Berklee Celebrates Annual BMI Day with Acclaimed Composer Mychael Danna
From left to right: Berklee Assistant Chair of Screen Scoring Oleg Smirnov; Dean of Professional Writing and Music Technology Rodney Alejandro; Mychael Danna; student scholarship recipient Alan Catz; BMI Vice President, Creative, Film, TV, and Visual Media Tracy McKnight; and Screen Scoring Chair Sean McMahon.
Kelly Davidson
Academy Award–winning composer Mychael Danna and Tracy McKnight, BMI’s vice president, creative, film, TV, and visual media, visited Berklee on Monday, October 21, to commemorate the college’s annual BMI Day. During the earlier part of the day, Danna conducted a film scoring studio orchestra class; in the afternoon, McKnight and Danna joined a panel where they discussed the film scoring industry and answered questions from students. Ahead of the panel, McKnight and Sean McMahon, chair of the Screen Scoring Department, copresented this year’s BMI Film Scoring Scholarship to Alan Catz, a student composer currently in his seventh semester at the college.
The first BMI Film Scoring Scholarship was presented in 1998 by Grammy-winning composer Michael Kamen. It is awarded each year to a student selected by the Screen Scoring Department based on the student’s musical ability, financial need, and potential for career success.
"The Screen Scoring Department’s relationship with BMI is one of the most important relationships we have—every year, BMI Day is a special day for our department on campus,” said McMahon. “We are so grateful for all that BMI has done for Berklee’s screen scoring students for over two decades and appreciate Tracy’s presence at Berklee to participate in our panel and present the annual BMI award to Alan Catz, a promising, up-and-coming composer.”
“We take pride in our longstanding relationship with Berklee College of Music and believe in the importance of supporting aspiring composers,” said McKnight. “The BMI Film Scoring Scholarship is a testament to our dedication to fostering talent in the world of visual media. Congratulations to the scholarship recipient, Alan Catz, and thank you to Mychael Danna for being a part of BMI Day at Berklee.”
“I am beyond grateful to be the recipient of the BMI award this year, and I will do my best to represent Berklee and BMI to the best of my abilities,” said Catz.
About Alan Catz
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Alan Catz is a composer and pianist actively working in the film and video game industry. He began his formal training at the Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel de Falla, one of Argentina's most prestigious institutions for music, and continued his studies at Berklee's global partner Escuela de Música Contemporánea. His musical journey was shaped by the guidance of renowned Argentine musicians, including classical pianist Fernanda Morello and jazz pianist Manuel Fraga. Catz attributes much of his growth to the constructive rivalry and love he shares with his twin brother, Uriel. The two have been colleagues from the start, both aspiring to make their mark as composers in the film and gaming industries. Catz has composed numerous video games and short films, including a collaboration with composer Ignacio Ramirez for the Crystal Rose Skins trailer for League of Legends: Wild Rift.
About Mychael Danna
Mychael Danna is an Academy Award–winning film composer recognized for his evocative blending of non-Western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. His works include the Oscar- and Golden Globe–winning score for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, following his collaborations with Lee on The Ice Storm (1997) and Ride with the Devil (1999). Among his other awards are the Emmy for Outstanding Composition for the miniseries World Without End (2013), the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing, the World Soundtrack Awards for Film Composer of the Year and Best Score of the Year, all of which he received in 2013, and the Hollywood Film Award for Composer of the Year in 2016.
About BMI
Celebrating over 80 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, BMI is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in over 22.4 million musical works created and owned by more than 1.4 million songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy, becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI’s repertoire, from chart-toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year.