Inspired by the true story of the greatest security breach in U.S. history

Grammy nominated for his score to the hit comedy Little Miss Sunshine, composer Mychael Danna turns serious with the score to the dramatic thriller, Breach, for director Billy Ray with whom Danna previously worked on Shattered Glass. The award-winning composer sets the tone for the drama with a mysterious and beautiful score for piano and strings. Starring Ryan Philippe, Chris Cooper and Laura Linney, the film inspired by true events will be released by Universal Pictures February 16. Varese Sarabande releases the score CD February 27.

The dramatic and emotional score was recorded with the 45-piece Hollywood Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Dodd. Well known for his expertise of combining non-Western sound sources with orchestral and electronic minimalism in film music, the music is used here, according to director Billy Ray, "to underline the tragedy of Robert Hanssen, score the journey of Eric O'Neill, and score the tension of the chase between them. Mychael hooked into all three elements immediately and knocked it out of the park."

Danna began his film music career with the score for Atom Egoyan's Family Viewing in 1987, for which he won a Canadian film award, an award for which he has now been nominated eleven times. He has earned a reputation for skillfully blending ethnic influences into the body of contemporary film scoring aesthetics, which led him to work with acclaimed directors such as Ang Lee, Scott Hicks, Gilles MacKinnon, Mira Nair, James Mangold and Joel Schumacher.

Danna studied music composition at the University of Toronto, winning the Glenn Gould Composition Scholarship in 1985. He also served for five years as composer-in-residence at the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto from 1987 to 1992.

Danna has proven his versatility from scoring Moroccan music in 8MM to American Civil War-era sounds in Ride With the Devil, and he infused medieval European and Persian music into the score for The Sweet Hereafter. He has scored each of the eight movies by director Atom Egoyan, including Where The Truth Lies, Arafat, Felicia's Journey, Exotica, The Adjuster, and Speaking Parts.

Widely recognized for his work, Danna most recently received a Grammy nomination for his score to Little Miss Sunshine. In addition, he scored the Oscar-winning Capote, The Nativity Story for director Catherine Hardwicke, Black for director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and, with his brother Jeff Danna, Tideland for director Terry Gilliam. He next turns his talents to Surf's Up, a behind-the-scenes look at the Penguin World Surfing Championship.