Vivek Maddala
Vivek Maddala is an international Emmy award-winning composer and multi-instrumental performer. He has scored numerous feature films, theater & dance productions, and TV programs over the past decade.
His music, which combines melodic symphony writing with modern ethnic textures from around the world, has been described as “an emotive frenzy of guitar, percussion, brass, woodwinds, and strings.” He is a Sundance Institute Lab Fellow for film composition, and recently had work premiere at the Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, and Sundance film festivals.
Nominated for a daytime Emmy for ‘outstanding music compostion’ on the all new Tom & Jerry Show, Vivek was responsible for scoring all 26 epidodes.
Vivek spent much of 2015 and 2016 composing score music for the Warner Bros. reboot of the classic Tom and Jerry animated series. And in January, Vivek signed on to score the 2017 season as well, alternating episodes with esteemed composer Steve Morrell (for a total of 78 episodes in the new season). Vivek’s work dovetails with that of one of the show’s sound designers, Grammy-winning recording/mix engineer and songwriter/musician Dan Blessinger. Furthermore, select episodes in the new season will feature songs (in the tradition of timeless Hollywood musicals), co-written by Vivek with Dan Blessinger.
Vivek’s score music on the show is steeped in the spirit of the classic cartoon, but also infuses modern aesthetics creating a unique amalgam that is harmonically rich, rhythmically agile, and dramatically sensitive. The music moves fluidly between 19th-Century European Romanticism, 20th-Century American jazz, and present-day idioms eschewing cultural and geographical boundaries.
The feature film White Sun made its world premiere last year at the Venice International Film Festival, followed by a North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Vivek’s music for the film plays with a light touch, obliquely supporting this delicate and superbly crafted political drama/dark comedy set high in the Himalayas. White Sun won the Interfilm Award at the Venice Film Festival and has received rave reviews from the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, BBC, New York Times, and elsewhere. It is currently touring the festival circuit, so keep an eye out.
