Michael Gordon Shapiro

Cue of the Week: “Escape at the Airfield”

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:40:30 +0000

Written back when I was a wee composer of 25, this action cue accompanies a daring airplane escape sequence in the film The F-Zone. Using a predominantly string orchestra, and one a bit underpopulated in the brass department, I turned to aggressive (marcato) string bowing as a means of conveying tension.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Escape at the Airfield

Cue of the Week: “Genius at Work”

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:04:01 +0000

Another orchestral cue from Against Time, this one conveying the exhilaration of invention with a touch of mad-scientist eccentricity.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Genius at Work

Cue of the Week: “After the Game”

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:12:30 +0000

A tender and somewhat wistful orchestral cue from the film Against Time. I had the enjoyable experience of writing this to accompany sensitive performances from Craig T. Nelson and Ean Mering.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	After the Game

Cue of the Week: “Sneak Away”

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:08:58 +0000

This week’s musical selection is a quirky orchestral two-step, featuring a solo woodwinds and that most celebrated of melodic instruments, the tuba.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Sneak Away

Cue of the Week: “The Berg Breaks”

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:32:19 +0000

This is one of a series of orchestral cues I wrote for an interactive computer adventure called The Penguin Who Wouldn’t Swim. As the project title suggests, the score has a colorful once-upon-a-time sort of flavoring to it. This particular cue leans towards the action/adventure side of things, though gentler motifs for individual characters do crop up periodically as well.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	The Berg Breaks

Cue of the Week: “Stage Bending”

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:38:24 +0000

Enough with the orchestra. I am frequently told; What we really want to know is: can you play the kazoo? As this week’s cue demonstrates, the incontrovertible answer to that question is no. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this theme for a 2006 video by the comedic duo The Stagebenders.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Stage Bending

“Climb the Smallest Mountain” goes Off-Off Broadway

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:49:48 +0000

Michael’s short rock musical Climb The Smallest Mountain will be featured in the 35th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. From a submission pool of over 800 plays, 40 were accepted into the festival for performance.

Climb The Smallest Mountain is a musical comedy about an international miniature golf star, whose meteoric rise to fame is complicated by a bitter arch-nemesis. The musical premiered at the 2008 Actoberfest Short Play Competition in Santa Monica, where it was voted Audience Favorite. It was included in the 2009 Short Sweet and Song Ten Minute Musical Festival, where it won awards for Best Production and People’s Choice.

The musical will be featured on Friday, July 16. For ticket purchase and more information, visit the festival’s website.

Erhu Concerto Underway

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:36:25 +0000

Michael has begun work on a new orchestral concert piece for Hanyi Productions. The work will combine a traditional Western symphony with a soloist playing an erhu, a two-stringed Chinese bowed folk instrument. The work will premiere in a concert in the greater Los Angeles area in September, 2010.

Michael’s previous commission for Hayni, the guzheng concerto Identity - Zhongshan Zhuang, has been performed multiple times in the United States and mainland China.

Cue of the Week: “Adventure in the Skies”

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:34:13 +0000

This is the third in the series of aerial action/adventure music cues drawn from my score for the video game Jane’s Attack Squadron. The french horns introduce a heroic main theme (I know, quite an unheard-of thing for that particular instrument) and several other motifs follow in a kind of whirlwind pastiche.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Adventure In The Skies

Cue of the Week: “Dogfight in the Skies”

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:05:30 +0000

A companion piece to last installment’s aerial adventure music, this week’s selection continues the spirit of high-energy derring-do and takes it up a notch. Almost a medley, this cue presents a fast-paced succession of themes and melodic fragments that intercut and play off one another. (An alternate title might be “how to make your brass players’ lips bleed”.)

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Dogfight In The Skies