Laura Karpman News

Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the next episode in its “Academy Dialogues: It Starts with Us” conversation series titled “Reaching Gender Equity in Hollywood,” available now on YouTube.  

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops today announced seven additional composers for their ongoing commissioning initiative, The Fanfare Project, bringing the total number of commissions thus far to 20.

Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the composers and directors selected for the Film Music and Sound Design Lab in collaboration with Skywalker Sound, reimagined and expressed digitally this year on Sundance Co//ab. The Lab provides Fellows with firsthand experience of the collaborative process with the goal of nurturing the development of music in film.

Members of the Film & TV Music community, made up of composers, songwriters, music editors, music supervisors, studio executives and more, contributed their talents to SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES: A CELEBRATION FOR THE FILM & TV MUSIC COMMUNITY, an online benefit event for MusiCares® COVID-19 Relief Fund. 

Members of the Film & TV Music community, made up of composers, songwriters, music editors, music supervisors, studio executives and more, are contributing their talents to SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES: A CELEBRATION FOR THE FILM & TV MUSIC COMMUNITY, an online benefit event for MusiCares® COVID-19 Relief Fund.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Cincinnati Pops today announced a new initiative, The Fanfare Project, borne of the Orchestra's heritage as a champion of the music of its time and of the role of music to unite us in uncertain times. The inspiration for the initiative is Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, commissioned by CSO Music Director Eugene Goossens in 1942 in support of Allied efforts and as a testament to the American spirit during World War II. The Orchestra gave the world premiere on March 12, 1943. 

Did you know that opera is fun for kids? This February, the Youth Opera Project presents an affordable opera for children and families called Wilde Tales. Inspired by the stories of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, Wilde Tales weaves together two of the author's stories into a colorful and heartwarming parable. The story reminds us that true beauty lies in the way we treat one another. With performers who range in age from 7a?"18, this Youth Opera Project show is geared for audiences of all ages.

General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler today announced that an innovative new work celebrating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and a cabaret-style favorite that returns by popular demand comprise the 2020 Explorations series. The series leads audiences on a delightful journey of musical discovery through eclectic works performed in Lyric Opera's Michael and Ginger Frost Production Arts Building in the Crossroads District.

Tribeca Enterprises and CHANEL concluded the fifth annual THROUGH HER LENS: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program, announcing the recipient who will receive full production funding for her original short film at a cocktail reception this evening in New York City. 

For the fifth year, THROUGH HER LENS: The Tribeca CHANEL Women's Filmmaker Program will create new opportunities for women filmmakers. Tribeca and CHANEL, in collaboration with Pulse Films and Tribeca Film Institute (TFI), founded THROUGH HER LENS in 2015 to provide industry support, artistic development, and funding to emerging U.S.-based female writers and directors. Participants will gather in New York City for the program's 5th edition, which will run November 4-6, 2019.

Vertical Entertainment has acquired the North America distribution rights to Miss Virginia, a drama inspired by a true story of a struggling inner-city mother who sacrifices everything to give her son a good education. Unwilling to allow her son to stay in a dangerous school, she launches a movement that could save his future -- and that of thousands like him. Starring Uzo Aduba (“Orange Is the New Black”), Matthew Modine (“Stranger Things”), Aunjanue Ellis (“The Help”), and Vanessa Williams (“Ugly Betty”). Vertical Entertainment will be releasing the film in select theaters and on VOD October 18th.

BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) announced today the selected participants for its 22nd annual Conducting Workshop for Visual Media Composers, led by BMI Classic Contribution Award winner, conductor and composer Lucas Richman. Beginning August 13, the elite group will spend two weeks sharpening their conducting skills to music selections by BMI film composing legends such as Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams. The workshop will be held at BMI's Los Angeles office and Blake Neely's Cow on the Wall Studio in North Hollywood culminating with the participants leading a 32-piece orchestra live to picture at Nathan Barr's Bandrika studio in Tarzana on August 24.

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), is proud to continue its support of the Sundance Institute Film Music and Sound Design Lab for more than two decades. The Lab returns to the Skywalker Sound legendary facilities for the seventh year from July 9-22. This year's international group of fellows include Ho-Ling Tan, Jorge Aragon, Brito Gene Back, Ghiya Rushidat, Aska Matsuyami, Ozie Cargile, Sara Broshofske and Emily Rice, who represent a variety of countries from Cuba, Hong Kong, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the U.S.A.

Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the composers and directors selected for the Sundance Institute Film Music and Sound Design Lab, which returns to the legendary Skywalker Sound Facilities for the seventh year.

Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF), in collaboration with the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) and the LGBT Community Center (The Center), will celebrate WorldPride in two programs featuring LGBT composers and librettists, both commemorating 50 years since the Stonewall uprising

Alexei Ratmansky's Shostakovich Trilogy returns to San Francisco Ballet (SF Ballet) May 7-12, closing the Company's 2019 Repertory Season at the War Memorial Opera House. Called a "fascinating, thrilling, bewilderingly ambiguous evocation of life in Shostakovich's Russia" (The New York Times), and simply, "a masterpiece" (San Francisco Chronicle), Shostakovich Trilogy is Ratmansky's homage to the composer, using three of his full-length works: the Symphony No. 9, Chamber Symphony, and Piano Concerto No. 1.

Evans Mirageas, The Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director of Cincinnati Opera, today announced a host of programs celebrating the company's upcoming 100th anniversary in 2020, along with repertoire and casting highlights of the 2020 Summer Festival.

A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Guggenheim fellow, and Radcliffe alum, Kate Soper's music has been described as 'exquisitely quirky' (The New York Times) and 'epic' (WQXR). As a performer, she has been praised as a 'dazzling vocalist' (The New Yorker) and likened to 'Lucille Ball reinterpreted by Linda Blair' (Pitchfork). 

Tribeca and CHANEL continue to provide extraordinary opportunities to propel women filmmakers forward with the fourth annual THROUGH HER LENS: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program. The mentorship program was created to provide a balance of industry support, artistic development, and funding for new and emerging U.S.-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films.

Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF) announces programming for its 2018-2019 season, continuing its mission of bringing affordable, world-class performances of traditional and contemporary chamber music to all five boroughs of New York City. The upcoming slate of concerts marks the organization's most collaborative season to date, including partnerships with GEMAS (Gotham Early Music / Americas Society), ClassicalCafe, Brooklyn Art Song Society, New York Festival of Song, and the LGBT Center ("The Center").