Marvel Cinematic Universe Composers
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Ramin Djawadi is an Iranian-German film score composer known for composing the hit HBO series Game of Thrones and the Marvel films Blade: Trinity, Iron Man and Eternals. He also composed Clash of the Titans, A Wrinkle in Time, Pacific Rim, Westworld, Gears of War 4 and 5, Medal of Honor, Open Season 1 and 2, Jack Ryan and Warcraft. He won two Emmy Awards for Game of Thrones.1 project
2008 – Iron Man- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Craig Armstrong, born in Glasgow, 1959. Studied composition and piano at the Royal Academy of Music, London from 1977 to 1981.
From his base in Glasgow he has written for film, classical commissions and solo recordings. He has composed for Baz Lurhmann's Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, The Quiet American, Ray, Orphans, Oliver Stone's World Trade Centre, and Elizabeth:The Golden Age. Most recently Armstrong collaborated for the third time with Baz Luhrmann on his new film, The Great Gatsby, for which Armstrong was Grammy nominated for his original score.
For his film scores Armstrong has been awarded two BAFTA's, two Ivor Novellos, a Golden Globe, an American Film Institute Award, a Grammy and in 2007 an outstanding International Achievement award from Scottish BAFTA.
Armstrong has released two solo records to Massive Attack's label Melankolic and Piano Works on Sanctuary in 2004. Memory Takes My Hand was released on EMI Classics in 2008 featuring the violinist Clio Gould and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Armstrong has composed concert works for the RSNO, London Sinfonietta, Hebrides Ensemble and the Scottish Ensemble. Armstrong's second Scottish Opera commission, 'The Lady From The Sea', premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2012 winning the Herald Angel Award.
Craig is visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London and was awarded an O.B.E for services to the music industry.1 project
2008 – The Incredible Hulk- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Throughout his legendary career, composer John Debney has seen himself in equal demand for holiday classics such as Hocus Pocus and Elf, tentpoles like Iron Man 2, The Jungle Book, and The Greatest Showman, and the powerful epic The Passion of the Christ, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. Debney's key to success is his immense versatility, composing for comedies (Bruce Almighty, Liar, Liar), action (Predators, The Scorpion King), horror (End of Days, Dream House), romance (Marry Me, Valentine's Day), and family films (Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) with the same confidence and panache. Debney is also known for his work in such films as Princess Diaries 1 & 2, Sin City, Spy Kids, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, No Strings Attached, The Emperor's New Groove, Chicken Little, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ice Age: Collision Course, Isn't It Romantic, Come Away, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, Home Sweet Home Alone, and The Beach Bum.
His more recent projects include Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids: Armageddon for Netflix, Paramount Pictures' Tom Brady-produced 80 for Brady, Apple+ and Skydance Animation's Luck, Universal's Jennifer Lopez starrer Marry Me, and Disney+'s Hocus Pocus 2.
Upcoming projects include Kevin Costner's 2-part western epic Horizon: An American Saga for New Line Cinemas, Columbia Pictures' animation Garfield starring Chris Pratt, Paramount Pictures' Under the Boardwalk, Netflix's In Your Dreams, and Amazon Prime's Space Cadet.
Born in Glendale, California, Debney studied music composition at the California Institute of the Arts, and afterward began his career orchestrating and composing scores for Walt Disney Studios and various television series. He won his first Emmy Award in 1990 for the main theme for western series The Young Riders, and has since won three additional Emmy Awards and received nominations for a total of seven, with his latest being Disney+'s smash hit Hocus Pocus 2 in 2023. Debney has also worked with industry titan Seth MacFarlane on numerous episodes of his sci-fi space series The Orville, utilizing nearly 100-piece orchestras to record his bombastic adventure scores. His first foray into video game scoring, Sony's 2007 medieval adventure Lair, resulted in a BAFTA nomination and a Best Videogame Score award from The International Film Music Critics Association.
Debney has collaborated with acclaimed directors as diverse as Jon Favreau, Kevin Costner, Robert Rodriguez, David E. Talbert, Harmony Korine, Kat Coiro, Brenda Chapman, Mel Gibson, Peggy Holmes, the late Garry Marshall, Adam Shankman, Kenny Ortega, and the late Ivan Reitman. In 2005, he was the youngest recipient of ASCAP's Henry Mancini Career Achievement Award.1 project
2010 – Iron Man 2- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Patrick Doyle is a classically trained composer.
His first film score, the acclaimed adaptation of "Henry V" with Kenneth Branagh for Renaissance films was scored in 1989. He has subsequently worked with Kenneth Branagh, a long time collaborator on numerous pictures including "Dead Again", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Frankenstein" and "Hamlet".
Patrick has composed over 45 internationally renowned feature film scores including "Indochine", "Sense and Sensibility", "Carlito's Way", "Gosford Park", "A Little Princess", "Bridget Jones's Diary", "Nanny McPhee" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".
He has collaborated with a host of internationally acclaimed film directors including Robert Altman, Ang Lee, Brian de Palma, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, Regis Wagnier and Kenneth Branagh.
His concert works include "The Thistle and The Rose", a commission by HRH The Prince of Wales for full choir in honour of the Queen Mother's 90th birthday, "Tam O' Shanter" for the National Schools Orchestra Trust and the violin concerto "Corarsik".
He has recently completed the score for the Marvel Entertainment feature film "Thor," directed by Kenneth Branagh, "La Ligne Droite" for Regis Wagnier and the Twentieth Century Fox film "Caesar Rise of the Apes". He is currently scoring the upcoming Pixar film "Brave" directed by Mark Andrews and after which will score the Sovereign Films film "Effie" directed by Richard Laxton.1 project
2011 – Thor- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and beloved themes in movie history. His efforts have been recognized with two Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, three Grammy awards, two Emmy awards, and numerous International Film Music Critics Awards, Saturn Awards, and Hollywood Music In Media Awards.
Born in New York City and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, Silvestri first dreamed of becoming a jazz guitar player. After spending two years at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he hit the road as a performer and arranger. Landing in Hollywood at the age of 22, he found himself successfully composing the music for 1972's "The Doberman Gang" which established his place in the world of film composing.
The 1970s witnessed the rise of energetic synth-pop scores, establishing Silvestri as the action rhythmatist for TV's highway patrol hit "CHiPs." This action driven score caught the ear of a young filmmaker named Robert Zemeckis, whose hit film, 1984's "Romancing the Stone," was the perfect first date for the composer and director. It's success became the basis of a decades long collaboration that continues to this day. Their numerous collaborations have taken them through fascinating landscapes and stylistic variations, from the "Back to the Future" trilogy to the jazzy world of Toontown in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" the tension filled rooms of "What Lies Beneath" and "Death Becomes Her", to the cosmic wonder of "Contact;" the emotional isolation of "Castaway", to the magic of the "Polar Express". But perhaps no film collaboration defines their creative relationship better than Zemeckis' 1994 Best Picture winner, "Forrest Gump", for which Silvestri's gift for melodically beautiful themes earned him an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination and the affection of film music lovers everywhere. This 35 year, 21 film collaboration includes such recent films as "Flight", "Allied" and most recently "Welcome To Marwen". Zemeckis and Silvestri are currently working on "The Witches" based on Roald Dahl's 1973 classic book scheduled for release in October of 2020.
Though the Zemeckis/Silvestri collaboration is legendary, Silvestri has scored films of every imaginable style and genre. His energy has brought excitement and emotion to the hard-hitting orchestral scores for Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One", James Cameron's "The Abyss" as well as "Predator" and "The Mummy Returns." Alan's diversity is on full display in family entertainment films such as "The Father of the Bride 1 and 2", "Parent Trap", "Stuart Little 1 and 2", Disney's "Lilo and Stitch", "The Croods" as well as "Night at the Museum 1, 2 and 3" while his passion for melody fuels the romantic emotion of films like "The Bodyguard" and "What Women Want".
Most recently, Alan has composed the music for Marvel's "Avengers: Endgame." The film is the culmination of a partnership with Marvel that began in 2011 with Alan's dynamically heroic score for "Captain America: The First Avenger" followed by "Avengers". Since 2011 Alan's collaboration with Marvel helped propel "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Infinity War" to spectacular world-wide success.
Silvestri's success has also crossed into the world of songwriting. His partnership with Six-Time Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard has produced hits such as the Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated song "Believe" (Josh Groban) for "The Polar Express", "Butterfly Fly Away" (Miley Cyrus) for "Hannah Montana The Movie", "God Bless Us Everyone" (Andrea Bocelli) for "A Christmas Carol" and "A Hero Comes Home" (Idina Menzel) for "Beowulf".
Alan and his wife Sandra are long time residents of California's central coast. In 1998 the Silvestri family embarked on a new venture as the founders of Silvestri Vineyards. Their wines show that lovingly cultivated fruit has a music all its own. "There's something about the elemental side of winemaking that appeals to me," he says. "Both music making and wine making involve a magical blending of art and science. Just as each note brings it own voice to the melody, each vine brings it's own unique personality to the wine."
Their other great passion is the ongoing search for the cure to Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. With the diagnosis of their son at two years of age (now 29) they continue to work the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and dream of the day this disease (and all of the suffering it brings to so many) will finally become a thing of the past.4 projects
2011 – Captain America: The First Avenger
2012 – The Avengers
2018 – Avengers: Infinity War
2019 – Avengers: Endgame- Music Department
- Composer
- Producer
Brian Theodore Tyler is an American composer, conductor, arranger and producer known for his film, television and video game scores. In his 24-year career, he has scored Transformers: Prime, Eagle Eye, The Expendables trilogy, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron with Danny Elfman, Now You See Me, and Crazy Rich Asians, among others. He also re-arranged the current fanfare of the Universal Pictures logo, originally composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for Universal Pictures' 100th anniversary, which debuted with The Lorax (2012). He composed the 2013-2016 Marvel Studios logo, which debuted with Thor: The Dark World (2013), which he also composed the film's score. He composed the NFL Sunday Countdown Theme for ESPN and the Formula One theme (also used in Formula 2 and Formula 3). He scored seven installments of the Fast & Furious franchise, and the soundtrack for the Paramount TV series Yellowstone. For his work as a film composer, he won the Ifcma Awards 2014 Composer of the Year. His composition for the film Last Call earned him the first of three Emmy nominations, a gold record, and induction into the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As of November 2017, his films have grossed $12 billion worldwide, putting him in the top 10 highest-grossing film composers of all time.3 projects
2013 – Iron Man 3
2013 – Thor: The Dark World
2015 – Avengers: Age of Ultron- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Henry Jackman has established himself as one of today's top composers by fusing his classical training with his experience as a successful record producer and creator of electronic music.
Jackman grew up in the southeast of England, where he began composing his first symphony at the age of six. He studied classical music at Oxford and sang in the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir-but simultaneously got involved in the underground rave scene and began producing popular electronica music and dance remixes, eventually working with artists such as Seal and The Art of Noise.
In 2006 he caught the attention of film composers Hans Zimmer and John Powell, and began writing additional music for Powell on Kung Fu Panda and then for Zimmer on The Dark Knight, The Da Vinci Code, and The Pirates of the Caribbean films, which rapidly led to scoring blockbuster films on his own. His first solo feature film then came to be 'Monsters v Aliens' directed by Rob Letterman.
"I've spent a lot of time working in the record industry," says Jackman, "and for my money being a film composer is way more fun. You can be working on X-Men, and then a movie set in 17th-century Italy. It's not about showing off what you think is cool or what you want to hear, but 'what is this movie about, and what would best serve it?' That process just leads to strange and remarkable places."
Jackman is known for his recent scores for Marvel Studios' 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier', Showtime's 'The Comey Rule', The Russo Brothers' 'Cherry', as well as 'Jumanji: The Next Level', a continuation of the magical board game adventure story, and 'Detective Pikachu', following the story of the beloved Pikachu Pokémon character starring Ryan Reynolds. His other recent work includes 'Ralph Breaks the Internet', which was nominated for Best Animated Feature. His other diverse credits include Captain America: Civil War, Kong: Skull Island, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Big Hero 6, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.3 projects
2014 – Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2016 – Captain America: Civil War
2021 – "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"- Composer
- Soundtrack
- Music Department
It's anything but typical for the realms of film or music... Tyler Bates regularly transitions from scoring some of the world's biggest film and television franchises, such as Guardians of the Galaxy and John Wick, to rocking massive audiences with Marilyn Manson and back to the studio again writing and producing. The musical voice of this highly sought-after composer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer can be heard in every corner of pop culture-from video games to the Disney California Adventure attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout! In 2004, he made waves by creating the menacing audio backdrop for the popular Zack Snyder Dawn of the Dead reboot followed by his soundtrack for the filmmaker's 300, which remains one of the 21st century's biggest-selling score albums. His oeuvre expanded to include Watchmen and Sucker Punch both helmed by Snyder, several collaborations with Rob Zombie-including The Devil's Rejects, Halloween, and Halloween II-and Killer Joe directed by Academy Award® winner William Friedkin. Beyond composing for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 & Vol2., he produced a fan favorite "disco version" of his "Guardians of the Galaxy" main theme, titled "Guardians Inferno," co-written with director and long-time collaborator, James Gunn [feat. David Hasselhoff] and performed the second installment's score at the 2017 MOSMA Festival in Spain. John Wick: Chapter 2 represents the nexus of his work as a composer, performer, and songwriter. He penned the closing credits tune "A Job To Do" alongside legendary Alice In Chains guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and performed on-screen during the climactic "Rock Opera" sequence. Elsewhere, his sonic presence reverberates throughout Showtime's Californication, Audience Network's Kingdom, WGN America's Salem, and more as well as video games such as Killzone: Shadow Fall, God of War: Ascension, Army of Two 40th Day, and China's massive Crossfire. He also wrote the theme for his favorite NFL team the Tennessee Titans, and performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" solo in the rain during a 2015 game. Bates co-wrote and produced Manson's 2015 epic, The Pale Emperor. A runaway success, it crashed the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 at #6 and earned widespread critical acclaim with Rolling Stone hailing it as the "#1 Metal Album of 2015." As the band's lead guitarist, he dedicated over a year to touring in support of the album on the headline Hell Not Hallelujah Tour, an arena run with Slipknot, and various festivals worldwide. In 2017, he once again joined forces in the studio with Manson on the follow-up Heaven Upside Down and returns to the road for a string of high-profile touring. In 2017, he scored the blockbuster Atomic Blonde, starring Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron in addition to producing Health's cover of "Blue Monday" and re-invigorating Ministry's "Stigmata" with Manson, for two of the film's key sequences. Bates' voice also permeates NETFLIX's upcoming The Punisher. With several exciting projects slated for 2018 including Deadpool 2, The Spy Who Dumped Me & the return of The Punisher for season 2. Tyler Bates will undoubtedly continue to redefine what a composer is.2 projects
2014 – Guardians of the Galaxy
2017 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
As Danny Elfman was growing up in the Los Angeles area, he was largely unaware of his talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's directorial debut, Forbidden Zone (1980) (now considered a cult classic by Elfman fans). The group's name went through many incarnations over the years, beginning with "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo" and eventually just Oingo Boingo. While continuing to compose eclectic, intelligent rock music for his L.A.-based band (some of which had been used in various film soundtracks, e.g. Weird Science (1985)), Danny formed a friendship with young director Tim Burton, who was then a fan of Oingo Boingo. Danny went on to score the soundtrack of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Danny's first orchestral film score. The Elfman-Burton partnership continued (most notably through the hugely-successful "Batman" flicks) and opened doors of opportunity for Danny, who has been referred to as "Hollywood's hottest film composer".1 project
2015 – Avengers: Age of Ultron- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Christophe Beck was born in 1968 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a composer and actor, known for Frozen (2013), Ant-Man (2015) and The Muppets (2011).3 projects
2015 – Ant-Man
2018 – Ant-Man and the Wasp
2021 – "WandaVision"- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Michael Giacchino is an American composer of music for films, television and video games.
Giacchino composed the scores to the television series Lost, Alias and Fringe, the video game series Medal of Honor and Call of Duty and many films such as The Incredibles (2004), Star Trek (2009), Up (2009), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Jurassic World (2015), Inside Out (2015), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) and Coco (2017).
For his work on Up he earned an Academy Award for Best Original Score.3 projects
2016 – Doctor Strange
2017 – Spider-Man: Homecoming
2019 – Spider-Man: Far from Home- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Graduate of Woodridge High School in Peninsula, Ohio.
Attended Kent State University (1970-73) in Kent, Ohio, to focus on attaining an art degree. While at Kent State Mothersbaugh met Jerry Casale and Bob Lewis, who ultimately joined him in forming the 1970-80s avant-garde band Devo.
Awarded an honorary doctorate degree (2008) from Kent State in humane letters. Dr. Mothersbaugh has reciprocated KSU in diverse fashion as is his style-- gifting it with music & art, as well as time-- which is spent touting the Kent State experience through public promotions & media spots.1 project
2017 – Thor: Ragnarok- Composer
- Music Department
- Producer
Ludwig Göransson is a Swedish composer known for composing Black Panther, the Creed films, Venom, Fruitvale Station, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Turning Red, New Girl, Community, Top Five, Central Intelligence, 30 Minutes or Less and Tenet. He had a son from Serena McKinney, who was married to him since 2018.1 project
2018 – Black Panther- Composer
- Music Department
- Producer
Pinar Toprak is a Turkish-American Emmy-nominated composer, conductor and performer, who specializes in creating thematic scores for everything from superhero sagas and blockbuster comedies to TV series and dramas. With her work on Captain Marvel and Fortnite, Pinar is the first female composer to score both a film and video game with gross revenues of over $1 billion and $5 billion respectively.
Pinar also brings her fresh perspective and unique vision to a diversity of others musical projects, to name a few: composing the new theme for Amazon Prime Video Sports, popularly used on NFL's Thursday Night Football, composing and producing the soundtrack for Disney theme parks, including the new Epcot theme, writing and producing music for Christina Aguilera's 2019 Xperience Live Show in Las Vegas and conducting Billie Eilish's performance of "No Time To Die" at the 2022 Oscars ceremony.
2023 will see the releases of the highly anticipated Paramount animation film PAW Patrol: The Might Movie and the Netflix comedy Family Switch, starring Ed Helms and Jennifer Garner, both with a score by Pinar Toprak.
As the recipient of an ASCAP Shirley Walker Award and three International Film Music Critics Association Awards for Best Original Score, Pinar's dynamic style has attracted accolades across genres and earned her an Emmy nomination for Best Original Score as well as a spot on the Academy Awards shortlist.
Pinar's talent for illuminating a story with her music is evident throughout her work, including scores for The Lost City (starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, directed by Adam Nee and Aaron Nee), Stargirl on the CW (created by Geoff Johns and Greg Berlanti ), Syfy's Krypton (created by David S. Goyer and Damien Kindler), HBO's McMillions (directed by James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte), Slumberland (starring Jason Momoa, directed by Francis Lawrence) and Shotgun Wedding (starring Jennifer Lopez, directed by Jason Moore), among many others.1 project
2019 – Captain Marvel- Composer
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Emmy nominated composer, Alex Kovacs, has been composing music since he was a teenager-inspired by the many magical and timeless scores of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, and Bernard Herrmann.
Alex studied film scoring at Berklee College of Music and once graduating, promptly moved to Los Angeles where he began as the assistant to John M. Keane (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Amazing Race) and later, William Ross (Ladder 49, The Tale of Despereaux). While working under the tutelage of Keane and Ross, Alex honed his composition, recording, and production skills in both Television and Film. Alex would go onto co-score the docuseries, Operation Change, with Ross.
Once his period as an assistant had passed, Alex began to form his own relationships with filmmakers and cement his position as a composer in his own right. He recently completed the film score to thriller, FEAR and will be again teaming up with director/actor, Danny Roebuck, for his back-to-back films, Lucky Louie and The Hail Mary.
Alex has also had the immense honor of writing music for other great composers such as: John Debney, Christophe Beck, Henry Jackman, Sean Callery, Tony Morales, BT, The Newton Brothers, and Pinar Toprak-who he was recently nominated for a Primetime Emmy with for the score to HBO's hit docuseries, McMillion$.
Alex's music can now be heard throughout film, television, amusement parks, and commercials. He has worked on projects in connection with: Marvel, Disney, Hallmark, Universal, Netflix, OWN, ABC, CBS, FOX, HBO, and Sony. Alex's most recent work can be heard in the hit Marvel series Wandavision airing on Disney+.1 project
2021 – "WandaVision"- Composer
- Music Department
- Actress
Natalie Holt is a multi-award-winning British composer, known for her work on Marvel Studios' Loki and the acclaimed Lucasfilm series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Upcoming projects include DC's Batgirl as well as Fox's female super hero feature The Princess.
Her film and television credits include the BAFTA Award-winning series Wallander (BBC), Knightfall (History Channel), the BAFTA Award-winning series Three Girls (BBC), mini-series Deadwater Fell, the Emmy Award-nominated series The Honourable Woman (HBO Max), Victoria (PBS), Saul Dibb's World War I feature Journey's End, and the Netflix/Claudia Llosa's drama feature Fever Dream, to name just a few.
Natalie's numerous awards nominations and wins include the Primetime Emmy Awards, World Soundtrack Awards' "Television Composer of the Year", BAFTA, SCL Awards, the Royal Television Society Craft and Design Award, the HMMAs, and "Best International Score" at the Beijing International Film Festival.1 project
2021 – "Loki"- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Lorne Balfe was born on 23 February 1976 in Inverness, Scotland, UK. He is a composer, known for The Lego Batman Movie (2017), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) and The Dark Knight (2008).1 project
2021 – Black Widow- Composer
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Oscar nominated, five-time Emmy award winning composer Laura Karpman creates powerful, imaginative scores that push the boundaries of storytelling. Her bold, incandescent works span film, television, theater, interactive media and live performance, reflecting an audaciously creative, prodigious fresh spirit. Karpman collaborates with some of the most renowned filmmakers of our time, including Eleanor, Francis Ford and Sofia Coppola, Cord Jefferson, Nia DaCosta, Alex Gibney, Misha Green, Rory Kennedy, Kasi Lemmons, Laura Nix, Sam Pollard and Steven Spielberg.
2023 was perhaps her most prolific year to date, with six film and TV projects alone - American Fiction (Amazon MGM), starring Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown, written, directed and produced by Cord Jefferson, which has garnered five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and for which Karpman has received her first Oscar nomination for her original score, The Marvels (Disney), Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed (Max), What If? (Disney+), Ms. Marvel (Disney+), and 61st Street (The CW). 2024 promises season 3 of What If?, two unannounced video game projects, and a musical based on Dorothy Arzner's MGM film, Dance Girl Dance. Concert music premieres include the world premiere performance of BALLS, an opera chronicling Billie Jean King's epic 1973 "Battle of the Sexes"' tennis match, with words by New York Times writer Gail Collins, and a commissioned work for the Juilliard School. Karpman was proud to have her theme from The Marvels performed at closing night of the BBC Proms.
Karpman's scores span HBO's acclaimed hit Lovecraft Country, the Oscar-nominated feature film Walk Run Cha-Cha and the docuseries Why We Hate. Other recent work includes Miss Virginia, Set It Up, Paris Can Wait, The Cotton Club Encore, Step, Black Nativity, Underground, LA's Finest and the Peabody Award-winning series Craft in America. Karpman has recently received two additional Emmy nominations for Ms. Marvel, and won an HMMA award for The Marvels. For her American Fiction score, to date she has received Academy Award, SCL, NAACP Image Award, and HMMA nominations, as well as inclusion in the 2024 BAFTA Longlist.
Other awards include a 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from She Rocks, a Critics' Choice Award for her song "Jump" (from the film Step), co-written with frequent collaborators Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson, sung by Cynthia Erivo. Her animated work includes Sitara, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, executive produced by Darla Anderson and Gloria Steinem, and her Annie-nominated score for Monkey's Tale. Her celebrated scores for interactive media and blockbuster video games include Guardians of Middle Earth, Everquest 2, Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom, Kung Fu Panda 2, Project Spark and Kinect Disneyland Adventures.
Across concert halls, Karpman is well known for her Grammy Award-winning album, "Ask Your Mama," a multimedia opera based on the iconic cycle of poems by renowned author Langston Hughes. For this Carnegie Hall commission, Karpman collaborated with The Roots, soprano Jessye Norman, performer De'Andre Aziza, and jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. Other notable works include "All American," commissioned and performed by The Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; "Brass Ceiling," commissioned and recorded by the U.S. Army Band; "And Still We Dream," commissioned by Lyric Opera of Kansas City, honoring 100 years of suffrage; "Wilde Tales," commissioned by Glimmerglass Festival, and a pandemic opera for Opera Theatre of St. Louis with libretto by Taura Stinson & Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum.
Karpman is a fierce champion for DEI in Hollywood. After founding the Alliance for Women Film Composers, she was elected the first female Governor in the Music Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. During her two consecutive three-year terms, she implemented sweeping change, facilitating the admission of dozens of underrepresented voices, co-founded the Academy Women's Initiative, co-chaired the LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, helped to create the Code of Conduct, and updated the bylaws with more inclusive, representative language. Her leadership in creating opportunity and advocating for inclusion is unparalleled.
Karpman was an advisor for the Sundance Film Institute and was on the faculty of the USC Film Scoring Program. She received a doctorate from The Juilliard School, where she studied with 20th century icon Milton Babbitt.
She lives and works in Los Angeles with her wife, composer Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, their son and two dogs.1 project
2021 – "What If...?"- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Joel P West is a songwriter, composer and performer known for his scores for Just Mercy, Short Term 12 and Chef's Table and his bands The Tree Ring and Flood Coats. His music has been described as "showing great emotional nuance" and "warm, richly textured, and pastoral".
Joel released two self-produced albums in 2019 titled Smaller and False Klamath, in addition to multiple original songs for films produced by Disney and Netflix.1 project
2021 – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings