The week of July 15th may be Bear McCreary’s best week ever as a composer. The week began with the announcement that he would be performing at Comic Con as part of the sneak preview screening of BLACK SAILS, his second television series with STARZ, set to launch January 2014. Later that day Entertainment Weekly revealed that McCreary is the composer on the highly anticipated ABC TV series MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. And on that Thursday it was announced that McCreary earned his second Emmy® nomination for the DA VINCI’S DEMONS Main Title.
“Collaborating with David S. Goyer and composing music for DA VINCI’S DEMONS was a richly rewarding experience that forced me to rethink my creative process on a fundamental level,” said McCreary “I am very proud of the work we created, and honored to be recognized in the main title category, alongside some of the best composers writing today.”
McCreary’s sweeping orchestral score for DA VINCI’S DEMONS was meticulously researched to accurately represent the time period, without being bound to it. His score combines full orchestra, Renaissance instrumentation, choir and ethnic soloists with the renowned Calder Quartet and surging contemporary synthesis.
“For DA VINCI’S DEMONS, I looked to the real-life Leonardo for inspiration. He famously wrote backwards and forwards, so I decided to do (try) the same thing with his theme!” said McCreary. “It was a nice idea at the time, but proved rather difficult to produce anything with emotional meaning. It took a while, but ultimately, I think the end result works beautifully. It’s emotional, and fits Leonardo’s character beautifully. Yet, at the same time, it feels like a palindrome.”
It’s this sort of out-of-the-box thinking that led WIRED Magazine to call McCreary a “Secret Weapon” in a recent issue. His unique combination of atypical instrumental background (he is a professional accordionist) with rigorous classical training prepared him to compose for disparate genres. By the age of 24, McCreary was launched into pop culture history with his groundbreaking score to Syfy’s hit series “Battlestar Galactica,” for which he composed “the most innovative music on TV today” (Variety). It “fits the action so perfectly, it’s almost devastating: a sci-fi score like no other” (NPR). Io9.com declared Bear McCreary one of the Ten Best Science Fiction Composers of all time, listing him alongside legends John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann.
McCreary continues to write for the television show “The Walking Dead.” Recently he lent his talents to Syfy and Trion World’s groundbreaking entertainment experience, Defiance, a combined launch of a MMO videogame. His film projects include “Europa Report” (currently available On Demand and in theaters on August 2nd) and Knights of Badassdom. His other credits include critically acclaimed scores for series such as “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Eureka” and “The Cape.” His swashbuckling score for “Human Target” featured the largest orchestra ever assembled in the history of series television and earned him his first Emmy® nomination. His videogame credits include “SOCOM 4” and “Dark Void.”
What will this week hold for McCreary? It’s off to a great start – with the release of the soundtrack for his music to CAPRICA on Tuesday and the release of the soundtrack for EUROPA REPORT on Friday, coinciding with the film hitting theaters.
