JOHN DEBNEY'S THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST SCORE ALBUM

TOPS BILLBOARD SOUNDTRACK CHART IN FIRST WEEK OF RELEASE

BIOLA UNIVERSITY CHORALE WITH SPECIAL GUEST SOLOIST LISBETH SCOTT AND

MUSICAL ENSEMBLE TO PERFORM SUITE FROM THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST UNDER THE

DIRECTION OF JOHN DEBNEY ON THE TONIGHT SHOW THURSDAY MARCH 11TH

(Los Angeles, CA- March 9, 2004) "The Passion of the Christ" continues its miraculous momentum both as a film as well as the score.  The original soundtrack recording on Sony Music/Integrity (music by John Debney) is the #1 selling soundtrack in its first full week of sales, according to Billboard charts. The film continues its reign at the box office with ticket sales over 200 million dollars.  This Thursday (3/11), Passion composer John Debney will conduct the Biola University Chorale along with a musical ensemble and special guest vocalist Lisbeth Scott on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (airing 11:35pm PST/EST)

The 30-voice choir with soloist Lisbeth Scott (who co-wrote the lyrics with John Debney) will perform custom suite from "The Passion of The Christ" which will include "Mary Goes To Jesus,"  "Raising The Cross" and  "The Resurrection.”  Other featured vocalists include the Middle Eastern duo Shankar and Gingger as well as ancient instruments including Taiko drums, Tom Toms and World woodwinds.

"The Passion of The Christ" CD also tops Billboard's Contemporary Christian chart and is number 19 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart.

The score is written by Award-winning film composer John Debney (Elf, The Scorpion King, Bruce Almighty, Spy Kids). Referring to the score, director, producer Mel Gibson commented, "It had to be an extraordinary piece of work, something that helped the images.  It had to tell a lot. John made my film 10 times better." Gibson lends his voice to the score's vocals and chants, performing with the London Voices. Debney utilized an 80-piece London orchestra to record the powerful score.

With a diverse list of film credits, John Debney utilizes both his classical training and strong knowledge of contemporary sounds in order to adapt to any assignment.  In addition to his composing projects, Debney is a supporter of classic film scores. Debney has embarked on a series of CD recordings of classical film scores for Varese Saraband Records, conducting works including "Superman,"  "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", Titanic with The Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

CONTACTS: 

FOR JOHN DEBNEY: Ray Costa / Wynter Mitchell

Costa Communications (323) 650-3588

rcosta@costacomm.com / wynter@costacomm.com

FOR SONY MUSIC: Carol Della Penna

Sony 212-833-7479

carol_dellapenna@sonymusic.com

CDS, INTERVIEWS AND PHOTOS AVAILABLE CONTACT COSTA COMMUNICATIONS