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Film Scoring Competition

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Screen Scoring

Alumni Highlights

Ariel Marx (MM 2015)

Ariel Marx is an Emmy-nominated composer and multi-instrumentalist, known for her eclectic and inventive scores for film and television. Some of her recent projects include National Geographic’s A Small Light , Peacock’s A Friend of the Family, Hulu’s Candy (ranked number 3 in Indiewire’s Best TV scores of 2022), Netflix’s Black Mirror, and FX/Hulu’s  American Horror Stories. She is also known for her critically-acclaimed work in film, such as Neon’s Sanctuary, Utopia’s Shiva Baby, Shudder’s Birth/Rebirth, and HBO’s The Tale.

As a solo artist, Ariel recently released her solo album Luthier with Node Records. She is a member of the music branch of both the Television Academy and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is a Sundance Film Music and Sound Design Lab alum. Ariel is currently an adjunct professor at NYU’s screen scoring program.

Herdís Stefánsdóttir

Herdís Stefánsdóttir (MM 2017)

Herdís Stefánsdóttir is a composer of music for multimedia, a songwriter, and an electronic musician. Her compositional endeavors — installations in museums, dance, theatre, and a successful electronic music duet she is a part of – are establishing her as an expansive artist. Herdís Stefánsdóttir graduated with an M.A. degree in film scoring from New York University in 2017. Since graduation she has scored two feature films, an HBO series and a few short films.

Her scoring work includes Ry Russo – Young’s MGM/Warner Bros. feature film, The Sun Is Also A Star and the HBO series We’re Here. Herdís was nominated for The Icelandic Music Awards for her score in The Sun Is Also A Star. Herdís interned for the Oscar nominated composer Jóhann Jóhannsson in Berlin while he was working on the film Arrival (2016) and she has scored numerous short films that have premiered at top-tier festivals around the world like Berlinale, TIFF, Sundance and Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Herdís formed her electro-pop duo East of My Youth in 2015. East of My Youth’s music has been described as sensual and addictive as getting your tongue frozen to a glacier of pure honey (jajaja music). The duo has showcased at SxSW, Eurosonic Noorderslag, KEXP, Sonar Reykjavík and Iceland Airwaves.

Watch her discuss her score for Y: The Last Man.

Dara Taylor

Dara Taylor (MM 2011)

Dara Taylor has emerged as a fresh voice in the world of film music as the composer of The Tender Bar, directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker George Clooney. You can hear her music in the hit Charles Shyer Netflix feature The Noel Diary starring Justin Hartley, Sony Screen Gem’s The Invitation for director Jessica Thompson for which she received a 2023 SCL Award Nomination, the hit Lionsgate comedy Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar starring Kristen Wiig and Jamie Dornan, as well as HBO Max’s Little Ellen, Blumhouse’s American Refugee, Universal’s Curious George: Cape Ahoy and Amazon’s The Boys Presents: Diabolical. Most recently Dara scored Universal’s comedy Strays starring Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx.

Dara’s previous work includes the action crime drama Echo Boomers starring Michael Shannon, the Netflix series Bookmarks, the Netflix docu-series Trial By Media, the FX series Pride, and the Karen Allen-starred film Colewell, for which she won a 2019 Hollywood Music in Media award.

man holding guitar

Gavin Brivik (MM 2018)

Named one of the Society of Composers and Publishers’ “Film Composers to Watch,” Gavin Brivik has won the World Soundtrack Award for “Best Composition by a Young International Composer,” the ASCAP Jimmy Van Heusen Film Composer Award, the Alan Menken Composer Award, and the distinguished Elmer Bernstein Film Scoring Award.

Brivik recently scored How to Blow Up a Pipeline, listed among the “Best Films of 2023” by The Guardian and Wild Indian which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, the score for which was nominated for a World Soundtrack Award. Brivik’s credits include the 90th Academy Award-nominated short, My Nephew Emmett; Netflix’s Emmy-nominated original series Living Undocumented, produced by Selena Gomez; Netflix/Blumhouse Productions’ Cam, which premiered at Fantasia Film Festival in 2018, starring Madeline Brewer; as well as numerous narrative and documentary short films.

NYU screen scoring alum Forest Christenson

Forest Christenson 

Forest Christenson is a mixer and composer of motion picture and television scores in Los Angeles. He has also worked extensively as an additional music composer with a filmography that includes The Last Of UsAquaman, and Abominable. Forest is also known for his work as a scoring mixer, mixing projects such as Wonder WomanThe Crown, and Murder Mystery 2. Forest’s credits as a composer include documentary film Grandpa Was An Emperor, Sri Lankan arthouse film House of my Fathers, and Korean sci-fi series Sisyphus.

Forest was a founding member and drummer in several bands - notable among them “chamber rock” trio Pretty Balanced, which toured multiple times in the US and UK. In 2009, Forest joined forces with fellow composer/musician John Also Bennett to form the experimental synth duo Seabat.

Screen scoring alumna Jennifer Rowekamp

Jennifer Rowekamp (MM 2018)

Jennifer Rowekamp is a composer and music editor based in San Francisco, CA and is currently working as a Music Editor at Pixar Animation Studios. Her music editing credits include Lightyear (2022), Turning Red (2022), and the short Nona (2021).

In addition to her music editing, Jennifer has written music for the sample library company Cinesamples and the award-winning podcast production company Gen-Z Media, including the Peabody and Ambie-nominated Treasure Island 2020. She previously assisted media composer Jeff Russo.

Jacob Yoffee

Jacob Yoffee (MM 2011)

Currently the Resident Composer for the American Studio Orchestra, Jacob Yoffee is an award winning saxophonist and concert and film composer based in Los Angeles. In addition to scoring dozens of films and TV shows such as ABC’s The Wonder Years (2021), Jacob composes trailer music for blockbuster films such as Aladdin (2019), Ready Player One, and Rogue One. His concert music has been performed in the US and Great Britain at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Royal Academy of Music and on BBC Radio.

man smiling outdoors

Gabriel Hays (MM 2011)

Gabriel Hays has an MFA in composition from NYU and a BM from Denver’s Lamont School of Music. He got his start in film scoring in Los Angeles working as an assistant and arranger at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions. 

He is most well-known for writing music for the Netflix original film: Secret Magic Control Agency (which was number 1 in the world on Netflix upon its release in March 2021) as well as for numerous Disney projects such as the As Told By Emoji series, Star Darlings, and Whisker Haven. He has also contributed music to numerous other animated movies and series, including Puppy Dog Pals (Disney), Pickle and Peanut (Disney), We Bare Bears (Cartoon Network), and Voltron (Dreamworks) among others.

More Alumni

Jackie Andresen (BM 2023) is currently assisting composer Marcelo Zarvos in New York City. 

Gabriella Hirsch (MM 2023) is currently assisting composer Christopher Lennertz in Los Angeles.

Cassiel McEvoy (MM 2023) currently works as a Post-Production coordinator for Konsonant Music. 

Louis Stevens (MM 2023) currently works as a member of the Joy Music House (orchestration and score preparation) team in Los Angeles.

Noah Horowitz (BM 2022) is currently assisting composer James S. Levine at Remote Control. 

Jake Dieli (BM 2022) and Brittany Harris (MM 2022) are full time members of the 4 Elements Music team.

Shuhui Yao (MM 2022) is a part time instructor at Columbia College Hollywood. 

Evan Foley (MM 2021) is an assistant to composer Sherri Chung in Los Angeles.

Silvio Buchmeier (MM 2020) is an assistant to orchestrator David Krystal, working on projects with composers such as Benjamin Wallfisch (Mortal Kombat) and Trevor Gureckis (Old).

Dallin Burns (MM 2020) and Ching-Shan Chang (MM 2019) are currently working as assistants to Tom Holkenberg (aka Junkie XL) and have worked on such scores as the Justice League: The Snyder CutGodzilla vs Kong, and other blockbuster films.

Andrea Celeste (MM 2020) is an assistant to composer Marty Beller (They Might Be Giants, American Rust) in Nashville, TN.

Juan Dussán (MM 2020) is the social media manager for composer Bear McCreary.

Hunter Hanson (MM 2020) assists and works as a music editor for composer Tamar-kali. He recently music edited the score for Little Richard: I Am Everything.

Peter Kohrman (MM 2020) works as an assistant to composer Bear McCreary at Sparks and Shadows. Kohrman previously assisted composer Danny Elfman on the Netflix series Wednesday and Noah Baumbach’s White Noise as well as composer Junkie XL on blockbusters Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

Judith Moy (MM 2020) currently works as a composer assistant at Hans Zimmer and Sony/ATV's Bleeding Fingers Music.

Jacob Snider (MM 2020) Jacob’s original music has been featured at South by Southwest and on the BBC and his scores have premiered in films at Sundance and Tribeca.
Recent projects include Common Ground (winner of the 2023 Human/Nature Award at Tribeca Film Festival), Training Wheels (2022 Sundance Film Festival selection), and #XMAS (Hallmark) (co-scored with Jim Fairchild).

John Baxter (MM 2019) completed a DMA in Music Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music in 2022.

Mark Benis (MM 2019) is co-director of the video game studio Moon Moon Moon and has contributed to games like Wolfenstein: Youngblood and Lamplight City for which his score was nominated for a Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Award for “Best Original Choral Composition.”

Derek Zeoli (BM 2019) is an assistant to composer Joseph Trapanese (Shadow and Bone, Prisoners of the Ghostland).

Tanis Chalopin (BM 2016) is a songwriter and composer whose song “Ce N’est Pas Moi” was featured in the film Thoroughbreds.

James Newberry (MM 2016) and Jordi Nus (MM 2016) work with Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans. They have written additional music and assisted on projects such as Netflix's Ozark, HBO’s The Outsider, and AMC's Fear the Walking Dead.

Trey Toy (MM 2016) collaborates with composers such as Bear McCrearyTrevor MorrisDanny Bensi, and Saunder Jurriaans. He has assisted and provided additional music on series such as FoundationVikings, and Castlevania.

Shawn Choi (MM 2014) is a composer in South Korea whose work includes over 40 feature film scores including OldboyLady Vengeance, and Wide Awake.

Ian Chen (MM 2013) is a composer in Los Angeles whose score for the game Fantastic Creatures was nominated for “Music of The Year” at the 2020 Game Audio Network Guild Awards and won “Best Film/TV/Game Score” at the 18th Independent Music Awards. His work can be heard on the Netflix series Green Door (2019 Golden Bell Award nominee) and film Futmalls.com.

André Miranda (MM 2013) is the founder and CEO of Musiversal, a revolutionary music production platform that allows film composers and music producers to record their music with world-class musicians around the world.

Tomàs Peire (MM 2013) is a composer and orchestrator. He has orchestrated for composers such as Michael Abels on projects such as Allen V. Farrow.

Jillian Abood (MM 2012) is an executive at Bleeding Fingers / EXTREME Music

Marsha Bowe (MM 2012) is the Sr. Creative Manager and Score Supervisor at Bleeding Fingers Music.

Jessie Montgomery (MM 2012) is a Graduate Fellow in Music Composition at Princeton University. She is Professor of violin and composition at The New School. In May 2021, she began her appointment as the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Alexander Bornstein (MM 2011) Alexander's recent credits include the 2023 thriller The Tutor, the popular Netflix animated series Transformers: War for Cybertron TrilogyEdge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin (as co-composer with Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts) and the second season of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark (as co-composer with Punch Brothers alum Gabe Witcher).
Alexander has also assisted composer Christopher Lennertz on several episodes of the series 'Lost in Space' and 'Supernatural’ and served as arranger on Sausage Party.

Gabriel Hays (MM 2011)  is most well-known for writing music for the Netflix original film: Secret Magic Control Agency (which was number 1 in the world on Netflix upon its release in March 2021) as well as for numerous Disney projects such as the As Told By Emoji series, Star Darlings, and Whisker Haven. He has also contributed music to numerous other animated movies and series, including Puppy Dog Pals (Disney), Pickle and Peanut (Disney), We Bare Bears (Cartoon Network), and Voltron (Dreamworks) among others.

Agatha Kaspar (MM 2011) Agatha’s film scores have played at festivals including Cannes, Tribeca, and the Toronto International Film Festival. Agatha recently provided the title music for Ginny & Georgia (Netflix), and for Stuff The British Stole (ABC/CBC), and an original score for the series Moonshine (CBC/Entertainment One).

Shruti Kumar (MM 2011) has collaborated with composer Daniel Hart on the scores for AMC’s Interview With The Vampire and Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy. She is currently composing for Disney Imagineering projects. She is a board member of the Composers Diversity Collective and member of the AWFCSCL, and The Recording Academy.

Jacob Yoffee (MM 2011) is the Resident Composer for the American Studio Orchestra, Jacob Yoffee is an award winning saxophonist and concert and film composer based in Los Angeles. In addition to scoring dozens of films and T.V. shows such as ABC’s The Wonder Years (2021), Jacob composes trailer music for blockbuster films such as Aladdin (2019), Ready Player One, and Rogue One. His concert music has been performed in the US and Great Britain at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Royal Academy of Music and on BBC Radio.

Lydia Ainsworth (MM 2010) Ainsworth’s "Earth Song," her collaboration with Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, appeared in the last episode of Season 3 of Stranger Things.

Jonathan Hartman (MM 2008) has scored TV shows and games, breaking into the scene with his contributions to the first season of Outlander. In 2020, his work on DARK/WEB (Amazon Prime) was nominated for the Daytime Emmy awards for "Outstanding Music Direction & Composition for a Drama or Digital Drama Series.”

Alumni News

Screen Scoring Alum André Miranda Raises €1.3M in Funding for Musiversal

Musiversal provides a platform to connect composers and producers with performers.

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Jacob Yoffee (MM '11) Scores ABC's "The Wonder Years"

Screen Scoring alum Jacob Yoffee will be the composer for the ABC reboot of the popular 1980s series.

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Screen Scoring Alum Named Composer-in-Residence with Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Jessie Montgomery has been appointed by Music Director Riccardo Muti.

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Screen Scoring Alumni at SXSW 2021

Eric Smith and Mike Brun scored films that premiered at this year's festival.

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Screen Scoring Alumni Scores at Sundance Film Festival

The music of Ariel Marx and Gavin Brivik was featured in two films that premiered at this year's festival.

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Alum Lands Job at Pixar

Jennifer Rowekamp, a recent graduate of the Screen Scoring master’s program, became Pixar’s newest Associate Music Editor.

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