Tag: Live

The 5th Annual SCL Awards

The Society of Composers and Lyricists’ 5th Annual SCL Awards were held on Tuesday, February 13th in Los Angeles, California. The Awards were hosted by Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Siedah Garrett. Garrett opened the ceremony with a barn-burning arrangement of her song “Shug Avery” from the 2023 film The Color Purple. She closed with her song “Man in the Mirror”, made famous by Michael Jackson, which Garrett co-wrote with Glen Ballard.

The ceremony also honored the filmmaker-composer team of Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson with the Spirit of Collaboration Award, which included a performance of Robertson’s song “Between Trains” from Scorsese’s The King of Comedy by 6-time Grammy-winning recording artist, Jason Isbell.

In addition to accompanying these acts, the orchestra performed Henry Mancini’s “Peter Gunn”, and the song “Somewhere Out There” from the film An American Tail sung by Zola Odessa and Danny Duran III in a beautiful “In Memoriam” segment.

Symbols of Sound handled the hiring and management of the orchestra and provided music preparation services. SoS has had a role in the music of every SCL awards to date.

The 4th Annual SCL Awards

Yesterday was The Society of Composers & Lyricists’ 4th Annual SCL Awards. SoS provided music preparation and contracted the all-star lineup of Hollywood musicians. This year’s ceremony was hosted by Darren Criss, and featured performances by Criss, Rizzi Myers, Priscilla Ahn, and and Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz.

After last year’s highly successful show, the SCL made this their biggest ceremony yet with an expanded orchestra, rhythm section, and choir. It proved to be great move with a sold-out show and accolades all around.

SoS has been a part of every SCL Awards since their inaugural ceremony four years ago providing music preparation, managing the hiring of musicians, and consulting on union contracts and procedures.

This project also marked the joyful return of Danita Ng-Poss to the SoS team after completing her term as Secretary/Treasurer of AFM Local 47.

2022 Highlights

In spite of the continuing COVID pandemic, 2022 had a number of highlights for Symbols of Sound. It was a busy year for our work with Disney, beginning with an Oscar for 2021’s Encanto. The year also saw work on a number of features including Turning Red, Disenchanted, Strange World, Pinocchio, Hocus Pocus 2, Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers, Fire Island, Amsterdam, and Zombies 3; as well as several TV and streaming specials such as The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Mickey Saves Christmas, and Lego Star Wars Summer Vacation; along with the usual run of regular TV and streaming series episodes.

Aside from Disney, SoS provided music preparation for the Oscar-nominated film Women Talking, and printing sheet music to be used in scenes for the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

In the live performance realm, SoS once again provided music contracting and music preparation for the annual SCL Awards, a show which becomes a larger part of the Hollywood awards season every year.

One surprise highlight of 2022 was a wonderful orchestral demo recording for “The Little Women Musical” composed by Dan Redfeld with lyrics by Christina Harding and John Koladziej. Aside from music preparation, SoS’s Jason Poss also provided score reading and “golden ears” in the booth for multiple days of orchestra and vocal recordings.

Watch this space for news about more exciting projects in 2023.