Spanish Dracula

From: Ciudad Jardín Lomas del Palomar, Argentina. LA Opera: composer and featured soloist (guitar, ronroco, soundscapes) for   Spanish   Dracula (2024).

A two-time Oscar-winning multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and composer, Gustavo Santaolalla is recognized as one of the most highly acclaimed and prolific contemporary Argentine musicians in the world. In the mid-nineties, Santaolalla created his own record label Surco and has produced more than 100 albums by some of Latin America’s most relevant alternative musicians, including Café Tacvba, Julieta Venegas, Molotov, Los Prisioneros, Juana Molina, Bajofondo, Los Tigres del Norte and Juanes establishing him as one of the fundamental pillars of the history of the movement known as Rock en Español. In 2020, he produced Break It All (Rompan Todo), Netflix’s mini-series about the history of rock in Latin America. Santaolalla has won two Grammys and 19 Latin Grammys.

In 2000, Santaolalla began composing for television and film. He has written music for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful, Walter Salles’ Motorcycle Diaries and On the Road, and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, for which he received his first Oscar for Best Original Score and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, “A Love That Will Never Grow Old,” co-written with Bernie Taupin. The following year, Santaolalla received his second Oscar for Best Original Score for Babel. He went on to work on television series such as Jane the Virgin, Hell on Wheels, Narcos: México and The House. Music from his solo album Ronroco has been used in Michael Mann’s The Insider and the HBO series Deadwood. In 2014, Santaolalla composed for the successful and award-winning film The Book of Life, not only the score, but also original songs with the iconic Paul Williams. He collaborated again with Williams along with Gary Clark, Jr. in Freak Power: The Ballot of the Bomb, a documentary inspired by Hunter S. Thompson’s run for sheriff of Pitkin County. In 2018, Santaolalla was chosen by Eric Clapton to score his autobiographical documentary Life in 12 Bars. In 2019, Santaolalla was invited by Clapton to perform at the Crossroads Guitar Festival alongside artists such as Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Peter Frampton, Vince Gil, John Mayer and Clapton himself.

In 2013, for the first time in his career, Santaolalla submerged himself into the gaming world and created the music for a video game. The Last of Us, developed by Naughty Dog and created and directed by Neil Druckmann for Sony PlayStation, won more than 200 awards, including BAFTA's Game of the Year, becoming one of the most successful video games in history. Following the release of the much-anticipated sequel The Last of Us II in 2020, Santaolalla was invited by Druckmann to score the HBO series based on the beloved video game. With Druckmann and Craig Mazin at the helm of the series, The Last of Us was released in January 2023 and has received outstanding reviews from television critics and gamers alike. Santaolalla received his second Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) and the series won eight Emmys overall for its first season.

From: Cali, Colombia. LA Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor (2022, debut); The Rape of Lucretia (2023); The Last Dream of Frida and Diego (2023); Fire and Blue Sky (2025); Dracula: The Spanish Version (2024); Romeo and Juliet (2024); Angel Blue concert (2025); Ainadamar (2025). She became Resident Conductor in 2022.

Praised for her “rich, heartfelt orchestral sound” (Chicago Sun-Times), “rhythmic vitality” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “raw power” (Los Angeles Times), Colombian-American Lina González-Granados has distinguished herself nationally and internationally as a singularly-talented young conductor. Her powerful interpretations of the symphonic and operatic repertoire, as well as her dedication to highlighting new and unknown works by Latin-American composers, have earned her international recognition, most recently being named part of Bloomberg Línea’s 100 Influential Latinos of 2022. She is also the recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the Third Prize and ECHO Special Award (European Concert Hall Organization) of La Maestra Competition, as well as the 2020 and 2021 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award.

After winning the Fourth Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition, Lina was named the Solti Conducting Apprentice, and served as the assistant to Maestro Riccardo Muti, from February 2020 through June 2023. In 2022, she was appointed Resident Conductor by the LA Opera, a post she will hold through June 2025. She has also previously held positions as the Inaugural Conducting Fellow of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Conducting fellow of the Seattle Symphony.

Lina’s 2023/24 season had her leading performances across the globe, including debuts with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, I Musici de Montreal, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, New World Symphony, Euskadio Orkestra, and the San Antonio Philharmonic. She also returned to LA Opera to conduct several performances, including El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, by Grammy Award-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, as well as the world premiere of Joel Thompson's orchestral song cycle Fire and Blue Sky. Lina also returned to Chicago to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Learn more at LinaGonzalezGranados.com.

Read a feature article about her here.

Read the LA Times review of her 2022 LA Philharmonic debut here.

From: Toronto, Canada. LA Opera: orchestrator of Spanish Dracula   (2024, debut).

From age 10, David Campbell learned violin, viola and piano, and early on became fascinated with orchestration and conducting. “I suddenly went from reading comic books to pouring over orchestral scores for long hours while conducting imaginary orchestras, my own version of air guitar.” He was a student of Scottish viola icon William Primrose, as well as Seattle maestro, Vilem Sokol.

In high school and college, he formed a string quartet with friends, including school chum David Harrington. “This was our ‘garage band’. We mostly shunned the classics and became somewhat infamous renegades who only performed 20th century and experimental music. Bartok, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Elliot Carter and local Seattle composers were our ‘stock-in trade’.”

A couple of years after the quartet disbanded, David Harrington founded the Kronos Quartet, the renowned ambassadors of contemporary chamber music. Campbell also was a performing member of a 16 player ensemble, The Contemporary Group, which performed a program of new experimental works every week for two seasons at the University of Washington.

After a few years at University of Washington and Manhattan School of Music, Campbell had a brief symphony career in New York City, playing viola for a couple of seasons in the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall under conducting legend Leopold Stokowski.

Finally giving in to a long curiosity about orchestration in rock, pop and jazz, David began playing on LA and New York studio sessions and in various rock and bluegrass bands. During the early ’70s, he played on many Motown classics including Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On”, as well as sessions with Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Carole King’s “Tapestry”, Jackson Browne, Arlo Guthrie, Barry White, Barbara Streisand and Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me”.

During this period, he began arranging strings and horns, initially for Carole King, Rita Coolidge and Linda Ronstadt. Arranging soon became his main focus and there were many prominent albums and singles with David Campbell arrangements for the rest of the decade.

As a contrast to his heavy involvement in mainstream rock and pop for most of the ’70s, Campbell developed a passion for new bands during the developing punk rock years, spending late nights in LA and New York clubs seeing early performances by Devo, Talking Heads, Blondie and Cheap Trick. As these bands became nationally known, the LA punk scene heated up in underground clubs like The Masque and Al’s Bar; at the some of the first shows at these venues, David hooked up with bands that he went on to produce, The Quick and the Controllers, and then co-produced with filmmaker Rene Daalder numerous cuts for artist Tomata du Plenty of The Screamers, as well as Penelope Houston of the Avengers, featuring various guests such as Stan Ridgeway and Steven Hufsteter.

After witnessing the Sex Pistols’ historic last show, Campbell’s late night interests moved to early rap and breakdancing clubs, as hip hop began moving toward the forefront. As a composer, Campbell took on some film scores during this period and the influences of Grand Master Flash and Ice-T crept into the orchestral mix.

Film music was Campbell’s major interest in the mid ’80s, composing the scores for successful independent films such as Night of the Comet, as well as major studio releases like Tom Cruise’s follow up to Risky Business, All the Right Moves.

He also spent considerable time in songwriting, producing bands, and composing music for plays and commercials.

With the success and Grammy acclaim of Linda Ronstadt’s late ’80s return to pop Cry Like a Rainstorm, featuring several Campbell orchestral arrangements, David decided to once again specialize in arrangements for strings and horns. From that period to the present, he has built up an eclectic discography in modern rock, country, hip hop and R & B, mainstream pop, rock en espanol, Latin pop, Japanese pop, rock & jazz and other international markets.

Learn more at DavidMusic.com.

Photo: Jessica Moncrief 
From: Bakersfield, California. LA Opera: Stroh violin soloist for Spanish Dracula (2024).

In his 24 years in Los Angeles, Paul Cartwright has enjoyed a vast and eclectic career both on stage and in the studio. His stylistic range and virtuosity has made him a secret weapon for many composers looking to create new and innovative sounds for their scores.

Paul has recorded on countless film, television, and video game scores, and is currently a featured soloist on the hit shows Outlander and Rings of Power. He has performed on nearly every stage in town, including the Hollywood Bowl as a soloist with the LA Philharmonic.

Additionally, Paul is an active arranger and producer, writing and recording strings for such chart-topping artists as Olivia Rodrigo, Benson Boone and Chappell Roan.

Michael Ward-Bergman is a passionate performer, songwriter and composer. His sensitive and creative approach to music making has led to performances and collaborations with world-class musicians and composers from across a wide range of genres.

In 2011, he launched his GIG 365 project, which saw him performing at least one gig for every day of 2011. Performances took place at an incredibly diverse range of venues in over thirty-five states and nine countries. Highlights included performances at Gainesville Correctional Facility, Harvard Business School with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, and on the streets of New Orleans.

He has enjoyed a close friendship and working relationship with composer Osvaldo Golijov for over a decade. His work with the hyper-accordion (an acoustic accordion with extended range and expressive capabilities of his own design) has been featured in many of Golijov’s compositions.

His electro-acoustic compositions have won international awards and he has premiered new works written for vocalists Dawn Upshaw and Christina Courtin at Carnegie Hall. In 2011 he was commissioned to compose for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project. He began his work with the group as a guest artist during workshops and performances at Harvard University.

He is a founding member of the North American Roots music trio Groanbox. They have released five recordings and toured extensively throughout the UK, to much critical acclaim. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music.

LA Opera: Foley artist for Spanish Dracula   (2024).

For almost 30 years, Leslie Bloome has worked as an independent Foley artist at many of the industry’s premiere Foley stages including Sony Picture Studios in Culver City, the Saul Zaentz Center in Berkeley as well as c5 and Soundtrack on the East Coast. Over the years, he has accumulated over 400 feature film, television, animation and gaming credits. He has worked on several Academy Award-nominated films including Still Alice and The Apostle. He has been nominated for several MPSE Awards and Emmys and has won Emmys for his work on Cartel Land.

Leslie also performs live theatrical Foley. Some notable works include the performance of Lecker Puste by German artist John Bock, the live performance of This American Life recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the silent film Unsilent Picture at Phillipsburg Manor, and a sketch on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

He also loves to record and perform music. Over his career he has recorded several award-winning artists including Carlos Babosa- Lima, KJ Denhert and Roxy Perry.

From: Queens, New York. LA Opera: Foley artist for Spanish Dracula   (2024).

Ryan Collison has spent most of his career as a Foley mixer at Sound One in New York City. He graduated from New York University, Florida Atlantic University and attended the program at the New York Film Academy. He began his film career at Sound One training under the iconic Foley artist Elisha Birnbaum, and working there for 15 years.

His credits include Midnight in Paris, Chicago, The Wire, The Wrestler, Precious, Treme and The Royal Tenenbaums. He has worked with great filmmakers such as Woody Allen, Darren Aronofsky, Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, David Mamet, Barry Levinson and Sidney Lumet, to name a few.