The commercial was devised by director Noam Murro, who enlisted Richey to write the music and add input to the design of the instruments created by a New Hope, Pennsylvania collective, the Car Music Project, headed by Bill Milbrodt. “I went to this farm that has been created as a sculpture collective. The silos have doors cut into the sides, there are big metal sculptures, and it’s buzzing with activity and young artists. I went at the end-stage of the instruments being made and had the musicians show me each instrument. They look amazing and they have incredible ornamental decorations that don’t affect their playability.”

Richey, whose musical composition is a waltz titled “Ode to a Ford,” says that for this project he worked in reverse of a conventional timeline. “You’re going to create a piece and then tell the instrument maker they have to make instruments to play it. The instrument maker will be saying you’re going to have to write a piece that can be played by the instruments he makes.” Among the instruments invented for the commercial is a window harp, created from the driver’s side door with the window rolled halfway down, and 18 harp strings configured diagonally.

The composer explains what was integral was to have these unorthodox instruments achieve symphonic cohesion. “The concept was to have instruments made out of car parts that could play beautifully, rather than the ‘clangy’ percussion ensemble one might expect car parts could do.” And he recalls his initial reaction when the director explained the concept. “He asked, ‘Do you want to write a piece for car parts?’ What composer would say no to that.”

Conductor Lucas Richman (l) and composer Tim Wynn.

This year’s students are an exemplary group of working film and television composers: Kathryn Bostic (Sundance Fellow, Beyond the Ring, Contradictions of the Heart); Kris Carter (Justice League, Teen Titans); Eric Colvin (NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience, Bark!); Claude Foisy (The 4400, White Noise); Corey Jackson (Left in Darkness, Starting Over); Dave Reynolds (Cruel Intentions 3, Tides of War); Craig Richey (Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing); Tim Wynn (Reflections of Venice, Chasing the Light). The class is coordinated by BMI’s Senior Director of Film/TV Relations, Ray Yee, and BMI’s Film/TV Relations staff.

The whole group pauses for a photo: (l-r, front): BMI's Ray Yee, composer Kathryn Bostic, conductor Lucas Richman and composer Kris Carter; (back) composer Corey Jackson, BMI's Linda Livingston, composers Tim Wynn and Eric Colvin, BMI’s Doreen Ringer Ross, composers Craig Richey, and Dave Reynolds, contractor David Low, composer Claude Foisy, BMI's Anne Cecere and Philip Shrut.

BMI recently recognized accomplished conductor and composer Lucas Richman with the 2007 Classic Contribution Award for 10 years of service leading BMI’s celebrated Conductor’s Workshop. A BMI composer, Richman has led the workshop since its inception. Presently Music Director and Conductor for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Richman is a leading expert in conducting and composing, having fashioned an outstanding career as a conductor with numerous symphonies and orchestras in the U.S. as well as collaborator with numerous film composers as their conductor for such films as the Academy Award-nominated As Good As It Gets, Face/Off, Seven, Breakdown, Anastasia and The Village.

Past participants in the highly touted lab, include composers Cliff Martinez, Stewart Copeland, Camara Kambon, Danny Pelfrey, Richard Gibbs, Bill Brown, Bennett Salvay, Rolfe Kent, Julie and Steve Bernstein, Anthony Marinelli, Alex Wurman, Gary Kuo, Tyler Bates, Nate Barr, James Venable, Mervyn Warren, Chris Lennertz and Laura Karpman.

Photos: Anna Maria DiSanto

This year’s students are an exemplary group of working film and television composers: Kathryn Bostic (Sundance Fellow, Beyond the Ring, Contradictions of the Heart); Kris Carter (Justice League, Teen Titans); Eric Colvin (NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience, Bark!); Claude Foisy (The 4400, White Noise); Corey Jackson (Left in Darkness, Starting Over); Dave Reynolds (Cruel Intentions 3, Tides of War); Craig Richey (Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing); Tim Wynn (Reflections of Venice, Chasing the Light). The class is coordinated by BMI Senior Director of Film/Television Relations Ray Yee and BMI’s Film/TV Relations staff.

Highly specialized, coursework will include developing conducting technique, working with live players ranging from piano duet to full chamber orchestra; conducting free-form as well as to click-track, both with and without picture. The musical repertoire for the workshop will range from classical selections to music from commercial films. Each session will be videotaped and critiqued.

Workshop alumni include composers Cliff Martinez, Stewart Copeland, Rolfe Kent, Camara Kambon, Richard Gibbs, Bennett Salvay, Julie and Steve Bernstein, Anthony Marinelli, Alex Wurman, Jeff Beal, Mervyn Warren, Joseph Vitarelli, Tyler Bates, Gary Kuo and Laura Karpman.

A limited number of class auditors will be welcomed on an advanced approval basis. Requests for auditors should be sent to Yee at ryee@bmi.com.

The 6th annual Composer/Director Roundtable, entitled "Music & Film: The Creative Process," will be held on Wednesday, January 25 from 11am to 1pm at the Sundance House at the Kimball Art Center (638 Park Avenue). The panel is open to festival badge and ticket holders. Tickets are available at sundance.org and at Festival ticket offices.

This year's roundtable will be moderated by BMI's Vice President of Film/TV Relations, Doreen Ringer Ross, and will feature composers Aaron Zigman (Alpha Dog), David Kitay (The Darwin Awards), Stewart Copeland (composer/screenwriter/director Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out, Rumblefish), Peter Golub (composer/director Wordplay, Sundance Composers Lab), Mychael Danna (Little Miss Sunshine, Capote), Craig Richey (Friends With Money), David Julyan (The Descent), Anthony Marinelli (Dreamland) and Terence Blanchard (Mo' Better Blues, The 25th Hour, Sundance Composers Lab Advisor), and directors Nick Cassavetes (Alpha Dog), Finn Taylor (director/screenwriter The Darwin Awards), Patrick Creadon (Wordplay), Neil Marshall (director/screenwriter The Descent), Jason Matzner (Dreamland) and Haskell Wexler (director/cinematographer Who Needs Sleep?).

The panel will focus on the role music (both score and source) plays in film, the composer/director relationship, the growing role of documentaries and the art of scoring for that medium, as well as budgets and creative expansion of the form.

The 4th annual BMI Songwriters Snowball will take place later that evening from 6pm to 8:30pm. This acoustic, singer/songwriter showcase, also being held at the Sundance House, is an official 2006 Sundance Film Festival event and is open to festival badge holders, press passes and invited guests only; tickets will not be sold.

Michael Penn	Van Hunt

As part of BMI's goal to focus attention on the role of music in film, this year's Songwriters Snowball will feature four unique artists whose voices and vision complement that of the filmmakers showcased at the Festival. Performers include Southern California singer/songwriter Cary Brothers (Garden State soundtrack) at 6pm, Bedroom Classics/Nettwerk Music Group recording artist Josh Rouse at 6:30pm, Grammy nominee and Capitol Records artist Van Hunt at 7pm, and Mimeograph recording artist Michael Penn at 7:30pm.

Josh Rouse	Cary Brothers

As a 15-year supporter of the Festival's film music program, BMI also plays an active role in the Sundance Composers Lab held each summer at the Sundance Institute.

The Sundance Film Festival is the premier showcase for U.S. and international independent film. Held each January in and around Park City, Utah, the Festival is a core program of Sundance Institute, a nonprofit cultural organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Presenting 120 dramatic and documentary feature-length films in seven distinct categories, and 80 short films each year, the Sundance Film Festival has introduced American audiences to some of the most innovative films of the past two decades, including American Splendor, Clerks, Hustle and Flow, Maria Full of Grace, Napoleon Dynamite, sex, lies and videotape, Smoke Signals and Super Size Me. Beyond the streets of Park City, sundance.org shares the Festival experience with a global audience through the streaming of short films, filmmaker interviews, current news and box office information.]]> 2006-01-05T17:00:01-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233203 Artists, Richey, Craig, Musical Styles, Film-TV

The premiere of Lovely and Amazing opened the recent LA Film Festival. BMI composer Craig Richey (right) scored the film, and longtime BMI friend Amy Rosen music supervised. Shown after the film screening are Tom Ortenberg, President, Lions Gate Films; Rosen; BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross; producer Eric d'Arbeloff; director Nicole Holofcener; producer Anthony Bregman; and Richey.