Kirsten McCord

New York City-based composer, cellist, and producer Kirsten McCord is one of the most compelling and intuitive musicians writing music for film right now. Her strengths are her ability to quickly understand the artistic visions of the directors she works with and an innate musicality that brings her compositions to life. Her music has appeared in the Tribeca Film Festival Award-winning documentary Give Up Tomorrow, the feature film Universal Soldier - Day of Reckoning starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the film Between The Miles from Brown Eyed Girls Productions. Her works have also been included in an episode of NBC's Parenthood and in Aliens, a WBAI radio drama series. She has worked with Academy Award®-nominated artist Elliott Smith (American Beauty, Up In The Air, The Royal Tenenbaums, Good Will Hunting) as well. She is currently composing for the film Madam from director Diana Cignoni. McCord's expressive and affecting cello playing has also found a place in the indie rock scene. Her first solo album, All I Want Is A Little More Than I'll Ever Get, was released on Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace imprint in 2003. She has also appeared live and in the studio with artists including Elliott Smith, Vic Chesnutt, and Mo Tucker of the Velvet Underground. McCord draws influence from iconic artists like Sonic Youth, Jonny Greenwood, Shostakovich, Miles Davis, and Aphex Twin but has a striking originality that holds her firmly in her own creative space. McCord studied music and music production at The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, Eastman School of Music, and SUNY Purchase, where she earned a B.A. in Music Performance. She studied with the late Aldo Parisot from Yale, has taken master classes with Yo-Yo Ma, performed with the Harlem Boys Choir, and has worked with some of today's finest classical musicians, such as Glenn Dicterow and Alan Gilbert, conductor of the New York Philharmonic. She has been compared to Durutti Column, Brian Eno, and Talk Talk but McCord isn't that simple to define. She creates soundtrack, orchestral, and ambient music that's beautiful, emotive, and that pulls at the human heart from many different directions. Kirsten McCord is one of the most vital emerging composers in modern film.