X Factor Music | What's the music used when the judges enter?

There's a really dramatic piece of music used often at the start of the program or when the XFactor judges enter. It sounds a bit like Carl Off's "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burmana, but it's actually a film score by Craig Armstrong called "O Verona". Obviously with the similarity in the name you would presume that Craig Armstrong has deliberately gone for a Carl Orff style, homage or parody.

I actually believe they use both. The track from Romeo and Juliet is called O Verona, by Craig Armstrong, it's on his "Film Works" album. It's quite similar to O Fortuna, I think that is deliberate, but different enough to not sound like an Old Spice advert. This is what they use at the start of the programs, before the X-factor's own theme proper kicks in.


I've got a feeling that when other programs like GMTV show bits of X-Factor or make a parody of it, they maybe use O Fortuna, either for cheapness or because they don't realise the difference, and that's where the confusion comes in? And like I say I am sure X-Factor sometimes uses O Fortuna.

This is O Fortuna in action when the judges enter





And here is the original Craig Armstrong track of O Verona from the album Film Works.