I met our next guest at an ASCAP event the year I moved to LA right after she did the music for Epic Games' Fortnite. Since then she has become the musical voice of superhero projects ranging from summer blockbuster Captain Marvel to shows including DC’s Stargirl and Superman prequel Krypton. She’s also been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition for a documentary for her score to HBO’s McMillions.

EVP/Head of Television Music for Lionsgate, our next guest is the man behind the music for some legendary TV shows like Mad Men, Nashville, Blue Mountain State, Orange Is The New Black, and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist! He is a self-proclaimed resident of planet music and a bass player extraordinaire turned music executive and I'm very excited to welcome him to the show!

“The ronroco is the sound of the mountains - it has this freedom, this wide-open-chest feeling of just being who you are,” says Aukai of his beloved instrument – so adored that friends and family jokingly call it his baby. Also known as the charango, this small guitar is popular within the Andean communities of South America and Aukai is right in saying that the looping, fast plucking of its strings instantly remits the mind to a far, far place; one of folklore, discovery and freedom. Far from the Andes in a recording studio in the valleys of Colorado, the ronroco is also the main element of Aukai’s newest release, Game Trails, an album which at its very core embodies the spirit of wandering. 

The composer is... Aukai

Our next guest is a multi-instrumentalist who studied classical piano before playing drums and guitar in numerous bands, including a brief stint with the rock band Alien Crime Syndicate. He is best known for his scores for CSI Miami and HBO's Silicon Valley and has written the scores for Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Young Sheldon, The Kominsky Method, A.P. Bio, and The League among others. He has a new solo EP out now called Nuovo Futuro and I'm very excited to welcome him on the podcast!

This next composer is one of my favorites. His scores for Nickelodeon's Avatar The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra are some of the most iconic animation scores for an animated series. After graduating from California Institute of Arts where he studied modern composition with a focus on computer music and sonic art, he started The Track Team with co-founder Benjamin Wynn (aka Deru). The music and sound design duo  won two Emmy Awards and five nominations and worked on Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. Since then, this composer has also scored the Netflix Original Film, Horse Girl. 

Our next guest is a Bulgarian-American composer, orchestrator and soundtrack producer who has contributed her musical voice to videogames including League of Legends, The Mummy, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Her music has received national press as "fantastic, luminous and breath-taking" (Billboard, NPR and Forbes). As one of the industry's most accomplished women composers, in 2019 she was invited by showrunner Mark A. Altman and composer Joe Kraemer to co-compose the CW primetime TV show, Pandora. In 2020, Penka scored the Super Bowl TV ad campaign for Olay, #MakeSpaceForWomen. 

The composer is... Penka Kouneva

I’ve had the pleasure of working with this next composer and was blown away by his work ethic and attention to detail. After graduating from USC’s renowned film-scoring program he started working for composer extraordinaire Christophe Beck with whom he helped out on the music for Frozen, The Muppets, Waiting For Superman, and the Hangover trilogy among other notable titles.

This incredible composer has scored Forky Asks a Question for Disney +, Facebook Show Human Discoveries, Warner Animation show Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost, Pixar Sparkshort Out, Dreamworks animated show Dinotrux, and films including Netflix’s, Dumplin’, and Think Like A Dog. 

The composer is... Jake Monaco

I’m so excited to welcome this guitarist and composer extraordinaire. She is the composer behind Cherish The Day, Twenties on BET, and A Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO. She has also worked on projects including How to Train Your Dragon 2, Dear White People , Kingsman: The Secret Service and Oprah’s scripted drama Greenleaf. She is also hugely responsible for the creation of the Composers Diversity Collective and we are very excited to welcome her on to the show. 

The composer is... Amanda Jones