Acclaimed Composer and Landmark Forum graduate Michael Whalen won his second Emmy award on Monday September 22, for his work on the “America at a Crossroads” series. The award was presented in New York City at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards held at the Rose Center in the Time/AOL Building. The category Whalen won was for best music and sound. He shared the award with sound designer Terence Dwyer and the whole team from Wild Woods Post in Los Angeles.
Michael was extremely happy he won the award.“I really had no thought that I would win this year,” he said afterwards. “The series was amazing and the music and sound was top-notch, but the category had some great competition. I feel blessed to have been part of the team that captured the award.”
Whalen is one of the most prolific and sought after composers in the United States. A veteran of over 500 film and television scores, thousands of advertisements, numerous TV themes and corporate identity pieces, his music has been heard by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Some of his best known work includes the theme to ABC’s “Good Morning America”, music for “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, “Inside Edition”, hundreds of scores for PBS, National Geographic, Discovery, HBO, CBS, BBC, NHK, Disney, Hallmark and every major broadcast and cablecast outlet in the world.
Michael is also a prolific recording artist who writes and produces music for a variety of recording labels and artists in a wide range of genres, including pop songs, new age, ambient, classical, and jazz music. His latest solo recording, “The Other Coast”, was released in January of 2007. His recently released holiday project, “Seasons of Light”, features 15 new holiday songs sung by some of the best singers around, including Paul Buchanan (of The Blue Nile), Alannah Myles, Julian Velard, Toni Childs, Ian Eddy (Leo), and Kristin Hoffman among others.
He is also a noted arranger and producer, having worked with artists from rock legend Brian Wilson to Oscar winner Howard Shore to Roberta Flack to Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim. Whalen recently produced and arranged the debut recording of crossover classical group Andiamo and their PBS concert special “Love, from Italy” that has been seen and shown worldwide.
Michael is playing a series of concerts throughout 2008. Michael won his first Emmy for his work on the HBO animated special “How Do You Spell God” in 1997. Whalen has participated in a variety of Landmark Education’s programs since 2005.
