Stephen Gallagher is a composer and an Emmy Award-winning music editor with over two decades of experience in the industry.

Throughout his career, Stephen has collaborated on an impressive array of projects, from global blockbusters with industry legends like Peter Jackson, Brian Eno, Ed Sheeran, Nick Cave, and Junkie XL, to Emmy-winning television productions, independent documentaries, and contemporary theater and dance. He describes his passion as “making sounds and worlds out of sound.”

Renowned for his deep understanding of film scoring, Stephen crafts music that resonates with the heart of each story, seamlessly blending sound and emotion to create the perfect soundtrack. He recently composed the score to Kenji Kamiyama’s epic anime film The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim. Previously his Middle-earth composing experiences were writing the iconic songs “Blunt The Knives” and “The Torture Song” for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

In 2021, he received a nomination for Best Original Score at the International Sound and Film Music Festival for the documentary short Kimana Tuskers. In 2018, he was nominated for an APRA Silver Scroll Award for his original score for the feature film Human Traces.

Stephen also contributed additional music to accompany Brian Eno’s original score for The Lovely Bones and has composed original scores for notable films, including the multi-award-winning Canadian horror-comedy Puppet Killer and the documentary Conquering Cancer. Alongside David Long, he co-composed the score for the Emmy Award-winning series INSiDE and three seasons of the BBC children’s show Mystic.

Highly adaptable, collaborative, and detail-oriented, Stephen focuses on producing music that enhances the larger narrative. Whether arranging for electronic or orchestral instruments or crafting a temp score, he has built a reputation for delivering precisely what directors envision.

His music editing is known for its sensitivity to storytelling, earning him three nominations for an MPSE Golden Reel Award. In 2022, he won both a Golden Reel and an Emmy Award for his work on Peter Jackson’s critically acclaimed documentary series The Beatles: Get Back.

Stephen's credits as Music Editor include box-office successes such as The Hobbit trilogy (The Battle of the Five Armies, The Desolation of Smaug, An Unexpected Journey) and the sci-fi hit District 9. He served as Supervising Music Editor for The Lovely Bones and the documentary West of Memphis.