Bear McCreary — Sound | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Emmy Award winning composer Bear McCreary was first launched into pop culture with his groundbreaking score to the hit series Battlestar Galactica, that was lauded by Variety as “the most innovative music on TV today.” It “fits the action so perfectly, it’s almost devastating: a sci-fi score like no other” (NPR). Io9.com ranked McCreary one of the Ten Best Science Fiction Composers of All Time, and recently WIRED Magazine declared him one of only five “Secret Weapons” of the television industry. McCreary was recently voted “Composers’ Choice Composer of the Year – Television” by his peers in ASCAP, the first award of its kind.

Bear has conducted orchestral performances of his music throughout North America and Europe, appearing at Fimucité in Tenerife, and the International Film Music Festival in Úbeda, Spain. In July 2014, his music was performed by the L.A. Philharmonic and L.A. Master Choraleat the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

Attending the prestigious Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, Bear completed degrees in composition and recording arts. However, his professional training came from film music legend Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mocking Bird). Bear was one of Bernstein’s select protégés, and learned the tools of the trade working with and orchestrating for the maestro. Bear spent his childhood immersed in film and television music; he is delighted now to contribute back to the genres that inspired him.