Composer for screen, stage, and space
Scores for film, television, theatre, games and immersive spaces, recorded everywhere from the Alfred Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles to intimate electro-acoustic sessions, from Mary & Max to Australia’s World Expo pavilions.
90+ productions · 18 awards and nominations · 5 million+ streams
Film, television, documentary and IMAX
highlights from more than 90 productions
Feature · The Age Critic's Choice, Best Score
Feature · Sundance Opening Night · IF Awards nomination for Best Feature Film Score
Feature · Tribeca Official Selection
BBC One · 130+ territories · 5 Seasons · 1 Telemovie · Aust. Screen Music Awards Best Television Theme + nominated for Best Music for a Television Series twice.
Feature
Feature · Danish Film Academy (Robert Award) nomination for Best Original Score
Feature · AACTA nomination, Best Original Score in a Documentary
Feature · MIFF · IDFA · New York Asian Film Festival
Short · Aust. Screen Music Awards 2025, Best Music in a Short Film
IMAX 3D
IMAX 3D
IMAX 3D · Aust. Screen Music Awards Nom Best Music in a Documentary
Feature Documentary · Netflix US · Aust. Screen Music Awards nomination for Best Music in a Documentary
Feature Documentary · MIFF Official Selection
Feature Documentary · REELZ (US) · Discovery Canada · SBS
Documentary · Jason · Melbourne cult classic · Slamdance
Feature · dir. Khoa Do
Feature · AACTA nomination, Best Feature Documentary
Feature
ABC telemovie
Feature
LISTEN
Score excerpts across film, television, documentary & games
What other people have said…
“The very first strains I heard of Dale’s music were enough for me to understand I had come across a truly unique artist.”— Michael Petroni, writer and director, Backtrack & Till Human Voices Wake Us
“A theme tune so emotionally strong and evocative that it has become another character in the show.”— George Adams, Executive Producer and Creator, The Doctor Blake Mysteries
“Some composers tend to do the same thing again and again. Not Dale Cornelius. His scores were all distinct and highly inventive.”— Sally Ingleton, 360 Degree Films
Dale Cornelius is an AACTA and Australian Screen Music Award-winning composer whose work ranges from the tender, off-kilter warmth of Mary & Max to the nocturnal menace of Backtrack and the giant-screen scale of IMAX. Across more than 90 productions, each score is built as its own sonic identity, a musical language shaped by the story it serves.
His credits also include Blinky Bill: The Movie, five seasons of The Doctor Blake Mysteries for BBC One and ABC, State Theatre Company of South Australia’s Logan St, and Australia’s pavilions at the World Expos in Shanghai and Aichi. He is a former President of the Australian Guild of Screen Composers and is published by BMG ANZ.
new album
What is Carried, What is Left Behind?
A narrative chamber cycle for string quartet, synthesizers, piano, and found sound