News

I’t was an honor to have been the featured speaker for the most recent edition of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Soundpost series on November 14, 2024 at the Symphony Center on Michigan Ave. right here in Chicago. Soundpost is a live event series that explores the ever-evolving medium of music — highlighting artists, individuals and companies who challenge the ways in which we interact, experience and view classical music. I of course talked about - you guessed it - music in movies; specifically, how music in movies can convey meaning.

Just started working on my third feature film with director Cory Santilli titled IN THE MOUTH. Can’t say too much, except that it is a very surreal horror-drama-comedy with nods to late 50s/early 60s genre films, and that I am having an incredible time working on it. For a preview of the music, check the teaser page.

I am deeply moved to have been invited into the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, in film circles often simply referred to as “Motion Picture Academy” or just “The Academy”) as a member of the class of 2024. Founded in 1927 by luminaries including Mary Pickford, Louis B. Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks and Cecil B. De Mille, the Academy is a professional honorary organization with members across the world representing all parts of the film production process, with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. I am honored to now be a part of this organization alongside my most accomplished film music peers.

Putting the last nips and tucks the score for A MOTHER’S LOVE, a supernatural thriller written and directed by Patrick Roberts and produced by Julie Snyder. Principal photography wrapped last December in Louisville, KY, and post will take us through summer of this year. Since the film features a piece of music as part of the story I was brought on early to create that piece for the shoot - and I do always appreciate to be part of a film early, to be able to visit the set and get started on the music. I cannot share too much about the music at this point, except to say that it is rather high-concept in a way that is both intimate and mysteriously deep. For a quick preview, there are a few preview cues on the teaser page.

THE HERE NOW PROJECT received its film festival premiere on April 26, 2024 at 5:15pm in Toronto at the venerable Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the largest documentary festival in North America. The film first screened in January of 2024 at the Climate Hub Davos during the World Economic Forum annual meeting. This groundbreaking feature-length documentary by Emmy-winners Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs is built out of thousands of hours of in-the-moment footage—no narration, no talking heads. "The Here Now Project transforms the ordinary act of shooting a cell phone video into the radical act of bearing witness, capturing both the simultaneous, global nature of climate change itself and the deeply human resilience, resourcefulness, and courage needed to confront it. At once epic and intimate, the film is a wake-up call to the world from the world. The message: We’re all in this, together." Every sound in the musical score was created over the course of several weeks by processing the audio contained in the documentary's source footage. The resulting collection of 59 digital instruments was then christened "The Here Now Orchestra" and used to create the entire score. Click here to listen to score samples.