This year’s students are an exemplary group of working film and television composers: Kathryn Bostic (Sundance Fellow, Beyond the Ring, Contradictions of the Heart); Kris Carter (Justice League, Teen Titans); Eric Colvin (NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience, Bark!); Claude Foisy (The 4400, White Noise); Corey Jackson (Left in Darkness, Starting Over); Dave Reynolds (Cruel Intentions 3, Tides of War); Craig Richey (Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing); Tim Wynn (Reflections of Venice, Chasing the Light). The class is coordinated by BMI Senior Director of Film/Television Relations Ray Yee and BMI’s Film/TV Relations staff.

Highly specialized, coursework will include developing conducting technique, working with live players ranging from piano duet to full chamber orchestra; conducting free-form as well as to click-track, both with and without picture. The musical repertoire for the workshop will range from classical selections to music from commercial films. Each session will be videotaped and critiqued.

Workshop alumni include composers Cliff Martinez, Stewart Copeland, Rolfe Kent, Camara Kambon, Richard Gibbs, Bennett Salvay, Julie and Steve Bernstein, Anthony Marinelli, Alex Wurman, Jeff Beal, Mervyn Warren, Joseph Vitarelli, Tyler Bates, Gary Kuo and Laura Karpman.

A limited number of class auditors will be welcomed on an advanced approval basis. Requests for auditors should be sent to Yee at ryee@bmi.com.

Front Row (L-R): Composer Andreas Kapsalis, contractor David Low, pianist Alan Steinberger, workshop instructor Lucas Richman, BMI's Ray Yee, concert master Endre Granat, BMI's Anne Cecere, and composers Walterio Pesqueira, Joseph Julian Gonzalez and James Venable. Back Row (L-R): Editor Chris Ledesma, cellist Victor Lawrence, composers George Shaw and Mervyn Warren, violinist Mark Robertson, and composers Stephen Ridley, Joseph Vitarelli and Phil Shrut. Photo by Annamaria DiSanto

Designed for composers who wish to refine their conducting skills, the free annual workshop is limited to eight BMI-affiliated professional film and television composers. This year's students included Joseph Julian Gonzalez (Resurrection Blvd., Price of Glory), James Venable (Powerpuff Girls, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks 2), Joseph Vitarelli (Revelations, Last Seduction), Andreas Kapsalas (Black Gold, Sundance Composer Lab fellow), Mervyn Warren (Honey, The Wedding Planner, A Walk to Remember), Walterio Pesquira (Mujeres Insumisas, La Usurpadora, Plaza Sesamo [Sesame Street]), Stephen Ridley (The Sharktank Redemption) and George Shaw (Purity, Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt).

A highly touted lab, past participants include composers Cliff Martinez, Stewart Copeland, Camara Kambon, Danny Pelfrey, Richard Gibbs, Bill Brown, Bennett Salvay, Rolfe Kent, Julie and Steve Bernstein, Mark De Gli Antoni, Anthony Marinelli, Alex Wurman, Pete Scaturro, Mick Muhlfriedal, Dominic Messenger, Gary Kuo and Laura Karpman.

The Workshop is designed for BMI composers who wish to refine their conducting skills. The annual workshop is free and is limited to eight participants who are BMI-affiliated professional film and television composers. This year's students are composers Joseph Julian Gonzalez (Resurrection Blvd., Price of Glory), James Venable (Powerpuff Girls, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks 2), Joseph Vitarelli (Revelations, Last Seduction), Andreas Kapsalas (Black Gold, Sundance Composer Lab fellow), Mervyn Warren (Honey, The Wedding Planner, A Walk to Remember), Walterio Pesquira (Mujeres Insumisas, La Usurpadora, Plaza Sesamo [Sesame Street]), Stephen Ridley (The Sharktank Redemption) and George Shaw (Purity, Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt).

The course will focus on developing conducting technique and participants will be working with live players ranging from piano duet to a full chamber orchestra. Curriculum will include conducting free form as well as to click track, both with and without picture. The musical repertoire for the workshop will range from classical selections to music from commercial films. Each session will be videotaped and critiqued.

A highly touted lab, past participants include composers Cliff Martinez, Stewart Copeland, Camara Kambon, Danny Pelfrey, Richard Gibbs, Bill Brown, Bennett Salvay, Rolfe Kent, Julie and Steve Bernstein, Mark De Gli Antoni, Anthony Marinelli, Alex Wurman, Pete Scaturro, Mick Muhlfriedal, Dominic Messenger, Gary Kuo and Laura Karpman.

"The conductor's workshop is an incredible experience for composers partially because of the brilliance that Lucas brings with him as a teacher, performer and creator," said BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross, Vice President, Film/TV Relations. "The participants get the opportunity to work with some of the top musicians in the world while they're conducting, and the actual hands-on experience is one that cannot be duplicated in such a condensed period of time. We've heard time and time again how instrumental this workshop has been in adding skill sets to composers' repertoires."

Richman is an accomplished conductor and composer of music ranging from classical concert music and opera to musical theatre and film. He is presently Music Director and Conductor for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. He served as the Pittsburgh Symphony's Assistant Conductor from 1998-2002, during which time he was also a Cover Conductor for the New York Philharmonic. From 1988 to 1991 he was the Assistant Conductor for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Richman has appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras throughout the United States, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony and New Haven Symphony; in Canada with the National Arts Centre Orchestra; and in Germany with the SWR Radio Orchestra of Kaiserslautern. As a composer, Richman has had his music performed by over 100 orchestras across the United States in the last five years alone. The Pittsburgh Symphony most recently premiered his one-act musical, A Christmas Wish, with the participation of the Mendelssohn Choir, the Children's Festival Chorus and the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet.

In 2002-2003, Richman made his conducting debuts with the New York Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Knoxville, and Wheeling. He has received numerous awards including the Geraldine C. & Emory M. Ford Award Guest Conductor, Catherine Filene Shouse Foundation Conduct and the Dramalogue Award for his musical direction of the revival of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, directed by Gordon Davidson at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre.

In recent years, he collaborated with numerous film composers as their conductor, recording scores for such films as the Academy Award-nominated As Good As It Gets, Face/Off, Seven, Breakdown, Anastasia and The Village. He received a Master of Music in orchestral conducting from the University of Southern California, where he was a student of Daniel Lewis. He studied privately with Fritz Zweig and Victor Yampolsky, and worked with Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. He was also selected as a conducting fellow in master classes with Pierre Boulez, André Previn, Herbert Blomstedt and Kurt Sanderling.

A limited amount of class auditors will be welcomed on an advanced approval basis. Requests for auditors should be sent to Yee at RYee@bmi.com.]]> 2006-07-27T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334894 Artists, Vitarelli, Joseph, Musical Styles, Film-TV Joseph Vitarelli, director Julie Anderson and producers Tani Cohen and CC Goldwater at the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary, Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater. The film, which screened at the recent Los Angeles Film Festival, chronicles the life of controversial political figure Barry Goldwater, an icon of United States politics considered by some to have been the founder of contemporary conservatism.

Shown at the screening are director Julie Anderson, producer Tani Cohen, BMI composer Joseph Vitarelli, producer CC Goldwater and BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross. Photo by Randall Michaelson

In the course of his career, he represented Arizona in the Senate for five terms and ran as the Republican Party's presidential candidate in the 1964 election, which he lost to Lyndon Johnson in the biggest landslide in American history, carrying only six states, or 36% of the popular vote. Narrated by his granddaughter, CC, who also produced the doc, Mr. Conservative is an intimate portrait that reminisces the forgotten history of modern conservatism and the man behind the movement.]]> 2006-07-11T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/234589 Artists, Copeland, Stewart, Vitarelli, Joseph, Musical Styles, Film-TV, Type, Licensing 27th annual IFP Market held recently in New York. Entitled "Film Music: The Bastard Child of Post Production," the panel covered topics related to the use of music in film, ranging from creative to technical and licensing issues.

Panelists included composers Joseph Vitarelli (Revelations, And Starring Poncho Villa As Himself) and Stewart Copeland (Desperate Housewives, The Amanda Show), director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Mr. Jealousy) and music supervisor Tracy McKnight (Murderball, The United States of Leland).

Pictured are panelist Joseph Vitarelli, BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross, and panelists Stewart Copeland, Noah Baumbach and Tracy McKnight. photo by Gary Gershoff

BMI sponsors many film music panels at film festivals and markets throughout the U.S. each year. These panels are designed to promote greater understanding within the filmmaking community about the aesthetic and business aspects of music in film as well as provide an opportunity for composers, songwriters and filmmakers to learn more about each other's role.

The IFP Market is a week-long showcase held each autumn in New York for new features, works-in-progress, shorts and scripts. It is the only market in the U.S. where independent filmmakers can present new film and television works in development directly to the film industry in a selective and professional atmosphere. For the film industry, it is a vital exhibition and discovery forum for new talent and a place to discover new films before they hit the festival circuit.

The IFP Rough Cut Lab, which takes place before the Market on September 15, is a music mentorship program that is intended to help filmmakers successfully complete their works-in-progress before they enter the marketplace. The lab will be held in the screening room at Dolby's midtown office (1350 6th Avenue). BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross, Vice President of Film/TV Music, and music supervisor Tracy McKnight (Murderball, The United States of Leland) will lead an educational session on music licensing, while veteran BMI composer/songwriter George S. Clinton (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, 3000 Miles to Graceland) will meet with the filmmakers to critique and advise them on the latest cuts of their films from a composer's perspective.

The filmmakers chosen for the Rough Cut Lab are Sam Gold (Blood in the Sand), Pritesh Chheda (For Sale By Owner), Jennifer Chang (Half Life), Eunhee Cho (Inner Circle Line), Kat Candler (Jumping Off Bridges), Bernadine Santistevan (The Cry - La Llorona), Todd Rohal (The Guatemalan Handshake) and Chris Chan Lee (Undoing). Participants will have an opportunity to gain priceless insight into music in the filmmaking process from the three industry leaders.

BMI will also present a film music panel on Tuesday, September 20 at the Puck Building Gallery (293 Lafayette Street) from 10:15am-11:45am. Ringer Ross will serve as moderator. Panelists include McKnight, director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Mr. Jealousy), and BMI composers Joseph Vitarelli (Revelations, And Starring Poncho Villa As Himself) and Stewart Copeland (Desperate Housewives, The Amanda Show). The IFP Market film music panel will cover various topics related to the use of music in film, ranging from creative to technical and licensing issues.

The BMI film music panel is open to the public and IFP Market attendees. Tickets are $30 for a single panel or you can purchase package deals at IFP.org.

BMI sponsors many film music panels at film festivals and markets throughout the U.S. each year. These panels are designed to promote greater understanding within the filmmaking community about the aesthetic and business aspects of music in film as well as provide an opportunity for composers, songwriters and filmmakers to learn more about each other's role.

The IFP Market is a week-long showcase held each autumn in New York for new features, works-in-progress, shorts and scripts. It is the only market in the U.S. where independent filmmakers can present new film and television works in development directly to the film industry in a selective and professional atmosphere. For the film industry, it is a vital exhibition and discovery forum for new talent and a place to discover new films before they hit the festival circuit.