This Music Wasn’t Meant for Us.
That phrase defines the work of Dr. Ryan Somerville, a composer and sound designer who turns music into broadcasts from the void. His scores fuse horror, sci-fi, and ritual with a cinematic intensity that feels both otherworldly and deeply human.
Dr. Somerville’s journey began with premieres at London’s King Place and performances with the Edinburgh Quartet, before earning his Ph.D. in Composition at the University of Edinburgh. He has since created acclaimed scores for film, theater, and dance, with work featured at Berlinale, Cannes Critics’ Week, Creators Vice, and National Theatre Taipei. Residencies at the Banff Centre in Canada and the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai expanded his vision across global stages. His ongoing project This Music Wasn’t Meant for Us extends that vision into a growing mythos of horror and sci-fi experiences.
Recent highlights include Some Rain Must Fall (2023, dir. Qiu Yang), which premiered at Berlinale and received international recognition, and the short film She Runs (2019, dir. Qiu Yang), winner of the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize at Cannes. His viral reimagining of the 1960s Baby Secrets commercial also introduced his unsettling horror aesthetic to hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide. Whether collaborating with visionary directors or building his own mythos through AI-driven horror and sci-fi works, Dr. Somerville continues to push music into new dimensions.