MICHAEL WHALEN
biography

It’s almost a certainty that no matter who you are, you’ve encountered the music of Michael Whalen. The opening theme to ABC’s Good Morning America; music for the Oprah Winfrey show; music for the daytime drama “As The World Turns”; music for Inside Edition; PBS series such as “America at a Crossroads” or “Slavery and the Making of America”; over 500 television scores for nearly every network in the world and dozens of feature and short film credits; literally thousands of commercials for clients such as Coca-Cola, Apple, Disney and Nike, and over the course his own 22 albums, including 2009’s The Road Of Ghosts. Michael’s career is testament to his incredible versatility and his ability to work in partnership with others, a trait that’s been immensely rewarding for Michael and his clients.

The two-time Emmy® Award winner’s (and multiple nominee) relentless creative drive is now taking him into the world of music supervision, as he is currently working on the upcoming feature film, “Veronika” starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, as well as six other upcoming film and television projects. He says, “Scoring and music supervision is about trust and building relationships. What I enjoy the most is the process of going back and forth with a client and having THAT moment when we discover together the best road and the best option for the music. Too many people in film music make the process about THEM and the movie suffers – my commitment is only to fulfill on the vision of the director and/or producer.”

Whalen is a creative unencumbered by the limits of musical genre and form; his 22 albums have spanned universes of style: ambient, jazz, world music, alternative, classical, electronic and all of the hidden spaces where those genres meet. And his talent with working with such a broad spectrum of genre has had him work with some of music’s all-time greats, including Stephen Sondheim, Brian Wilson, Carole King, Diane Warren, David Foster and film composers Howard Shore and Michael Kamen, as Whalen has done on several high-profile recordings. Another example of his commitment to collaboration is his series of “Music in the Dark” performances in New York City. Since 2003, Michael chooses 8 NEW silent films made by filmmakers from around the world and Michael improvises “scores” to them on-the-spot in front of a live audience: thrilling and amazing doesn’t even begin to describe what these evenings are like. MITD 2010 happens in March.

As the first decade of the 21st century passes, Whalen’s emphasis on collaborative work for film, television and commercials makes him a most unique and valuable commodity; a writer, composer and musical Renaissance Man whose achievements are vast, but with a dedication to provide his clients with the music they need to make their projects the most successful they can be. [Ben Lazar]

For more information visit:
www.michaelwhalen.com or www.imdb.com or www.allmusic.com