I compose for both the film and video game worlds. I’ve scored films from a variety of genres: drama, comedy, animation, film noir, and documentary. In the fall of 2004, I collaborated with renowned video game composer Tommy Tallarico on “Poeta,” a dramatic and emotional orchestral work for the Advent Rising video game. “Poeta” was recorded by a 70-piece orchestra and choir, and it appears in both the game and on the soundtrack cd. In addition to my film and video game work, I’ve written numerous concert works for solo instruments and small ensembles.
My journey in music has been exciting. Along the way I’ve mixed audio for jazz guitarist Doc Powell, worked for television composer Jim Lang (“Hey Arnold”), and edited midi files for jazz pianist and David Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson. I was thrilled to hear “Poeta” performed live at at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005 and 2006 at the Video Games Live concerts.
I studied classical piano performance and electro-acoustic media at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. USC presented a glorious gathering of top notch classical and jazz musicians as well as filmmakers from its famed School of Cinema-Television. During my years there, I greedily helped myself to all the music school offerings I could -- in classical piano performance, music technology, composition and arranging, and jazz improvisation. I also began to cut my teeth as a film composer, scoring many student films.
Preceding my education at USC were many years of private piano study in California and Germany. While living in Sindelfingen, Germany for a year, I participated in several choral groups and discovered the stirring and passionate repertoire of choral music.
Though I grew up in the hinterlands of California’s San Joaquin Valley, I nonetheless experienced a home rich in music and the arts. At one time we had two grand pianos in the house, at least one of which was always being played by my mom, dad, middle brother or me; my oldest brother rocked on the drums. My parents’ vast collection of -- gasp! -- LPs was a treasure trove of classical composers who would become so beloved to me: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninoff. George Shearing and the Modern Jazz Quartet were also a significant part of this collection. Competing with this loveliness for the household airwaves were Blue Oyster Cult, Jethro Tull, and Ten Years After, blasting out of my brother’s stereo... Who knows what strange creative seeds this sonic mayhem planted in my young mind....
