BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA

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Media Kit

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Currently scoring the upcoming Netflix Mini-Series THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, starring ANYA TAYLOR-JOY, CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA is an EMMY Award winning composer whose work for Film and TV includes scores for Netflix’ GODLESS, directed by SCOTT FRANK and produced by STEVEN SODERBERGH, starring JEFF DANIELS and MICHELLE DOCKERY, as well as Universal Pictures’ A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, starring LIAM NEESON.

A protégé of RANDY NEWMAN, he earned a DMA in Composition at USC’s Thornton School, where he studied with Donald Crockett and Stephen Hartke.

As a guitarist, he has performed onstage as opening act for The Who at the Hollywood Bowl; recorded studio sessions for Island/Def Jam, and Universal Records; and had songs featured on NETFLIX’ FIREFLY LANE, ABC’s SCRUBS, MTV, and VH-1.

His music has been acclaimed by the Miami Herald, the San Francisco Examiner, and the LA Times, helping establish him as a composer with the unique ability of incorporating a large diversity of musical influences into his captivating compositions, which reflect his multi-cultural upbringing in Central America and the United States.

His work for the performing arts has been featured by some of the most prominent ensembles and soloists, including Arturo Sandoval, Colin Currie, Chanticleer, Cavatina Duo, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; commissioned by the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony and the American Wind Symphony; recorded by Varêse-Sarabande, BMG, Warner, Sony, Naxos, and Cedille labels; and awarded by the Herb Alpert Foundation, the Guitar Foundation of America, BMI, and twice by ASCAP.

He has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Miami Symphony Orchestra, and was a musical consultant for “Invitation to World Literature,” an educational series funded by the Annenberg Foundation and produced by WGBH. He is a voting member of the Television Academy (EMMY’s), the Recording Academy (GRAMMY’s), the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL), and is a sought out guest composer and lecturer throughout the globe.

He is Assistant Professor and Director of the Media Writing and Production Program at the acclaimed Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and is represented by BRADLEY RAINEY at WILLIAM MORRIS ENDEAVOR ENTERTAINMENT (WME).

REVIEWS

  • Yet the most arresting manipulation of voice and sound came in Motet for 12 Singers by Carlos Rafael Rivera. The motet consisted almost exclusively of the five sacred syllables of the Tibetan Buddhists: Bhyo, Hum, Om, Hsi, Kye. Its effects ranged from pitch-bending, drone and glissando to the most percussive elements of speech, in which the singers were in fact not singing at all but were exploding single consonant sounds from those five syllables to create continually diverse sound effects.

    Kaneez Munjee - SF Classical Voice

  • …an explosive percussiveness...

    William Yeoman, Gramophone

  • Prominent in the first scene was a buzzing effect in the strings, and in the sober second a clarinet solo. The work ends with motoric and assertive music that recalls Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” The performance was warmly received and Rivera was present to take a bow.

    Caldwell Titcomb - Arts Fuse

  • ...From the new recording were the complex rhythmic games of Carlos Rivera's Cumba-Quin--with the composer present for a well-deserved bow--...

    John Henken - Los Angeles Times

  • Carlos Rafael Rivera’s score is probably the only TV music of the year that I can remember other than the music of ‘Stranger Things’— it’s that memorable and hooky.

    Rodrigo Perez - The Playlist

  • Yet, as Frank is a genuinely top screenwriter, the dialogue is choice, and Neeson is compelling as the protagonist, credible and authoritative in a way few Hollywood leading men could ever be. Possibly even better is Carlos Rafael Rivera’s moody score.

    Jonathan Leaf - Forbes

  • Carlos Rafael Rivera went all Debussy when he sat down to compose the slow movement of The Whirler of the Dance. (Guitarist) Izquierdo placed it in soft moonlight.

    Tom Strini - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

  • …exposed the nostalgia, sorrow, and hope that characterize music from the folkloric tradition of the Sephardic Jews.

    Inesa Gegprifti, South Florida Classical Review

  • Pero de los estrenos, el mas aplaudido fue la Pizzi-Cuban Polka, en la que la famosa obra Pizzicato Polka, de Johan Strauss, con su distintivo pizzicato, cobro vuelos de danzón-salsa a golpe de claves, maracas y tumbadoras.

    Daniel Fernandez - El Nuevo Herald

  • ...composer Carlos Rafael Rivera offers a score that is unexpectedly melodic, yet entirely effective.

    Andrew Barker - Variety

  • The score for Godless is really excellent. It’s credited to composer Carlos Rafael Rivera, who previously did the score for another Scott Frank project, the Liam Neeson vehicle A Walk Among the Tombstones.

    Brian Tallerico - Vulture

  • The score for the show was composed by Carlos Rafael Rivera and it was pretty f*$#% great.

    The Marcko Guy

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