Special guests: Jeff Beal // Ryan Shore // Ian Hultquist // Sofia degli Alessandri // Batu Sener
Faculty roster: Alison Plante // Robbie Teehan // Diego Pugliese
Lecturers: Penka Kouneva // Davide Pensato // Luigi Di Guida
Program Director: Paolo Fosso
Asst. Program Director: Roberto Mengoli
Production assistant: Eduardo Cioffi
Jeff Beal
Jeff Beal is a five-time Emmy Award-winning composer renowned for his improvisational approach and sophisticated compositions. He has collaborated with esteemed directors such as Ed Harris (Pollock, Appaloosa), David Fincher (House of Cards), and Oliver Stone (JFK Revisited, The Putin Interviews). His notable scores include documentaries like Blackfish, The Biggest Little Farm, and An Inconvenient Sequel, as well as dramatic works for HBO’s Rome, Carnivàle, and Netflix’s House of Cards.
Beyond his scoring career, Beal is a prolific concert composer. Recent commissions encompass “The Paper-Lined Shack” for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and “Sunrise” for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. In 2016, he premiered House of Cards in Concert, conducting the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, with subsequent performances internationally.
His solo piano collection, New York Etudes, has garnered over 3 million streams on Apple Classical. A self-taught pianist and accomplished trumpet player, he studied at the Eastman School of Music under Christopher Rouse and Rayburn Wright. Beal resides in New York City.
Ryan Shore
Ryan Shore is an acclaimed composer, songwriter, music producer, music director, and conductor with a diverse portfolio spanning film, television, virtual reality, games, records, concerts, live events, and theater. He has been nominated for three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. Shore is widely recognized for his work on numerous Star Wars animated series, various Scooby-Doo! films, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, and Go! Go! Cory Carson.
He played a significant role as Assistant Music Director and Contributing Composer/Arranger/Orchestrator for the 87th Academy Awards, collaborating with prominent artists such as Lady Gaga, John Legend, and Jennifer Hudson. Shore boasts over 100 scoring credits, including additional music for the Lin-Manuel Miranda movie musical In The Heights, various Star Wars projects, Love In The Villa, Honey Girls, Love, Guaranteed, and contributions to Sesame Street and The X Factor.
His conducting experience extends to renowned orchestras like The New York Philharmonic and The Czech Philharmonic. He has been involved in concerts like Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions and has orchestrated and arranged Broadway concerts featuring Tony Award winners such as Sutton Foster and Idina Menzel. Additionally, Shore has music-directed notable productions like the Los Angeles production of Heathers: The Musical.
Besides his composing and conducting work, Shore is an accomplished saxophonist, having performed with legendary musicians like John Williams, Barry Manilow, and Natalie Cole. His versatile talent spans a wide range of genres and formats, making him a distinguished figure in the music industry.
Ian Hultquist
Ian Hultquist is an American composer & producer currently based in London, United Kingdom. Over the past few years he has made a name for himself composing the scores for numerous films, documentaries and TV shows. Ian started his career in music as a founding member of the band Passion Pit, which started in Boston, MA where he was studying Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music. He spent many years touring around the world & honing in his production skills as a Music Director, and working on remixes for artists such as Portugal the Man, Imagine Dragons, Tegan & Sara and OK GO.
In 2014 he, along with his wife & fellow composer Sofia degli Alessandri-Hultquist (aka Drum & Lace), relocated to Los Angeles in order to fully dedicate himself to working in music for film. Since then he has worked on over 40 film titles, as well as 20 television shows. He has written scores for some of the most renowned filmmakers working in the medium today, such as Sam Levinson (Assassination Nation), Erin Lee Carr (How to Fix a Drug Scandal, At the Heart of Gold), Alena Smith (Dickinson) & Karen Maine (Yes God Yes, Rosaline).
In 2016 Ian formed Little Twig Records, an imprint label focused on releasing soundtracks for Film & TV. In 2020, Ian was the sole-composer named on the 40 Under 40 list for Doc NYC. Currently Ian is working on The Walking Dead: Dead City (AMC/AMC+) & collaborating with Sofia on the score for Grosse Pointe Garden Society (NBC/Peacock)
Sofia degli Alessandri
Drum & Lace, AKA Sofia degli Alessandri-Hultquist, is a Florence-raised, London-based musician. A composer for film with degrees from the prestigious Berklee College of Music and New York University, her accolades include work with 20th Century Studios (Rosaline), Lionsgate (2023’s Cobweb), NBC (Good Girls), AppleTV+ (Dickinson) and Amazon Studios (2023 hit Red, White & Royal Blue). At the same time she’s been releasing music outside her scoring work, using her extensive synth collection to find her voice as an electronic producer whose music recalls the likes of Kelly Lee Owens.
Drum & Lace music takes inspiration from the natural world and is scattered with field recordings, so while the work is largely electronic there is a grounding and organic nature to every track. 2022’s debut album Natura found inspiration in the soil and in rolling hills, while 2023’s Frost EP captured the quiet beauty of winter. Her second LP ONDA, that came out on June 21st via Fabrique Records, is her most dance floor-leaning record to date. It’s inspired by the ocean, with motifs of shells, sand and sisterhood present throughout.
Sofia has shared the stage with artists as disparate, and luminary, as William Basinski, Suzanne Ciani, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, black midi, Sqürl and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, while the stages she’s performed on include revered London venues like Café OTO and EartH, Moogfest, Slingshot Festival and National Sawdust’s Digital Discovery event in the US and Festa Dell’Opera in Italy.
Such variety is proof that Drum & Lace is confidently dipping her toes in electronic music’s different pools. From an intimate and immersive ambient performance to a summer festival stage, Drum & Lace taps into both with ease.
Batu Sener
A protégé of Oscar nominated composer John Powell, Batu Sener has been in the front line of major Hollywood productions, contributing additional music to major franchises like How to Train your Dragon, Star Wars, and Bourne. Most recently, Sener scored the highly anticipated Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, for which he won an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award for best Original Score.
As lead composer, Batu jumped into composing one of Hollywood’s largest franchises for his first feature motion picture: Ice Age. He scored the sixth film in the series: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, which premiered on Disney+. Following this film, he was also brought on to score a mini-series in the same franchise: Ice Age: Scrat Tales. Next for Sener is a family adventure film from Sony Pictures and an original Disney+ series.
Working alongside John Powell ever since his move to Los Angeles, Batu composed additional music on How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Pan and Jason Bourne. His other additional music credits include The Call of the Wild, Ferdinand, Locked Down, and the upcoming score to Don’t Worry Darling. Sener was also the score producer for these soundtracks. Sener’s newest work will be featured in the biographical Disney+ series Atatürk and the anticipated retelling of the classic story Harold and the Purple Crayon for Columbia Pictures.
Alison Plante
Professor of Screen Scoring at Berklee College of Music, and Program Director for the MM in Film Scoring at Berklee Online, Alison is an award-winning composer whose scoring credits range from documentaries for PBS and the History Channel to national television ads, independent films, multimedia museum exhibits, and live theater.
Her scoring credits include seven educational television series for the Annenberg Channel; History Channel specials Bible Battles and Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War; documentary feature American Meat; national TV spots, trailers, and corporate identity music for Duracell, Kodak, Sodexho, Spalding Sports, W.B. Mason, GMAC, Animal Planet, the National Geographic Channel, and the Pan Mass Challenge, among others.
Other credits include live action and animated shorts, theater (with a speciality in puppetry), and multimedia museum installations for the Smithsonian Institution and the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Robbie Teehan
Canadian composer Robbie Teehan is known for his nuanced scores to award-winning indie dramas and documentaries, including Scarborough, winner of 8 Canadian Screen Awards including Best Picture, the documentary Bottle Conditioned directed by Academy Award nominee Jerry Franck, the documentary Below the Belt produced by Hilary Rodham Clinton, and the documentary The Babushkas of Chernobyl.
Robbie spent 5 years in Los Angeles as assistant to 4-time Emmy Award-winning composer Sean Callery and contributed to over 300 episodes of network TV on hit series Homeland, Jessica Jones, Elementary, Designated Survivor, Bones, Bull, Halo, and others.
Leveraging his unique expertise in mindset coaching and digital marketing, Robbie founded The Pro Composer in 2020, a thriving online community and boutique career coaching firm that has guided media composers around the world to life-changing career breakthroughs.
Diego Pugliese
Diego Pugliese teaches Audio Technologies at the Conservatory of Milan. His electroacoustic compositions have been showcased at the Italian Pavilion during Expo 2015, and he has worked as a sound engineer for Contrastes, EMA Vinci, and Stradivarius—combining expertise in both contemporary and commercial music to achieve versatility in every facet of audio production.
He collaborates with film and advertising composers in Italy and abroad, specializing in the humanization of digital orchestras as well as the arrangement, performance, and recording of string parts. One of his most notable projects is “Closed to the Light,” whose soundtrack—featuring his solo violin and string/synth arrangements—was recently broadcast on Italian national television. He also serves as a technical sound designer for Collettivo Anecoia and Chaosmonger Studios.
Diego holds degrees in Violin, Electronic Music, and Sound Technologies, and specialized in Game Audio Design at the CPM Institute in Milan.
Penka Kouneva
Grammy-winning composer and top studio orchestrator Penka Kouneva has worked in Hollywood for 25 years scoring television (Dragon Age Absolution, Pandora series), films (Aga, Encounter, Tarika), video games (Legends of Runeterra, Prince of Persia) and theme parks (NASA). On IMDB, she has 170+ credits. Her recent orchestrator credits include Moana 2 and Juror #2.
Penka holds a Duke University Ph.D. in composition and is known as a great mentor who’s helped 100+ young film and game composers cultivate remarkable Hollywood careers and become top studio composers. Her orchestral albums The Woman Astronaut and Rebirth of Id are released by Varese Sarabande / Universal Music to great critical acclaim.
Like a great storyteller, her music takes the listener on an emotional journey, with timeless melodies and contemporary arrangements.
Davide Pensato
After graduating with a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Davide began his career at Ubisoft Studios Milan as an Audio Director. Within a few years, he joined the Board of Directors.
In January 2007, Davide founded his own company, dpstudios, which specializes in game audio consulting and services. Combining creative vision with technical expertise, Davide guides the dpstudios team through a comprehensive creative process, from concept development to implementation, utilizing cutting-edge audio tools and an in-depth knowledge of game engine integration.
dpstudios approach to game audio integration is comprehensive and scalable, covering every aspect of the process, from the initial design phase to thorough testing, including content creation and technical implementation. With decades of experience across various game platforms, dpstudios has developed a strong sense of professionalism and a keen problem-solving attitude, enhancing the ability to deliver exceptional audio solutions in the gaming industry. dpstudios is the official partner of FMOD for Italy.
Luigi Di Guida
Luigi di Guida is an Italian music composer with over fifteen years of experience in the media industry. He pursued his education in Music Composition and Music Composition for Media at the Conservatory of Music “S. Pietro a Majella” in Naples. Further enhancing his skills, he studied Composing, Arranging, and Music Programming at the APM (“Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale”) in Saluzzo. Luigi’s studies in musical theory were always complemented by his passion for music technology and new media.
Luigi’s proficiency in integrating with development teams and his versatility in various musical genres have made him a sought-after composer for games requiring interactive music. This has led to a vibrant career in game composition. For over a decade, he has also shared his passion for music through extensive teaching activities.
Since early 2017, following a collaboration of approximately three years, Luigi officially joined dpstudios, a prominent Italian company specializing in game audio consulting and services, as their Lead Composer.
Paolo Fosso (Program Director)
Composer and Event Manager, dedicated to promoting contemporary music and digital awareness by featuring a range of events throughout the year, such as the highSCORE Festival and the Screen Music Program. Nominated at the International Sound & Film Music Festival (ISFMF), “one of the largest and most important film music festivals in the world.” President of the Conservatory of Pavia from 2010 to 2013. Selected by the European Commission in Brussels as Expert both in the MEDIA and in the Culture programs.
Roberto Mengoli (Asst. Program Director)
Roberto Mengoli, an accomplished professional composer and arranger from Italy, has recently achieved significant milestones in his career, having completed scoring for a variety of films.
His notable works include Call Me Crazy, a compelling feature film available on Amazon Prime, which boasts performances by renowned Broadway stars; South Bodies, an insightful documentary that was showcased at the prestigious New Orleans Film Festival; Ocean Brew, a short film that stands out for being created by a team of Oscar and BAFTA-winning professionals. Furthermore, he contributed to Pam, a short film that garnered attention on the platform Omeleto.
Since the beginning of 2022, Mengoli has embraced the role of lead composer in over 25 film projects, demonstrating his prolific talent and dedication to the art of film scoring. As he looks ahead to the year 2024, Mengoli is already lined up with numerous studio projects.
Eduardo Cioffi (Production Assistant)
After beginning his Music Production Degree at the University of Hertfordshire in London, Eduardo was accepted into the esteemed Berklee College of Music for the Music Composition for Film and TV program, a course he is presently continuing.
Beyond his studies, Eduardo takes pride in his position as Lead Composer on theatrical productions such as Un Posto Sicuro (UCI/Prime Video), Hangar (Minerva Pictures/Prime Video) and Screamfest nominated short film GRUB, to name a few.
He is also an active assistant and orchestrator for various major projects, including Netflix’s #1 hit-show Ni Una Màs, Hollywood Music and Media Awards Winner Women in Blue (Apple TV+), Past Lies (Disney+), FC Barcelona: A New Era (Prime Video), Italian Primetime Movie Mascaria (Rai) and more.