Trevor Jones to open Music Exchange 2013

"David Bowie, Sting, U2, Sinead O'Connor, Charlotte Church, Britney Spears and Elvis Costello have all worked with him," remarked committee member Martin Myers. "It's a privilege and rare pleasure to be able to welcome a man who has made his mark within the global music and entertainment industry."

Jones, as a jury member for BAFTA, the Mercury Music Prize and the International Film Festival of Flanders, Ghent, makes him one of the most sought after composers and arrangers. Born and raised in South Africa, Jones left the country, aged 17, to take up a scholarship the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied composition, orchestration, conducting, piano and organ.

Film and television have also benefited from his pioneering work with the fusion of acoustic and electronic mastery over the past four decades. From Excalibur, The Dark Crystal, Runaway Train, Angel Heart, Mississippi Burning, Last of the Mohicans through to In the Name of the Father and Notting Hill, amongst many others, Jones' scores are the stuff of legend.

In another conference coup, Randall Abrahams, MD of Universal Music South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, will chair and moderate the keynote address.