BMI Foundation Names 2003 Pete Carpenter Film Composing Fellows
 Ryan Amon |  Jonathan Kupper |
The Pete Carpenter Fellowship winners are given the opportunity to intern with renowned BMI TV composer Mike Post, Carpenter's longtime partner and writer of some of the most memorable theme songs in television history, including Hill Street Blues, Magnum P.I., The Rockford Files, Martial Law, NewsRadio, NYPD Blue, The A-Team, The Commish, Law and Order, Renegade, Silk Stalkings, L.A. Law, Quantum Leap and City of Angels. The winners work for approximately one month in Los Angeles on a daily basis with Post and other distinguished theatrical, film and television composers. A stipend for travel and living expenses is also part of the award.
Ryan Amon grew up studying piano and saxophone in his hometown of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. After high school, he attended various institutions including Taylor University, the National Outdoor Leadership School, and Western State College of Colorado where he pursued biology and art. In the fall of 2001, he decided to pursue his passion for composing music full time and enrolled at Music Tech College of Music and Recording Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. There he studied music production, music business, and motion imaging. Ryan is a versatile composer with musical styles that range from electronic to classical to pop/rock.
Jonathan Kupper studied both piano and cello from an early age growing up in Rochester, NY. He attended Michigan's Interlochen Arts Festival in 1994 and graduated from the New England Conservatory with a BA in Composition in 1999. He went on to attend the music theater-writing program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and then moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to study film scoring at the University of Southern California. Jonathan has written numerous works and his music has been recorded and/or performed at the Eastman School of Music, NEC's Jordan Hall, NYU's 2nd Ave Black-Box Theater, Paramount Studios and George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. In addition to composition, he has toured throughout Italy as a jazz pianist, and has worked as a musical director for Summer Stock Theater. He was a commission-prize fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2002, and was awarded a scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival in 2003.
A number of past Pete Carpenter Fellowship recipients have launched dynamic television and film scoring careers, including BMI composer Christopher Tyng (TV shows Futurama, The Parent Hood, CityKids and feature films Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis, Bumble Bee Flys Away, Attack of the 5-2 Women, The Associate, Kazaam), as well as Chris Beck (TV shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Practice, NewsRadio, Law and Order and feature films Guinevere, Dog Park, Bring It On) and Roger Neill (TV shows Chicago Hope, King of the Hill, Renegade, Silk Stalkings, Doogie Howser, L.A. Law, Law and Order, NYPD Blue, Blossom and feature films Savage, The Outsider, Mercenary).
The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1985 to support the creation, performance, and study of music through awards, scholarships, commissions and grants. Tax-deductible donations to the Foundation come primarily from songwriters, composers and publishers, BMI employees and members of the public with a special interest in music. Because both the Foundation staff and the distinguished members of the Advisory Panel serve without compensation, over 97% of all donations and income are used for charitable grants.
Community
Connect with BMI & Professional Songwriters