11
June 2010
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“Climb the Smallest Mountain” goes Off-Off Broadway

Samuel French OOB festival logo

Michael’s short rock musical Climb The Smallest Mountain will be featured in the 35th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. From a submission pool of over 800 plays, 40 were accepted into the festival for performance.

Climb The Smallest Mountain is a musical comedy about an international miniature golf star, whose meteoric rise to fame is complicated by a bitter arch-nemesis. The musical premiered at the 2008 Actoberfest Short Play Competition in Santa Monica, where it was voted Audience Favorite. It was included in the 2009 Short Sweet and Song Ten Minute Musical Festival, where it won awards for Best Production and People’s Choice.

The musical will be featured on Friday, July 16. For ticket purchase and more information, visit the festival’s website.

11
June 2010
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Erhu Concerto Underway

Michael has begun work on a new orchestral concert piece for Hanyi Productions.

Erhu

The work will combine a traditional Western symphony with a soloist playing an erhu, a two-stringed Chinese bowed folk instrument. The work will premiere in a concert in the greater Los Angeles area in September, 2010.

Michael’s previous commission for Hayni, the guzheng concerto Identity – Zhongshan Zhuang, has been performed multiple times in the United States and mainland China.

11
June 2010
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Cue of the Week: “Adventure in the Skies”

This is the third in the series of aerial action/adventure music cues drawn from my score for the video game Jane’s Attack Squadron. The french horns introduce a heroic main theme (I know, quite an unheard-of thing for that particular instrument) and several other motifs follow in a kind of whirlwind pastiche.


(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

Adventure In The Skies
 

04
June 2010
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Cue of the Week: “Dogfight in the Skies”

A companion piece to last installment’s aerial adventure music, this week’s selection continues the spirit of high-energy derring-do and takes it up a notch. Almost a medley, this cue presents a fast-paced succession of themes and melodic fragments that intercut and play off one another.   (An alternate title might be “how to make your brass players’ lips bleed”.)


(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

Dogfight In The Skies
 

21
May 2010
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Cue of the Week: “Patrolling the Skies”

A component of my score for the video game Jane’s Attack Squadron, this week’s selection is fast-paced orchestral adventure music with some thematic motifs dropped in hither and yon. It’s meant to evoke the derring-do of old World War 2 films, as well as the breakneck rush of flying a bomber into a dogfight. (Or so I’ve heard. Haven’t tried it myself!)


(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

Patrolling The Skies
 

14
May 2010
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Cue of the Week: “Lou”

This was music for a fun character: a slow-talking cowboy bass player with a magnetic charm. I wrote a theme for electric bass, using glisses and other effects to translate the character’s laid-back personality into musical terms. A garnish of slide guitar and snapping fingers helped complete the picture of cowboy cool. Bass and guitar performances by the multi-talented Tom Strahle.


(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

Lou
 

07
May 2010
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Cue of the Week: “Dusk in Ancient Koryo”

This week’s selection is a lyrical, Far Eastern-flavored theme in two parts: an optimistic opening for strings and Korean daegum flute, followed by a more mournful passage for English horn. Though harmonized in a traditional Western style, the music makes use of a pentatonic (a.k.a. “black keys on the piano”) scale often associated with folk music of Pacific Rim countries.


(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

Dusk in Ancient Koryo
 

06
May 2010
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New APM/Endgame Tracks

Endgame logo

Michael has contributed six new tracks to the latest release in APM’s Endgame production music library.

From the APM website:

Video games have taken over the entertainment industry, generating more revenue than both film and television. It’s no surprise that the success of the gaming business has allowed it to attract the highest level of talent for their soundtracks, which now rival those of films both in terms of budget and quality. Early on, APM recognized the composing talent in the game industry, and approached the top-level composers to create a unique music library: Endgame.

Morituri Te Salutant // Michael Gordon Shapiro - Highlights
  1. Morituri Te Salutant // Michael Gordon Shapiro - Highlights
  2. Emerald, Texas // Highlights
  3. Mythic Battle // Highlights
  4. The Yard Sale // Michael Gordon Shapiro - Highlights
  5. Investigations // Highlights
  6. Home Room // Highlights
  7. Sands of Arabia // Highlights
  8. Spider Cult // Highlights
  9. Poker Night // Highlights