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Masterclasses

Revealing the Creative Process

Friday@1 Series - Revealing the Creative Process

Our Friday@1 series presents conversations with some of the most renowned composers, songwriters, publishers, and industry executives in New York City and beyond. Our distinguished guests discuss their own creative processes, share their accomplishments and experiences, and thoughtfully critique our students’ work in Masterclasses. 

Recent highlights include:

Shore

Howard Shore

Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings, Silence of the Lambs) I Film Composer

Among his better known works are the film scores for Silence of the Lambs, Mrs. Doubtfire, and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. He won an Academy Award and a Grammy for the film score to The Fellowship of the Ring. Shore continued his career with the film scores of Gangs of New York (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). He received his second Academy Award for the film score of The Return of the King, and his third Academy Award as the composer of hit song Into the West. His film scores for The Lord of the Rings trilogy are considered the most famous and successful works of his career. Shore closely collaborated with director Martin Scorsese and won a Golden Globe for the film The Aviator (2004). Shore continues to work regularly, mostly known for composing film scores for works by directors David Cronenberg, Martin Scorsese, and Peter Jackson.

Tamar-kali Brown

Tamar-Kali Brown

Tamar-Kali Brown (Mudbound, Come Sunday) | Film Composer

Brooklyn born and bred artist Tamar-kali is a second-generation musician with roots in the coastal Sea Islands of South Carolina. As a composer, Tamar-kali has defied boundaries to craft her own unique alternative sound. 

She scored her first feature film, Mudbound, directed by Dee Rees, for which she won the World Soundtrack Award in the Discovery of the Year category. The film marks her third collaboration with the director after appearing in Pariah and writing a song for Bessie. She has since scored other feature films including Come Sunday and The Lie directed by Veena Sud.

Tamar-kali was also recently featured in the New York Times article about female film composers coming up in the industry.

panel discussion

Blake Neely and Mark Suozzo

Blake Neely (Arrow, Riverdale) — TV Scoring Master Class

Blake Neely is one of the most prolific and sought-after American composers, arrangers, orchestrators, and conductors in the film and TV industry today. Neely has contributed to and been credited on dozens of films (Pirates of the Caribbean films, King Kong, The Last Samurai) and TV projects over the years. He has composed the music for over twenty television series, including Riverdale, Arrow, The Mentalist, Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, and the new Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, and has been nominated for three Emmy awards, and has won both ASCAP and BMI awards for The Mentalist, Brothers & Sisters, Golden Boy, and Arrow.

Screen Scoring Masterclass Angie Teo

Angie Teo (West Side Story, In The Heights, Be More Chill) l Mixing and Recording Engineer 

Angie Teo started her engineering career working her way up the ranks at the legendary Right Track Studios. There she learned from the best producers, engineers, and artists including Phil Ramone, Frank Filipetti, Richard King, Julie Taymore, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alex Lacamoire, Carter Burwell, Elliot Goldenthal, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Bono & The Edge, the Neptunes, Pat Metheny, and Wynton Marsalis. Highlights of her work on Broadway include In the Heights, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Be More Chill, Ain’t Too Proud, The Prom, and Diana The Musical. The original cast album for Be More Chill, recorded and mixed by Teo, is one of the top 5 streamed cast albums of the past decade, according to data compiled by The Nielson Company. 

Born in Singapore and based in New York City, Angie has become a familiar face in the city’s studio scene. Recent projects include The Hamilton Holiday Celebration, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, and the movie musicals West Side Story (directed by Steven Spielberg) and Disney’s Better Nate Than Ever. With over 15 years of experience, she is just as comfortable recording a 60-piece orchestra for a major motion picture as she is mixing an indie folk album. Angie is a graduate of NYU’s Music Technology program. 

Screen Scoring Masterclass teacher Missy Cohen

Missy Cohen (Severance, Uncut Gems) l Music Editor 

A two-time Golden Reel winner, Missy has a vast, dynamic range of experience working in film and television. From her first job as a sound editor’s apprentice on The Silence of the Lambs to music editing for recent hits such as Uncut Gems and Severance, she is an industry mainstay and has collaborated with legendary composers such as Mel Brooks and Marvin Hamlisch.

Screen scoring student working with two professors in front of screen

Marcelo Zarvos (The Equalizer III, Dark Waters, The Good Shepherd) l TV and Film Composer 

Because of his skill with layered stories and emotive undertones, Brazilian-born Marcelo Zarvos has become the go-to composer for filmmakers like Nicole Holofcener (Enough SaidPlease GiveOne Mississippi), Antoine Fuqua (Brooklyn’s Finest), Tod Williams (The Door in the Floor), Ross Katz (The Choice), Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) and Barry Levinson (The HumblingYou Don’t Know JackRock the Kasbah).

A classically trained pianist and composer, Zarvos earned his BFA from Cal Arts.  He burst onto the film landscape in the early 2000s with his score for Kissing Jessica Stein and with the film adaptation of the John Irving novel, The Door in the Floor.  Zarvos’ credits include Dark WatersThe Good ShepherdThe WordsThe Face of Love, Reaching for the Moon (Flores Raras)HollywoodlandAdult BeginnersLittle AccidentsAmerican Ultra.

Screen Scoring Sean Callery teaching with slide show

Sean Callery (Homeland, Elementary) l TV and Film Composer 

Multiple Emmy award-winning composer, Sean Callery has scored hit series after hit series, including 24HomelandBonesElementaryHalo, and Designated Survivor. Other popular projects include National Geographic’s The Hot Zone, CBS’s Medium, and the final season of Netflix’s Peabody Award-winning Marvel series Jessica Jones. His music for Season 2 of the show was nominated for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series, earning Callery his 17th Emmy nomination and further cementing him as one of the most nominated composers of all time.