“When Jordan Peele asked Michael Abels to compose the score for his film Get Out, Abels had never scored a feature film before,” writes Monica Bushman in Friday’s (3/29) LAist.com (Los Angeles). “But he didn’t hesitate…. Abels had been composing music since he was a kid…. He [composed] for orchestras, smaller ensembles and choirs—and became the director of music at … a private K-12 school…. That’s where Abels was working when Peele came across a YouTube video of ‘Urban Legends,’ a piece that Abels had composed for string quartet and orchestra…. Abels says, … ‘It really spoke to Jordan, so that made me feel confident that I could really stretch myself creatively.’ … [In] Us, about a family that’s terrorized by their doppelgangers … the words you hear in ‘Anthem’ may sound vaguely like Latin, but Abels says they’re really just gibberish [creating] a sense of unease. ‘What’s scary is the unknown,’ Abels says…. The success of ‘Get Out’ has helped Abels to see himself as a mentor…. After getting contacted by several young composers of color who were looking to him for advice, Abels co-founded the Composers Diversity Collective, a networking group for minority composers.”
Posted April 3, 2019
