Lester Barnes is a BAFTA and Emmy-nominated composer and songwriter, and the recipient of a Gold Clio Award and an International Music & Sound Award. With extensive experience across film, television, and advertising, he has built a reputation for delivering distinctive, narrative-driven scores across a wide range of formats and audiences.

He is particularly well known for his long-standing work on the hit ITV series Horrid Henry, composing music across five series (250 episodes). His involvement with the franchise also includes music for the stage production Horrid Henry Live & Horrid and songs for Horrid Henry’s Most Horrible Album (EMI), with themes and songs also featured in the associated feature film.

Lester’s television credits include Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies (UK and US), Claude, The Roly Mo Show, and Me Too!. Between 2002 and 2004, he scored three series of Paz the Penguin for Discovery Kids (US), receiving Emmy nominations in three consecutive years for his work.

For BBC CBeebies, Lester has scored a number of successful series, including two seasons of School of Roars, Footy Pupps, and Iconicles (26 × 30-minute episodes), creating clear musical identities for returning series and long-form storytelling.

In advertising, Lester has worked with major international brands including Airbus, Goodyear, Reebok, and Swatch. His music has featured in global campaigns for Cow & Gate, Pampers, and other leading brands. His re-arrangement of Come On Eileen for Cow & Gate was recognised with a Gold Clio Award and the International Music & Sound Award in 2013, among numerous additional honours.

His song production and arrangement credits include string arrangements for Lost Stars from Begin Again, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as arrangements for the 2019 UK Christmas No.1 single I Love Sausage Rolls by LadBaby. His big band and string arrangements also appear on Peter Andre’s chart-topping 2015 album Come Fly With Me.

Alongside his screen work, Lester maintains a strong interest in electronic music and sound design. Over the past two decades, he has developed one of Europe’s largest modular synthesizer systems. In 2021, he released the sample library MONSTA: Earth-Shattering Super Saws, featuring 114 oscillators, published by Sinixinema.

Lester trained at the Bromley Youth Music Trust and studied saxophone and composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama under John Harle and Francis Shaw (A Room with a View).