Austin Wintory

Lore & Background

Austin Wintory was born in Denver, Colorado in 1984 and started learning piano when he was ten years old, after his teacher introduced him to composer Jerry Goldsmith. Before the age of ten, Wintory did not play any instruments and barely listened to music. By the age of sixteen, Wintory started writing for and conducting the Cherry Creek High School Orchestra during their performances of the 'Spirit of the Cosmos' pieces. Two years later, at the age of eighteen, Wintory conducted the Utah Symphony during its recording of 'Cosmos', which became one of his most popular projects, although he refers to it as 'atrocious garbage'. Since 2003, Wintory has composed over three hundred musical scores. Wintory met Jenova Chen while both attended the University of Southern California (USC). After networking with an interactive media student at USC and scoring a small game project, his name was passed along to Chen, who asked Wintory to score his thesis project, Flow, later re-released on PlayStation Network. Wintory, Chen and Nick Clarke developed the first version of Flow as a three-man team. Wintory regards the pink area of the game, where the player controls a jellyfish-like creature, as the humorous area of the game, describing his music for it as almost 'circus-like' compared to the overall soundtrack. Originally, Monaco developer Andy Schatz sought out licensed music, but Wintory convinced Schatz he could create an original score. Wintory likened 2D sprite-based games to the silent film era and agreed the soundtrack should have an earnest yet self-aware nostalgic feeling. Wintory will compose the music and conduct a live orchestra for a touring BAFTA Games in Concert, to start in 2026 and featuring music from winners of the British Academy Games Awards.

Reader's Guide

Austin Wintory is an American composer for film and video games, best known for scoring Flow and Journey. He began piano at age ten after his teacher introduced him to Jerry Goldsmith. At sixteen, he wrote for and conducted his high school orchestra; at eighteen, he conducted the Utah Symphony recording 'Cosmos'. He met Jenova Chen at USC and scored Chen's thesis project Flow. He also composed for Monaco. He will conduct a BAFTA Games in Concert tour starting in 2026.

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