composer

Maria Butterly is an award-winning Irish singer/songwriter who lived in the US for 17 years where she toured extensively. Maria headlined at the Angelica Heuston Gala Event at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel and supported The Pogues, The Hot House Flowers and the late Hal Ketchum in concert in the US.  Maria won the award for Best Celtic Sound at the New York International Film and Music Awards. Since moving home in 2008 she has performed her original compositions live on TV and radio programs such as RTE, Virgin Media One, TG4 and SKY TV. She composes music for both Film and TV, and specialises in music for video games. Maria is also a teacher and teaches a songwriting workshop called Music is the gateway to wellbeing. She has released 3 albums and recently released her new single, HERO which addressing issues of anti-social behaviour & bullying and was inspired by her work with the youth of today. 

Connect with Maria

WEBSITE: https://mariabutterly.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/maria.butterly

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Suad Bushnaq has long struggled to answer the question “where’s home?” in simple terms.  The Jordanian-Canadian composer and polymath with Bosnian, Syrian, and Palestinian roots grew up in Amman, studied in Damascus and Montreal, spent time teaching in North Carolina, and now makes her home in Toronto.  Her work reflects her experiences and travels, as she explores Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions, and some of the places she’s lived both in times of war and peace.  She now splits her time between concert music commissions and her work as a film composer.  We discuss that dichotomy, how she balances being an artist and a craftsperson, her perspectives on studying in Syria and Canada, traditions of Middle Eastern music, and what changed for her during the Pandemic.  The Hollywood Music in Media award winner who Hans Zimmer himself has referred to as “an incredible artist” also talks about some of her biggest challenges, including the score for a demanding film that she worked on for almost 4 years.  The project concluded with a set of international recording sessions that saw strings captured in Damascus between bombings, while others tracked at Air Edel in London, North Carolina, and Toronto.  A mentor once told her never to second guess her gut instinct, and now Suad is making a home in music that is truly her own.

www.suadbushnaq.com

Brian and Caleb Chan bring a high level of emotional intelligence to everything they do, and believe that a focus on that growth is critical to success in both life and creative business.  When you understand that their attention to the inner world carries over into the work they do as musicians and storytellers, you realize it’s no accident that they’ve been so successful.  They also seem to avoid being pigeonholed, and their work spans from the horror of Sam Raimi’s 50 States of Fright, to the preschool fare of Hatchimals, to TV romances like A Homecoming for the Holidays.  The brothers have diverged and come together a few times over the years, collaborating all the while as they each followed unique but parallel musical paths.  While Caleb studied composition at the University of Toronto, Brian earned a Masters in Sound Recording at McGill.  Now, their complementary strengths blend beautifully, and by all accounts, they’re just getting started.  We chat about their early days in Hong Kong and Canada, how they work as a team, the joys and challenges of their diverse slate, and how a recent flurry of work has made them much more intentional about their approach, with an eye toward balance and sustainability.

https://www.chansounds.com

Janal Bechthold’s musical journey started not on the piano playing Mozart, but rather on the organ playing 50’s swing and Tangos.  Again sidestepping more well-worn paths, she studied music therapy at Laurier and spent years alternately in that profession, and as a church organist.  These activities were, however, both informed by and are now critical to her work as a musical storyteller - work which has now been recognized with an incredible 3 CSA nominations in 2021.  In our conversation, Janal describes her interesting musical upbringing, her work helping people heal using music, how she utilizes her diverse experiences in what she does as a screen composer, the issues and stories that link many of her projects together, the important work she spearheaded to push forward the conversation about women screen composers, and the holistic approach she’s taking to evaluate where she wants her journey will take her next.  Now, it looks like her relationship with the organ has come full circle, as she contemplates stripping the instrument down to re-contextualize it’s sound and her approach to making music.

Donald Quan sees his whole life, including his career and businesses, as an improvisation.  As a composer, he is known for his work on shows such as Relic Hunter, Mutant X, and APTN’s Moccasin Flats.  As a musician and recording artist, he has toured with Loreena McKennitt and Lighthouse, and recorded his own music at Peter Gabriel’s iconic Real World Studios.  His incredible studio, Q Music, once housed over 400 indigenous instruments from 6 continents, and he has collaborated with groups such as The Toronto Tabla Ensemble, Samba Squad, M-DO Kathak Toronto Dance, and First Nations choreographer Santee Smith.

In 2007, I was lucky enough to spend time as Donald’s apprentice, and throughout this conversation I recount memories of that challenging and formative time, and get to thank him for being a big part of my development as a composer and creative person.

We talk about his growing up in Toronto as the only Chinese-Canadian kid in his school, his early start in music and how he ended up at the nascent film scoring program at Berklee.  There, he learned the traditional techniques of pen and paper scoring, as well as old school analog methods of syncing music to picture.  It was, however, his interest in the emerging use of computers in music that would help him stand out and get him his first breaks in the industry.  During a performance in 2009, Donald suffered a near-fatal stroke and was without vital signs for nearly 20 minutes.  He miraculously survived, but would spend weeks in a coma, after which a long journey toward recovery began.  Now, over 10 years later, I help Donald restore some of his memory as I share stories of our time together.

Every time I chat with Peter Chapman (AKA Coins), I hear another amazing story, well told.  The pivotal moments in his life also connect in a narrative full of serendipitous events that have opened windows to let his talent shine through.  This multiple-Canadian Screen Award nominee started his diverse career producing hip-hop and electronic music, and got his breakout gig via the instructor of one of his electives, 8 years after attending the Ontario College of Art and Design.  That show was Durham County, and many more would follow: the sci-fi cult favorite Wynonna Earp (co-scored with Rob Carli), Bomb Girls, HGTV’s Leave It To Bryan, CBC’s hit, Workin’ Moms, and many more.  He’s also been a first call for developers, scoring games such as Guacamele 1 & 2, Little Big Planet Karting, and Soundshapes, among others.  We talk about how he left cassettes of his music in public bathrooms, the crash-course learning of first gigs, his airport-layover-created Beastie Boys remix that went hyper-viral and ended up being lauded by Maxim, Esquire, People, and Billboard magazine, how he bridged the gap between being an electronic producer to writing for orchestra, and why he thinks one of the keys to success is being able to take a good punch.

Steph Copeland cut her teeth in the Windsor/Detroit underground electronic and hip-hop scene, but her scoring career quickly developed alongside her successes as a songwriter and performer.  
With her dark, electronic sensibilities and production chops, she soon became known for her gritty work on indie genre films like Antisocial 1 and 2, Bite, I’ll Take Your Dead, and more recently the 80’s inspired, synth drenched Vicious Fun.  She has since had a chance to show a more light, playful side, scoring romantic comedies like Snowbound for Christmas and dramatic series like The Wedding Planners. 
We look at how she balances her love of scoring with writing and producing songs, the joy of genre films, how she deals with difficult situations, having a cinematographer as a partner, and her take on success and how she looks at her future.

https://www.stephcopeland.com/ 

[Episode contains some colorful language]

Classically trained as a vocalist, Red got her start in cabaret and musical theater before she was bitten by the film scoring bug - a craft she says “combines all of the things”.  She and her musical partner Maya Saxell won a Leo award for their work on Charlotte’s Song, a first in the category for female composers.  She also received a Leo nod for her music for White Raven, which she scored using only the human voice.  We talk about the challenges of the music business and her time as a singer-songwriter.  She discusses the film she could score for the rest of her life, innovating her process, and what the pressures of the pandemic have revealed for her, musicians, and the community.

Twitter: @redheartbreaker
Insta: @theycallmered
www.redheartbreaker.com

"I’m an optimist by nature, and I really believe in the Guild and our community.  We’re facing a lot of challenges, but we’ve got a lot of creative, motivated people working really hard to move us in the right direction."

John Welsman comes from a family that is not only musical, but is practically a Toronto institution.  His roots go back to the first iteration of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, founded by his grandfather, Frank.  Though John went on to study composition in university, he found the environment stifling, and instead followed his love of roots and folk music down a different path.  He played keys and guitar in various groups, also providing string arrangements for recordings; a skill he lent to other acts including Sarah McLaughlan and Loreena McKennitt.  But it is undoubtedly his work on Road to Avonlea that John is best known for - a show so popular and successful that it is used as a case study in US film schools, and still sees fan conventions held all around the world.  In this candid interview, John and I chat about how he came to land his first TV scoring gig, his experiences on Avonlea, and his recent work on a beautiful series of documentaries about the Group of Seven.  John is also the current president of The Screen Composers Guild of Canada, and we discuss what it means to hold that position, the challenges facing screen composers today, and the hard work that the Guild is doing to protect our rights and value in the digital age.

www.welsmanmusic.com

"Hearing Morricone’s score for The Mission was a spiritual moment.  That’s why I got into this: if I could ever make something that moved someone else in the same way, that would be a gift."

After studying Business Administration and Recording Engineering, Gary Koftinoff spent 10 years in post-production at the Toronto facilities of Film House, which would later become Deluxe.  There, he got a crash course in the art and craft of filmmaking, storytelling, and client relations, and got to peek behind the curtain while working with some of the biggest names in the business.  It was also the perfect place to meet editors, producers, and other people who would later become instrumental in helping get him his start as a film & television composer.  We chat about the powerful moment that turned him onto his path, unusual ways to find themes and get gigs, and how he approaches his work on hit shows like Saving Hope, Life With Derek, and Hudson & Rex, which he co-scores with Phil Bennett.

www.koftinoff.com

Erica Procunier is a rising star in the screen composing scene.  After deciding early on that composing for picture was her passion, she completed a Masters in Music Composition from the University of Western.  While building her credits, she was accepted into prestigious programs like the Canadian Film Center’s Slaight Family Music Lab and the highly competitive Berlinale Talents which is held in Berlin each year.  She now splits her time composing for independent films including And Now A Word From Our Sponsor (starring Bruce Greenwood), television shows such as Apple TV+’s Emmy winning Ghostwriter, CBC’s Detention Adventure, and teaching film scoring at Humber College.  We chat about the intense sink-or-swim adventure that was her first apprenticeship, how she pushes her ideas to their full potential without worrying about getting turned down, and her thoughts on one of the big threats to screen composing and human culture in general: artificial intelligence.

www.ericaprocunier.com

“You don’t need to follow all the rules to be successful.  There is a certain advantage in having an individual path that is unique”

Mychael Danna is one of Canada’s most successful film composers, a national treasure and a unique talent who has reached the highest levels of global success.  His illustrious career hit a pinnacle in 2013 when he won the Oscar for his dazzling score to Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, but his path leading to that moment is rich with powerful films accompanied by equally powerful scores.  His career was kick started by early successes with Atom Egoyan, and the two would become evergreen collaborators, working on now classic indie films like Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, and Ararat.  His integration of non-western musical colors and love of early music set him apart, and Hollywood soon came calling.  Now the list of notable films stretches on: The Ice Storm, Girl, Interrupted, 8MM, Being Julia, Capote,  Little Miss Sunshine, Moneyball… among many more.  Mychael has recently moved into scoring marquee animated films like Storks and The Good Dinosaur, often collaborating with his brother, Jeff.  We chat about his early days studying and discovering world and ancient music in Toronto, and uncover his approaches to music and storytelling.  Mychael is remarkably humble and candid, and this chat is sure to delight longtime fans as well as be an inspiration to composers at any stage in their career.

“Everyone has aspirations.  But there are things I get from my career: choice and freedom. To me, that’s everything”

Over 1700 episodes of television.  150 feature films.  To call Michael Richard Plowman prolific would be an understatement.  He has also proved to be quite the nomad, setting up shop in places like Vancouver, LA, London, and the South of France.  While his portfolio is diverse, his big love is animation, and his work can be heard in hit shows like Sonic Boom, Tree Fu Tom, and George of the Jungle, among many others.  He also has a considerable list of credits in video games, and scored the first of the hugely successful Splinter Cell series, and would later work with the legendary Tommy Tallarico.  We talk about his humble beginnings in a non-musical family, how he got his first commercial credit at the age of 14 and a recording contract at 16, how he builds relationships and asks for what he wants.  As Michael says: “Just buy the lunch!”.  Indeed, this is a masterclass in creative business for the screen composer that’s sure to inspire you to think much, much bigger.

www.michaelplowman.com

 "Your voice is precious and important, and needed. There are great stories out there that deserve your insight, your value." 

For Amritha Vaz, the path to becoming a screen composer was full of twists and turns. Her musical family’s ties to Bollywood had her immersed early on, but after a severe case of tendonitis cut a potential career as a violinist short, she pursued the academic path, earning degrees in poli-sci,international development, law, and more. She studied Indian classical music in India, did international development work in Sierra Leone, and finally ended up in Vancouver where a chance meeting with Mychael Danna prompted a move to LA to become his assistant. Amritha is now firmly on her own musical journey, blending the rich music of South Asia with electronic and Western classical orchestral sounds. We talk about her enchanting work on the AppleTV+ docuseries Home, and the colorful musical tapestries of Mira, Royal Detective, which she scores for Disney Junior. She also describes navigating being a visible minority in Hollywood, the challenge of finding work-life balance, and why she feels hopeful despite the current state of the world. 

www.amrithavaz.com 

"Film music always walks a fine line of needing to not draw attention to itself and away from the film and yet to also give voice to the soul of the film. Some of what I consider to be my best music cues rarely make it to my demo reel because the music sounds incomplete without the cadence of the dialog and sound fx."

Judith Gruber-Stitzer is wonderfully articulate about how music affects moving images and narrative, and yet her approach is often very intuitive.  She started her journey in New York and Jersey learning harmonies by ear from her brother’s Doo-wop group before moving to Montreal to work with poet-singer Marie Savard and the band Wondeur Brass. She eventually became one of the National Film Board of Canada’s most prolific composers, scoring Oscar nominated films Animal Behaviour, Wild Life and When The Day Breaks (which also own the Palme D’Or at Cannes), among many others.  Judith is quick to point out that she does more than animation, and indeed her resume boasts many live action projects including two films by the legendary Robert Altman.  We discuss her work with that iconic director, as well as her perspectives on working both as a composer and sound designer on projects, her take on how rhythm affects audience perception, and what it means to be a woman in an industry still dominated by men.

http://www.gruberstitzer.com

“The work that you’re most nervous about presenting is always the best stuff.”

Tom Third loves to push against creative limits and break convention.  Known for his modern, hybrid electronic scores, he started out as a hip-hop loving art school kid who was eventually signed to Nettwerk records, where he produced sample-heavy trip hop and drum n bass.  As a songwriter, he also co-wrote Meryn Cadell’s cult hit "The Sweater".  Transitioning from ads to film and TV, he cut his teeth on the massive hit show Queer as Folk, and is now known for his work on fan-favorite shows like The Listener and the breakout hit, Coroner.  This Gemini-winner’s working style is creative and experimental, and he loves to color outside the lines.  Whether scoring surrealist art house cinema or hit TV series, he is happiest when slightly out of his comfort zone.

Visit Tom at:
www.tomthird.com

**WARNING - this episode does contain some spicy words, so be aware if you’re listening with kids or anyone sensitive to not-so-safe-for-work language.**

“If you do good work, people will always speak well about that.  That’s the best word of mouth you can get”

In this episode, we speak to Darren Fung.  Born of Chinese immigrant parents, he started his musical education at a very early age, and had his first orchestral work performed when he was only 15.  He eventually found his way to Montreal where he studied at McGill University, and finally to LA where he currently makes his home.  All along the way, this savvy entrepreneur has found himself helped by many amazing mentors, and has himself long been giving back to the community that helped him get his start.  His stunning work on Niobe Thompson’s The Great Human Odyssey and Equus: Story of the Horse won him Canadian Screen awards in 2016 and 2019, and he has led orchestras across Canada in highly acclaimed concert performances of both mini-series.  We chat about the intensity and pressure of live orchestral recording sessions and what it takes to pull them off, his work on a piece of music that could have made him the most hated man in Canada, the journey that led him to Hollywood, and his thoughts about living and working in the mecca of filmmaking and music.

Visit Darren at:
www.stinkyrice.com