GEMS
FACULTY · INSTRUCTORS · GUEST SPEAKERS

Nigel Ashley Lees

GEMS founder & director

Founder & Director of GEMS, Nigel Ashley Lees has a vision to create dynamic, exciting, enjoyable & purposeful, quality music education programs for people wishing to enter the Global Entertainment Industry. Bringing together professionals, industry specialists, educators, award winning music experts and composers to share craft skills & career development best practices for students entering the global entertainment industry.

Garry Schyman

program instructor

Garry Schyman, is a GEMS Program Instructor, BAFTA winner & BAFTA nominated composer. Garry is widely recognised as a leading Video Game composer. Garry Schyman is Adjunct Professor at USC teaching in the world renown “Screen Scoring” program since 2010 and has been teaching on GEMS programs since we started in 2017.

Atli Örvarsson

guest speaker

Atli Örvarsson joined us on the GEMS Film Scoring Summer Program Spain, for a fantastic talk about his career, his music, working in LA and his latest project, he also played the theme from Silo on his piano for us. Check out his great score for Silo on Apple TV

Eimear Noone

guest speaker

Eimear Noone is a long time GEMS Guest Speaker. Eimear Noone's composing & conducting work includes 26 film and video game titles. Her score for "World of WarCraft: Warlords of Draenor" received the Hollywood Music in Media Award. In 2020 Eimear Noone became the first female conductor in the history of the Academy Awards. Eimear is a fabulous and inspirational speaker on the GEMS Film Scoring Summer Program.

Diana Cotoman

guest speaker

The wonderful French-Romanian violinist and composer Diana Cotoman brought us her excellent class, getting started as a film composer on the GEMS Summer Program. Diana is a member of Sacem, SACD, Screen Composers Guild of Canada and the Association of Canadian Women Composers of Canada. Her list of works includes symphonic works, operas for young audiences, chamber music, and music for film and video games.

Andy Hill

guest speaker

Andy Hill is a GEMS Visiting Artist & GRAMMY winning motion picture music producer. Former Vice President of music production for Walt Disney Pictures, his films have earned 9 Academy Awards. Andy developed and directed MA Programs at Columbia & Berklee. Andy will be teaching a Masterclass from his book, Scoring the Screen. All participants will receive his book Scoring the Screen, to accompany his class.

Patrick Kirst

program instructor

We have been trying to work with Patrick for years, finally our situations alined and Patrick joined us this summer for the Orchestration Individual Score Review at the end of the Orchestration Program and before the Score Preparation and Review classes. Patricks contribution and guidance was amazing to see, so thoughtful, clear direction for orchestration and composition, and wonderful suggestions on the composers music. In November after this year’s GEMS summer program, Patrick generously invited one of our 2024 GEMS composers to attend a recording in LA. (After the GEMS Summer Program our composers get invited to LA.)

Sergio Llopis

program instructor

Sergio is part of the GEMS score preparation and review team, who just knocks it out of the park with his orchestration understanding and his kindness, patience taking the time to work through scores with the composer and his professionalism on the GEMS Summer Program. Book him now!

Álvaro Domínguez

program instructor

Joining us this year is composer and orchestrator Álvaro Domínguez Vázquez whom we are absolutely delighted to welcome to the GEMS faculty. Álvaro who worked for many years as the assistant to Alberto Iglesias. Álvaro took individual score review sessions for selected composers to work with on their scores before submitting to the RTVE librarian.

Paul Farrer

guest speaker

The Fantastic Paul Farrer joined us for a talk about his career and the amazing challenges of writing great theme tunes, the importance of trust, fees and working on projects. WOW what a blast! big thanks to Paul Farrer, see you next time. Check out the magic

LA Productions

guest speakers

19 year old Patrick Bennett scores a hit by getting hired to compose the music for a UK Police Drama series for LA Productions. Paddy tells us how it happened and is coping with his first year at LIPA and being a composer for TV series! What an amazing success. LA Productions director Colin McKeown shares his remarkable career in British TV and the reason he hired Paddy.

Tim Hayes

guest speaker

Tim Hayes is the Senior Creative Manager at Wise Music Group in London. His brilliant talk and Q&A covered Commissioning and Licensing for both score and commercially released material from a publishers perspective.

Native Instruments

sponsor

Since the very start of the GEMS film scoring summer program, we have had the honour of being supported by Native Instruments in Los Angeles and been able to award the Komplete DAW series as amazing awards for our participants in categories such as Best MockUp, Best Composition, Best Orchestration. Check out all the winners.

Jose Vinader

music producer

GOYA winner, Jose Vinader, legendary Spanish film music producer has worked on nearly 300 films, with composers such as Alberto Iglesias, for movies such as Capitán Alatriste (Viggo Mortensen) & Automata (Antonio Banderas). Also with artists José Carreras, Alfredo Kraus, Paco de Lucía, Montserrat Caballé and orchestras such as the Madrid Symphony Orchestra & London Philharmonic.

Dr. Juanjo Molina

program instructor

Juanjo Molina is a Spanish Composer specialised in Film Scoring, TV and Theatre. Juanjo is an experienced Composer, Songwriter, Arranger, Orchestrator & Conductor for Visual Media. Juanjo is the lead instructor on the Film Scoring Program Bootcamp and Christopher Young’s assistant.

Pete Anthony

program instructor

Pete Anthony, is a GEMS Program Instructor, and Hollywoods busiest go to orchestrators and conductors, working on over 400 feature films with Hollywood’s top composers, including James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, John Powell, Marco Beltrami, Marc Shaiman, John Debney, Theodore Shapiro and Christopher Young. Pete Anthony is Professor at USC teaching in the world renown “Screen Scoring” program, and has been teaching on the GEMS program since 2019.

Lolita Ritmanis

guest speaker

Film Composer Lolita Ritmanis is the former President at Alliance for Women Film Composers and Member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Lolita gave an Inspirational talk, exclusively for all our past and present GEMS Contemporary Woman Composers.

Alfonso G. Aguilar

guest speaker

Alfonso G. Aguilar won the World Soundtrack Award’s Public Choice Award for his score to the Oscar-nominated film Klaus, Alfonso was the music producer of the Abbey Road acoustic sessions for “Guerra”, the latest album of leading Mexican artist Carlos Rivera, which achieved gold and platinum record recognition. He is also the founder of Sounditi; an audio branding firm that applies neuroscience and artificial intelligence to develop the music ID for big brands. He also founded his own music production company based in Los Angeles, Bucharest, and Madrid, that specializes in film scores.

Maggie Rodford

guest speaker

Maggie Rodford is the Managing Director of Air Edel. Maggie joined us for her talk & Q&A on Music Supervision Artist Representation. On top of her amazing work, Maggie is also Chair of the BAFTA Archive, Heritage & Exhibitions Committee, and currently the President of the UK & European Guild of Music Supervisors.

Neil Brand

guest speaker

Neil Brand is a broadcaster for BBC Radio 4 Film Program and a Silent Movie Composer. Neil taught his absolutely wonderful 4 day Masterclass covering Noir soundtracks, Sound design, minimalist scores, the click track origin, synth sounds and so much more

Craig Stuart Garfinkle

guest speaker

Craig Stuart Garfinkle is a GEMS Guest Speaker. An award winning music producer and Emmy nominated composer. His work includes feature films, trailers documentaries, network television, Commercials, stage musicals and albums.

Yulia Protasova

program manager

Yulia is one of the best! A great composer and collaborate that all producers and directors need to connect with. You will not be disappointed. We were proud to welcome Yulia, GEMS Alumni to this year’s GEMS summer program as assistant to the Program Director. Yulia was our first choice as she brings 100% commitment, understanding for students working to a composition deadline and creates brilliant social media. Yulia was also an alumni at CSM Valencia which makes her the go to person connecting GEMS + CSM

Ben Parry

guest speaker

Ben Parry joins us for the third year to talk about LONDON VOICES whose choir has sung on some of the greatest films and songs you know! LONDON VOICES are exceptional! Founder Terry Edwards had a vision and ethos which Ben as Director & Manager continues to this day. Ben gave a great talk about working with composers, the process, and insider tips + stories.

Anze Rozman

guest speaker

After a short break (10 years jaja) I catch up with the wonderful Anze Rozman, Emmy nominated composer, cellist and all round great guy, to talk about his career, his work ethic, leaving home to work in LA, working with Hans Zimmer, and the importance of teamwork and trust. He left the class breathless with his honesty, openness and kindness. A wonderful fella. Go check out Beckham

Alexander Vangelos

guest speaker

Alexander Vangelos is the Composer Agent at First Artist Managment LA. Alexanders talk & Q&A on Artist Managment was fantastic, what First Artist Managment look for in a composer and the professional, caring relationships that they create with their composers.

ACWC

collaborator

The Association of Canadian Women Composers has brought to fruition a super collaboration between ACWC's composers and GEMS. GEMS has aimed for equality within the composers industry by providing our annual Women Contemporary Composers Scholarships. We have welcomed several ACWC's composer guest speakers on the GEMS summer program.

Positive Grid

sponsor

At the start of the GEMS film scoring summer program, we had the honour of being supported by Positive Grid and been able to award the BAIS series as amazing awards for our participants. Check out all the winners.

Dr.Francesco Menini

program instructor

Dr. Francesco Menini is an experienced contemporary Italian freelance composer, orchestrator and ghostwriter. Francesco divides his time between composition & teaching. His compositions have been performed and featured in various TV, Film and theatre projects.

Christopher Young

program instructor

Christopher Young is an A list Hollywood film composer. A Golden Globe nominated composer whose credits include such horror films as Drag Me to Hell, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser and Spiderman 3 for which he received the Film & TV Music Award for best score for a dramatic feature film. Christopher Young has contributed to numerous young composers career development in Hollywood and continues to support, mentor and guide new film composers all over the world. Christopher Young is Professor at USC teaching in the world renown “Screen Scoring” program, and has been teaching on GEMS prrams since we began in 2017.

Marco Beltrami

guest speaker

Marco Beltrami is an Academy Award nominated composer who has worked on multiple film and television scores for horror, action, science fiction, Western, and superhero. Marco is a fabulous composer who applies intriguing compositional first steps in his creative process. Marco and Buck are an exceptionally cool team and we are delighted to have them in our lives.

Zacarías M. de la Riva

guest speaker

Zacarías M. de la Riva has composed more than 50 films and multiple series and has won several awards. In 2004 he composed the first short film TADEO JONES (Enrique Gato). In 2012 he was nominated for the Goya Awards for the soundtrack of Las Aventuras de Tadeo Jones. 2017 he composed the sequel Tadeo Jones and the Secret of King Midas. Finally in 2022 he composed the fabulous Tadeo Jones 3: The Emerald Tablet. Zacarías M. de la Riva has collaborated with Telecinco Cinema, Lightbox Animation Studios.

Starr Parodi

guest speaker

Starr Parodi is a Grammy award-winning artist, composer & producer, and regular GEMS Visiting Guest Speaker. Starr has released three critically acclaimed solo albums, scoring hundreds of episodes of TV & film. Starr served as President of the Alliance for Women Film Composers and is a passionate and inspirational speaker at the GEMS Film Scoring Summer Program.

Stephanie Hamelin Tomala

guest speaker

Composer Stéphanie Hamelin Tomala with Director Denys Desjardins shared with us their working process and experiences together making the award winning film “I lost my mom'' on the GEMS Summer Program.

Richard Bellis

guest speaker

Richard Bellis is a GEMS Visiting Artist & EMMY award-winning Hollywood composer. Richard lectures at USC teaching in the world renown “Screen Scoring” program. Writer, Speaker, & Board of Director member of ASCAP. Former President of the Society of Composers & Lyricists. Richard will be presenting his brilliant Masterclass Creativity on a Deadline. All participants will receive his online video Creativity on a Deadline to accompany his presentation.

Ivan Capillas

program instructor

Ivan Capillas is a former GEMS Alumni and multi award winning composer who just knows how composition works. Ivan's spectacular masterclass in Composition is a must for all composers. Ivan also assisted Pete Anthony during Pete's orchestration program, and brought a ton of joy and professionalism to the GEMS summer Program. Extremely funny guy who is a must have composer on your next movie project.

Frankie Camera

program instructor

Fantastic composer, orchestrator, educator and instructor. Frankie is a part of the GEMS score preparation and review team, to help prepare the music for our composers. He is just brilliant! Frankie also joined us to studio manage day 2 of the RTVE recordings, which he knows very well as Frankie is also a GEMS 2021 alumni who were the first composers to record with RTVE. Frankie also spoke Japanese to our Japanese composer Yukino Takehana during the score review which brought a great deal of shock followed by delight on her face. Such fun!

Alberto Anaya

program instructor

Alberto is a part of the GEMS score preparation and review team, who joined us this summer from the USA supporting composers with additional orchestration score preparation for the RTVE orchestral recording. Totally professional, supportive and such a welcomed addition this summer.

Johnny Yates

guest speaker

Award winning composer Johnny Yates joined us for a very personal talk about his work as a film and series composer, his creative process, music contracts, working with directors, the importance of trust, and his great advice and tips he learned based on his own early experiences of networking, really connected with our composers. Such a pleasure to have had Johnny with us.

Chandler Poling

guest speaker

Chandler Poling is the Publicist at White Bear PR. Chandler delivered his fantastic, comprehensive and brilliant talk and Q&A covering PR in the film scoring industry, the company ethos, the European market, and how White Bear support its family of composers.

CEV

college partner

GEMS partnered with CEV in Madrid before moving the Summer Program to Valencia. CEV is a world class audio visual college, and a center of excellence and a go to destination for students aiming to work in the music industry. We have been proud to be partnering with CEV.

Warners Entertainment

sponsor

Our sponsor awards partner Warners Entertainment, provided the new 2017 Shadow of War Video Game. The score had been recently written, conducted & recorded by Garry Schyman and featured in the newly released Video Game.

Gorka Oteiza

press

Gorka Oteiza is a GEMS visiting speaker and writer, critic and founder of the brilliant SoundTrackFest. A popular online websites for news on film, game and TV music. Reporting from festivals, covering events, including articles and interviews with some of the leading composers of our time, like this interview with James Newton Howard. Gorka will be presenting his Masterclass, "It's not only about the music."