Celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Composer Showcase
Spectra Creative Agency values the importance of promoting visibility to underrepresented composers to broaden narrative horizons and multicultural authenticity within the film and television industry. This Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month we proudly showcase and celebrate two composers for their excellence in the composing community and their work to pave the way for aspiring AAPI composers, artists, and musicians.
Tangelene Bolton (she/her)
Tangelene Bolton is a Filipina-American film, TV, and media composer based in Los Angeles, CA. Most recently her work can be heard in Netflix’s For Our Children, an ARRAY Releasing documentary directed and produced by Débora Souza Silva. Tangelene’s scores can also be heard in Netflix’s original series Warrior Nun (Season 2), created and executive produced by Simon Barry; Blumhouse’s thriller film Unseen, directed by Yoko Okumura; as well as in Season 3 of Comedy Central’s Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, created by Awkwafina and Teresa Hsiao. Tangelene possesses a distinct music style that is a mashup of neoclassical, electronic, folk, and jazz. She boldly turns traditional and conventional sounds into exciting and new territories.
Matthew Wang (he/him)
Matthew Wang is a film and television composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in New York and Los Angeles. Most recently Matthew has written original songs for the Nickelodeon series Well Versed, as well as the upcoming Yo Yo Honey Singh documentary to be released later this year on Netflix from Academy Award winning Sikhya Entertainment. His work can also be heard in both Paramount's Reno 911!: The Hunt for QAnon as well as Comedy Central's Reno 911!: It's a Wonderful Heist. Matthew creates inventive scores and soundscapes that pull from his background in pop songwriting and production—which focuses on building entire sonic worlds out of pithy narratives—as well as his technical expertise in electronic sound design and programming.
In addition to these Asian American composers, we are also proud to represent the following international Asian composers:
Caleb and Brian Chan (he/him)
Raised in Hong Kong and Vancouver, brothers Caleb and Brian Chan write with a wide palette of colors, nuanced imaginations, and a deep admiration of music from many spaces. In film and TV, recent projects include the new Nickelodeon series Fairly OddParents: A New Wish, the action-packed superhero Nickelodeon feature film The Thundermans Return, and the intense police procedural Allegiance (CBC) and Alert: Missing Persons Unit (FOX). The brothers provide a unique voice to picture by crafting thoughtful scores informed by organic textures, modern orchestra, and experimental synthesis.
Akira Kosemura (he/him)
Born in Tokyo, Japanese composer Akira Kosemura has composed music for film, stage, game and commercials, including the Cannes 2020 feature film True Mothers (Asa Ga Kuru), the OWN series Love Is__ produced by Mara Brock Akil, and the Nintendo Switch game JACK JEANNE produced by Sui Ishida. As an artist he has released various albums of crossover genre music featuring the sounds of piano, strings, winds, synthesizers, and field recordings.