ASMAC presents

Dara Taylor

Combining Orchestral Sessions with Electronics
Marvel Studios’ Ironheart

with orchestrator Nick Fevola

Moderated by Glenn Jordan

The characters of Ironheart are multi-faceted, rooted in technology, magic, emotion, grief. The score mirrors these facets combining scrappy percussion, gritty choir, dense electronics and soaring orchestra.

Composer Dara Taylor and orchestrator Nick Fevola dive deep into the process of carving out room for the various elements and letting them each sing either solo or in tandem.

LA 12 pm | NYC 3 pm | UK 8 pm
+1 day: 4am KR | 5am AU | 7am NZ

Dara Taylor is an award-nominated composer and a fresh voice in film and television scoring, known for her emotionally resonant and versatile work. Her credits include Amazon Studios’ The Tender Bar, directed by George Clooney, Universal Pictures’ Strays, starring Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx, and the Netflix/Tyler Perry film Straw, starring Taraji P. Henson. She is also the composer for the Marvel Studios series Ironheart, earning an NAACP Award nomination for Outstanding Original Score for Television/Film.

Her other notable work spans Netflix’s Meet Me Next Christmas (SCL Award-nominated), Black Barbie, and The Noel Diary, directed by Charles Shyer, as well as Sony Pictures’ The Invitation (SCL Award-nominated). Additional credits include Amazon’s The Boys: Diabolical, Warner Bros.’ Scoob! Holiday Haunt, Lionsgate’s Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (co-scored with Christopher Lennertz), the action crime drama Echo Boomers, Netflix’s Bookmarks, Universal/1440’s Curious George: Cape Ahoy, FX’s Pride, and documentaries such as Dawn Porter’s 37 Words and Power of the Dream. Dara is a Governor of the Recording Academy’s Los Angeles Chapter and an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, the Composers Diversity Collective, the Society of Composers & Lyricists, and the Alliance of Women Film Composers.

Recent credits include orchestration on Dara Taylor’s scores for Straw (nominated by the SCL for Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film), Marvel’s Ironheart, The Invitation, and Meet Me Next Christmas, as well as Jeff Toyne’s Emmy-winning score for Palm Royale. Nick has also recently served as supervising music copyist on Austin Wintory’s score for Sword of the Sea (nominated by the SCL for Outstanding Original Score for Interactive Media), Christopher Lennertz’s Emmy-winning “Let’s Put the Christ Back in Christmas” from The Boys, and Tim Wynn’s acclaimed score for Final Destination: Bloodlines.

Nick began his career in music preparation at Juliani Music shortly after graduating from the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program at the University of Southern California in 2007. Early in his career, he also assisted composers including Christopher Lennertz, Elia Cmiral, and Ron Fish, and provided support to the assistants of John Powell and Christophe Beck. His responsibilities ranged from administrative work to music preparation, score programming, and writing additional music. Over time, his role at Juliani Music has expanded to encompass all aspects of music preparation, from printing and taping to proofreading, copying parts, MIDI & audio transcription, orchestration, and project supervision.

Nick’s work regularly brings him to the scoring stages at Fox Studios in Century City, Sony Pictures in Culver City, and Warner Bros. in Burbank, serving as music librarian alongside some of LA’s top musicians and scoring professionals. He and the Juliani Music team have also worked on theme park and live performance projects for Disney through Christopher Lennertz, including Disneyland’s nighttime spectacular Wondrous Journeys, Rogers: The Musical, and a star-studded concert at the 2024 D23 convention in Anaheim featuring Meghan Trainor, John Stamos, and the Pentatonix.

Nick and his wife Summer are proud parents to their daughter Everly.

Glenn is an immensely versatile composer, whether writing the contemporary EDM and guitar driven styles of today’s underscores or composing and orchestrating pieces for The Indianapolis and Denver Symphony Orchestras.

He has composed the music for more than a dozen feature-length films as well as hundreds of episodes of network and cable television programs.

Glenn has received four Emmy nominations, winning the award for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.

He has worked with stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Kanye West, Steve Martin, The Beach Boys, Morgan Freeman, Little Richard, and Shelly Duvall.

His song We All Love the Red Sox has become an integral part of the Boston Red Sox radio broadcasts in northern New England.

As a former member of the group Sha Na Na, he toured the world and performed for audiences as large as 135,000 people. He has also done countless sessions as a studio guitarist and vocalist.

Glenn is one of only 9 people in the world who is accredited to teach The Equal Interval System created by Lyle “Spud” Murphy. He has EIS musical composition students worldwide.

ASMAC 1st Wednesday Hang
Social Mixer, Pizza, New Music

Co-hosted by
ASMAC Vice Presidents Milton Nelson & Jeff Kellem
Board member Evita Wagner
Emerging Professionals Committee

Meet fellow ASMAC community members during John Mitchell's Flight 584 Big Band rehearsal night. Pizza at 7pm.

Bring new charts by 7:15pm.

Send email to info@asmac.org to let us know if you’ll be bringing a big band chart to read down.

Register now to let us know how much pizza to obtain.

Come hear some new arrangements! Possible new charts by Oliviana Marie, J Ryan Kern, Rick Hils, Milton Nelson, David Edelstein, and others.

Singers Gina Cantamessa, Dave Berges, and maybe others.

Flight 584 Big Band regularly plays arrangements by Sammy Nestico, Billy Byers, Bob Florence, Terry Gibbs, Bill Holman, Quincy Jones, Billy May, Glen Garrett, Milton Nelson, Don Nelligan, Oliver Nelson, Mike Barone, Tommy Newsom, Tom Kubis, and many other greats.

See photos from the August First Wednesday Hang.

The Mayflower Club
11110 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood
7–10 pm PT
$10 cover at the door is for The Mayflower Club,
the nonprofit social club.
*Flight 584 — 5 Saxes, 8 Brass, 4 Rhythm

Save the Dates

Please make plans to attend the ASMAC (American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers) weekend conference to be held at historic Evergreen Studios in Burbank, CA from 7–10 October 2026.

The event will include workshops, panel discussions, and sessions on current issues and practices, including AI and changing conditions in our industry, an awards ceremony, and live music. Several pre-conference events are being planned, including big band jazz and chamber music events, an orchestra recording session, and studio tour.

Here’s your opportunity to network and meet the ASMAC colleagues you perhaps only know through Zoom.

Put this on your calendar!
Subject to change.

Elliot Deutsch’s Pandemonium Big Band

feat. Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg

First show in 3 years.
Bunch of new charts
+ 1 specifically for this concert!

Hang out with our ASMAC community & support
Board member Elliot Deutsch
and ASMAC member
Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg!

Catalina Jazz Club
6725 Sunset Boulevard
Hollywood California 90028 USA
Doors: 7pm; Show: 8:30pm PDT

Music for Unity

Homecoming
Return to Artsakh

In cooperation with NACUSA-LA (now ASMAC Concert Music Committee) and the All Armenian Student Association (All-ASA). Final event as NACUSA-LA (now ASMAC Concert Music Committee).

Friday May 15
The Dance of the Mountains by Karen Ananyan
Ergang (Grinding Wheat) by Vahan Grigoryan
Gnishik Ascent by Amy Jerman
Dances of Circles and Shapes by John Mackay
To My Friend by Alex Shapira
Everflowing Distance by Samuel Sjostedt

Saturday May 16
Reconstruction by Haykaz Balumyan
My Father’s Friend by Rex Bell
Siembra by Sadiel Cuentas
Magic at the Mill by Oliviana Marie
Artsakh Mountains of Home by Michael Glenn Williams
For Family and Friends Remembered by Ian Wiese

Glendale Presbyterian Church
125 S. Louise Street
Glendale, CA USA
7pm PDT

Mark Smythe Tribute

String Quintet
In order of performance
Alison Lewis
Timothy James Franco
Anna Biskup
Tyler Strickland
Jeff Toyne
Friends of Mark Smythe
Carisa Bianca Mellado & Andrew Dalziell

The Night Temple Hollywood
950 N Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90038  USA
7–10pm PDT

Miles & Trane at 100

Pacific Jazz Orchestra

The Pacific Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Chris Walden, presents a powerful tribute to two of the most influential figures in jazz—Miles Davis and John Coltrane—as both artists would have turned 100 in 2026.

Featuring acclaimed guest artists Jacob Scesney (saxophone), Sean Jones (trumpet), and Emmet Cohen (piano), performing newly arranged versions of classic works that shaped the course of modern jazz.

The Wallis
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210 USA
7:30pm PDT

The Night Temple

Music in Visual Media Conference

ASMAC President Gayle Levant participating in The Industry in 2026 panel on Friday, 29 May 2026, 9:30am PDT.

The Night Temple Hollywood
950 N Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles 90038 USA

Helix Collective

Game Jams Concerts

ASMAC and our Emerging Professionals Commitee will be hosting the mixer in between the concerts, 5:30–7:30pm PDT.

Early bird discount until May 20th. ASMAC Members get $5 off after.

Featuring music from the following games and composers:

• League of Legends - J.D. Spears
• The Simpsons Game - Christopher Lennertz & Tim Wynn
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate & Sword of the Sea - Austin Wintory
• BioShock Infinite - Garry Schyman
• Final Fantasy XV - Yoko Shimomura
• Hell Divers 2 - Wilbert Roget, II
• Civilization IV, “Baba Yetu” - Christopher Tin
• Way of the Turtle - Shaun Chasin
• Guild Wars 2 - Maclaine Diemer, Jarryd Elias, Michael Paraskevas & Michael Choi

Barnsdall Gallery Theatre
4800 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90027 USA
Concerts: 4pm & 7:30pm PDT
Mixer ~5:30–7:30pm PDT

Check out the new ASMAC Substack.

Here are some of the recent articles in our Arrangers of Note series:

• Frank Comstock (Part 1) and part 2.
• Lloyd “Skip” Martin (Part 1) and part 2.
• Gerald Wilson, A Career Retrospective (Part 1), part 2, and part 3.
• The Savana That Enchanted Brazil: The Sound Created by José Roberto Branco
• Johnny Mandel, parts one and two.
• The Forgotten Earle Hagen, parts one, two, and three.
• and many others in the Arrangers of Note series.

The 8-minute medley of Jorge Calandrelli arrangements and compositions prepared for Jorge’s 2014 ASMAC Golden Score Award.

As played at Jorge Calandrelli’s April 2016 Masterclass on Ballads to Bossa: Arranging Across Different Styles.

Our dear friend Jorge Calandrelli died on 4 May 2026 and is deeply missed.