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TCM Website
June 5, 2000
TCM Announces Winners of Young Film Composers Competition
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26-Year Old Vivek Maddala to Score TCM’s 1921 Silent THE ACE OF HEARTS |
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Turner Classic Movies today announced three winners in the network’s Young Film Composers Competition, held in conjunction with MP3.com and Film Music Magazine . Vivek Maddala, a26 year old from San Francisco, was awarded the Grand Prize and will score the 1921 silent film THE ACE OF HEARTS, scheduled to air in October as part of TCM’s Lon Chaney festival. David Klingelhofer, 28, of Des Plaines, IL, won the first prize, an E-mu Turbo 5000 digital sampler. Second-prize winner Atli Orvarsson, 30, received a pair of JBL-powered studio monitor speakers.
In the competition’s inaugural year, TCM received hundreds of entries. Twenty-one finalists were selected in an initial round of judging. These 21 entries were then reviewed and judged by a panel of film music industry experts, including film and television composers Don Ray (Hawaii 5-0), Chris Beck (Buffy, The Vampire Slayer), Gary Chang (Under Siege), Jon Ehrlich (Party of Five), Bob Drasnin (Mission: Impossible (TV)) and keyboardist/composer Ralph Grierson.
Retired CBS music supervisor Don Ray, who founded the film scoring program at UCLA Extension in Los Angeles, will serve as mentor and advisor to Maddala as he composes and records the new score for THE ACE OF HEARTS, a political drama about an anarchist organization whose members assassinate wealthy capitalists.
A skilled engineer and musician, Maddala currently works at Dolby Laboratories, developing and implementing new audio technologies for movie-related applications. He has devoted the past few years to working as a solo jazz/rock recording artist. Composing music and recording in professional studios by the seventh grade, Maddala has combined engineering skills and extensive musical training, while working with a variety of top performing artists, including jazz/pop artist Gino Vannelli and the rock band Boston.
"We are excited about Vivek’s upcoming score for THE ACE OF HEARTS,"said Tom Karsch executive vice president and general manager, TCM, "His contest entry was fresh and innovative, while respecting traditional disciplines. His artistic vision is striking, cinematic and beautiful."
TCM’s Young Film Composers Competition exposes young audiences to silent film, supports young composer’s careers and is part of TCM’s ongoing initiative to add music to more than 200 silent films in its library. These historic films have not been seen publicly since their theatrical presentations in the early 1900’s. As they were traditionally accompanied by live music, their musical scores were never recorded. The network is also pursuing high-profile performers and composers to score some of these films, and recently signed Canadian songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk to write and record the score for CLEOPATRA (1912), which will air as part of the network’s Women Film Pioneers programming in August.
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