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articles / Classical Californians

Classical Californians: Laura Karpman

Classical Californians
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Amanda Witt

Laura Karpman didn’t start out wanting to be a film composer – her plans involved going to New York from her native Los Angeles to become a “serious” composer. And she did – studying with people like Milton Babbitt and Nadia Boulanger. But she proudly returned to LA, and has provided scores for HBO’s seriesLovecraft Country, won an Emmy for the Discovery Channel’s documentary seriesWhy We Hate, as well as founding the Alliance for Women Film Composers. Since this feature originally aired, she was nominated for an Oscar for her score to the filmAmerican Fiction. For her Classical Californian playlist, she returns to some of the music she listened to obsessively as a student – from the orchestration of light and dark heard in music of Stravinsky, to Benjamin Britten’s slippery strings, to a jazzy reinterpretation of Ravel. And we’ll hear one of her favorite works by Samuel Barber that she had a chance to re-examine in one of her own pieces.

Classical Californians: Laura Karpman
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Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms, "Alleluia, Laudate Dominum" (excerpt) - London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Michael Tilson Thomas

Samuel Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915 - New Philharmonia Orchestra, Thomas Schippers; Leontyne Price, soprano

Laura Karpman: Tulsa, 1921: Catch the Fire from HBO's Lovecraft Country Soundtrack - Janai Brugger, soprano

Benjamin Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream (opening) - City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox

Leonard Bernstein: The Age of Anxiety, "The Masque" - Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

Maurice Ravel - Herbie Hancock: Piano Concerto No. 2, mvt. 2 - Herbie Hancock, piano

Louise Talma: "Prestissimo" from Six Etudes - Theresa Bogard, piano

Classical Californians
Published on 03.12.2025
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