BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA

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Media Kit

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Carlos is aN EMMY AWARD winning composer whose career has spanned several genres of the music industry. HIS 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. Carlos is currently scoring the upcoming Netflix Mini-Series THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, starring ANYA TAYLOR-JOY.

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 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 AMOS NEWMAN and BRADLEY RAINEY at WILLIAM MORRIS ENDEAVOR ENTERTAINMENT(WME).

REVIEWS

  • The packed crowd...responded enthusiastically to the new piece with a long standing ovation. Although only time will tell whether Rivera has done for Miami what Gershwin did for New York and Eric Coates for London, but this is an accessible, highly entertaining new work.

    David Fleshler - The Miami Herald

  • 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

  • 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

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

    Andrew Barker - Variety

  • 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

  • Even after six chapters, it’s testament to how good it all looks – and how evocative Carlos Rafael Rivera’s score is – that you’ll never skip the opening credits.

    Ivan Radford - Vodzilla

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

    Inesa Gegprifti, South Florida Classical Review

  • This is a charming, relatively lightweight concerto, with plenty of attractive melody and color, and its appeal to the Knight Concert Hall audience, which applauded it enthusiastically, is clear.

    Gregory Stepanich - Knight Arts

  • Composer Carlos Rafael Rivera layered a silky yet haunting string melody over the gritty images created by Method Studios, giving the Netflix drama a flair reminiscent of its premium channel competitors.

    Raelyn Giansnanti - IndieWire

  • 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

  • Come for the top-shelf talent involved, stay for the lead performances, crisp photography, and lovely music (courtesy of T Bone Burnett and Carlos Rafael Rivera).

    Eddie Strait - The Daily Dot

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