UMPG Signs ‘Poor Things’ Film Composer Jerskin Fendrix

Photo Credit: Melissa Svensen ((L-R: Natasha Baldwin, EVP, UMPG Classics & Screen; Jerskin Fendrix; Jody Gerson, UMPG Chairman & CEO)

Universal Music Publishing Group has announced it has signed composer and musician Jerskin Fendrix to an exclusive global publishing agreement through the company’s Classics & Screen division.Following director Yorgos Lanthimos’ discovery of Fendrix’s debut solo album Winterreise, Lanthimos commissioned Fendrix to compose his first-ever film score for the film ‘Poor Things.’ Fendrix’s critically acclaimed score earned him a multitude of awards, including Best Film Score at the 2024 Ivor Novello Awards and Best Original Score nominations at the 96th Academy Awards and BAFTAs. He is the youngest composer to ever be nominated for those awards. Fendrix has signed on to score Lanthimos’ next two films.

“I’m delighted to be working with Tash Baldwin, Anna Jaskiewicz, and the team at UMPG Classics & Screen/Decca Publishing,” says Fendrix about the deal. “I have great trust in their protection and dissemination of my work. To be signed alongside so many singular artists with UMPG is an honor, especially under such a pioneering and passionate champion of music as Jody Gerson.”“Jerskin’s meteoric rise in the score composing world is extraordinary and he richly deserves all the accolades he has received so far,” adds Natasha Baldwin, Executive Vice President of UMPG Classics & Screen. “Jerskin has quietly developed an exciting artist/composer and songwriting style that caught our A&R team’s attention initially, so I am delighted that we are able to welcome Jerskin to a publishing company that truly supports and amplifies the whole breadth of what being a composer can mean.”

“We are very honored to be working with the inimitable genius that is Jerskin Fendrix,” adds Anna Jaskiewicz, Creative Director of UPMG Classics & Screen. “Jerskin is also a multi-talented singer-songwriter with several artist projects in the pipeline due to be released in the coming years.”

Fendrix joins the company’s prestigious global Classical & Screen composer roster of world-class composers including Nicholas Britell, Isobel Waller-Bridge, Max Richter, Hildur Guanodottir, Danny Elfman, James Newton-Howard, David Lynch, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gustavo Santaolalla, and more.

The division is home to iconic catalogs like the Italian catalogue – Ricordi, French catalogue – Durand/Salabert-Eschig, and Hungarian catalogue – EMB, which includes composers Puccini, Respighi, Poulenc, Messiaen, Haas, Xanakis, Kurtag, Kevin Puts, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon and more.