Laura Karpman

Laura Anne Karpman is an American composer, whose work includes music in the film industry, television industry, concert halls, video games. She was born on March 1, 1959. She has won Emmy Awards four times, and a Grammy Award for the album ASK YOUR MAMA.

She is “a rare combination of heart and groin” as her approach towards music with the conceptual use of technology and recording; she is an astounding music composer of the 21st century. She is vibrant, fearless and a versatile music composer. She was born in Los Angeles, California, United States.

She was fond of music since childhood. She composed her 1st music at the early age of seven while she was continuing her studies at Phillips Academy at Andover and the National Music Camp, Interlochen, Michigan. At the age of 11, her lifelong obsession gave a start which is jazz music.

She memorized Ella Fitzgerald’s scat solos at that time. Later, she started singing and playing in high school bands. She used to sneak in or take fake i.d.’s to attend the concerts of famous singers like Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal is a famous American jazz pianist and >> Read More... , Ella Fitzgerald and Betty Carter. She learned the composition of music at the University of Michigan school of music, where she met William Bolcom and Leslie Bassett.

She spent the entire summer with the great Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau. She received her masters and doctoral degrees from Julliard where she studied composing concert music in the day while she played jazz at Manhattan clubs in the night. She received awards for her enormous work in concert music which involved the 2 ASCAP Foundation grants; multiple Meet the Composer grants, and residencies at Aspen, Tanglewood, and The MacDowell Colony.

One of her 1st time and essential experience in her life was when she visited the Sundance Institute’s Composer’s Lab. For the first time, she saw how the computers and music work together. She was then transferred to Los Angeles from New York Click to look into! >> Read More... to attend the ASCAP workshop. 

Later she started working gradually in the commercial world. Laura was always very passionate about documentary films. She has won four Emmy Awards in this genre. She served the advisor of Sundance lab. THE LIVING EDENS is a series on PBS which gave Laura a chance to enhance her creative voice. She won news and documentary Emmy awards in the category "Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming - Music" Award for consecutive two years that is 1998 and 1999 for THE LIVING ADENS.In the years 2000 2001 2003 and 2008 she was nominated for the news and documentary Emmy awards in the same category for THE LIVING EDENS.

She has also been nominated for Emmy Awards in the category "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)" for Odyssey 5 pilot episode. Odyssey is a science fiction series starring, Peter Walker. She created a unique soundscape for this series. Due to which she was invited by Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg is an American producer, director >> Read More... to create 20 hours of the orchestral score, TAKEN.

In the same year, she also won BMI Film & TV Awards in the category "BMI Cable Mini-Series Award" for Taken. Laura has composed music for many of the game titles which includes EVERQUEST 2 by Sony and many of its updates. She created choral sound music for the launching of PS3 and PSP versions of UNTOLD LEGENDS: DARK KINGDOM. In the year 2004,Laura won G.A.N.G. Award in the category, "Best Arrangement of a Non-Original Score" for Everquest 2. She collaborated with directors Michael Tolkien, Michael Petroni and Darnell Martin on the limited series MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION for ABC, for which she received an Emmy nomination for her quirky score to JERRY WAS A MAN in the year 2008. In the same year, she got nominated for Daytime Emmy Award in the category, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound" for Craft in America (PBS).

In the year 2015, Laura received a feature Annie nomination for her score A MONKEY’S TALE, which included Chinese instruments, and has enjoyed creating grooves for SANDLOT 2 and ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE, JR., which has been directed by David Mickey Evans. She most lately created an enormous suspense soundtrack for LAST MAN STANDING, which is her 1st action movie directed by Ernest Dickerson. In 2016, for the music branch of The Academy of Motion Picture and Science Board of Governors, Laura Karpman is elected.