
1996 – Joe's Wedding
1996 – Giant Mine
1997 – Cube
1999 – Win, Again! (TV)
1999 – The Sheldon Kennedy Story (TV)
2000 – Falling Through
2000 – Saint Jude
2001 – Tagged: The Jonathan Wamback Story (TV)
2014 – Cruel and Unusual
2015 – The Witch
2017 – Awakening the Zodiac
2018 – Our House
2019 – The Lighthouse
2021 - No One Gets Out Alive
2021 - Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
2022 - The Black Phone
2024 - Night Swim
2024 - The First Omen

Television

1988 – The Twilight Zone
1991 – Grand Larceny
1993–1994 – Destiny Ridge
1997 – Michael Grey Eyes
1997 – The New Ice Age
1997–1999 – A Scattering of Seeds
1999–2003 – The Nature of Things
Love Is Not Enough
2002 – New Year's Resolutions
2002 – Friday the 13th: The Devil in Dover
2003 – The Ex-Factor
2003 – Talk Mogadishu: Media Under Fire
2003 – Hollywood Wives: The New Generation
2004 – Winning
2005 – The Dark Years
2007 – America at a Crossroads
2008–2010 – The Border
2019 – The Terror: Infamy
2020–2021 – Them: Covenant
2020–2021 – Chapelwaite
2022 — The Peripheral

Documentaries

1990 – Transplant, the Breath of Life
1990 – Between Two Worlds
1994 – Lawn and Order
1994 – The Lucky Ones: Allied Airmen in Buchenwald
1996 – Power
1997 – Confessions of a Rabid Dog
1998 – The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman
2001 – A Moment in Time: The United Colours of Bronstein
2003 – Arctic Dreamer
2004 – Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
2005 – Hogtown: The Politics of Policing
2005 – The Ungrateful Dead: In Search of International Justice
2006 – The Man Who Couldn't Sleep
2007 – Triage: Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma
2005 – Nugliak
2007 – A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman
2007 – Turning Pages: The Life and Literature of Margaret Atwood
2008 – Tiger Spirit
2009 – The Experimental Eskimos
2009 – Pushing the Line: Art Without Reservations
2011 – Earth from Space
2013 – Fight like Soldiers, Die like Children
2016 – All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I. F. Stone

Awards and nominations

During his career, Korven has received several awards, many at the Gemini Awards, Genie Awards and the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

List of Awards:

Gemini Awards

2008 – Won – Best Original Music Score for a Documentary Program or Series: "A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman"
2008 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Program or Series: The Border For episode "Enemy Contact"
2005 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Documentary Program or Series: "Continuous Journey", award shared with:

Philip Strong, Kiran Ahluwalia, Ben Grossman, Ravi Naimpally

2000 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series: "The Sheldon Kennedy Story"
1999 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series: "Win, Again!"
1992 – Nominated – Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series: "Between Two Worlds"

Genie Awards

1999 – Nominated – Best Music Score: "Cube"
1996 – Nominated – Best Achievement in Music – Original Score: "The Michelle Apts."
1996 – Won – Best Achievement in Music – Original Score: "Curtis's Charm"
1994 – Nominated – Best Music Score: "Henry & Verlin"
1993 – Nominated – Best Music Score: "The Grocer's Wife"
1991 – Nominated – Best Music Score: "White Room"

Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival

2005 – Won Golden Sheaf Award – Best Original Music, Non-Fiction: "Continuous Journey", award shared with: Philip Strong, Kiran Ahluwalia, Ben Grossman, Ravi Naimpally