David Carbonara is an American film and TV composer. He is best known for his work on the critically acclaimed TV series ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
''. His other television shows include ''
Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
'', ''
The Romanoffs
''The Romanoffs'' is an American anthology drama streaming television series created, written, produced, and directed by Matthew Weiner. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video October 12, 2018 and features an ensemble cast that differs from episode to ...
The Last Tycoon
''The Last Tycoon'' is an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1941, it was published posthumously under this title, as prepared by his friend Edmund Wilson, a critic and writer. According to ''Publishers Weekly,'' the novel is "generally ...
''. His film work includes
David O. Russell
David Owen Russell (born August 20, 1958) is an American filmmaker. His early directing career includes the comedy films '' Spanking the Monkey'' (1994), '' Flirting with Disaster'' (1996), ''Three Kings'' (1999), and ''I Heart Huckabees'' (20 ...
's ''
Spanking the Monkey
''Spanking the Monkey'' is a 1994 American sick comedy film written and directed by David O. Russell. It was filmed in Pawling, New York.
Plot
Ray Aibelli has finished his first year of college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ...
'',
Amos Kollek
Amos Kollek ( he, עמוס קולק; born September 15, 1947) is an Israeli film director, writer and actor.
Biography
Amos Kollek was born in Jerusalem. He is the son of Teddy Kollek, the long-time mayor of Jerusalem. Kollek studied psychology a ...
's ''
Fast Food Fast Women
''Fast Food Fast Women'' is a 2000 American romantic-comedy/vehicular-action film written and directed by Amos Kollek and financed by French and Italian production companies. The tag line for the film was "There are 18 million people in New York C ...
'' and the award-winning '' Amélia'', by Brazilian director
Ana Carolina
Ana Carolina Sousa (, born September 9, 1974) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and musician.
Career
Carolina has a contralto vocal range. Her musical influence comes from the crib, her grandmother used to sing on the radio, and her great aunt a ...
.
He has collaborated with several composers, including
Rachel Portman
Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman, FilmReference.com
Michel LeGrand
Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many s ...
and
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' film trilogies. ...
.
Biography
Born to a musical family in
Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Bridgewater is a town located in Plymouth County, in the state of Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town's population was 28,633. Bridgewater is located approximately south of Boston and approximately 35 miles east ...
, Carbonara began playing the trombone at age 9.
In the eighth grade, he was invited to join a rehearsal big band at
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater State University is a public university with its main campus in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It is the largest of nine state universities in Massachusetts. Including its off-campus sites in New Bedford, Attleboro, and Cape Cod, BSU h ...
composed of students and faculty members from
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level course ...
,
New England Conservatory
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...
and other professional area musicians. The band included drummer Steve Smith, now famous for his work in the band Journey.
In the 1970s Carbonara started playing night clubs with his brothers, John Carbonara, now a music editor; and Stephen Carbonara, who founded the American School of Modern Music in Paris, France.
Education
After several years playing in bands, Carbonara returned to Berklee College of Music in 1983. Unsure which direction to head, Carbonara chose to pursue a film scoring major, not because he wanted to score movies or even loved film music, but because it was a major that allowed him to take classes in a variety of disciplines.
''Mad Men''
In 2001,
Matthew Weiner
Matthew Hoffman Weiner () (born June 29, 1965) is an American television writer, producer, and director best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series ''Mad Men'', and as a writer and executive producer on ''The Sopranos''.
...
sent Carbonara the pilot script to ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
'', but it was not until 2006 that the pilot was shot, and season 1 aired starting in July 2007. Along with scoring all 7 seasons of ''Mad Men'', Carbonara was asked to produce songs that appeared as performances in the show, the first being "Babylon" from the same titled episode in season 1.
Other productions were "The Best Thing in Life Are Free" by Robert Morse, Jessica Pare's "Zou Bisou Bisou" along with the released instrumentals such as "Song of India" and "Moonglow".
''Mad Men'' Live Shows
On the stage he created a cabaret/variety show called "The ''Mad Men'' Live Revue", which featured cast members performing songs from the era, and was staged at Los Angeles's
El Rey Theatre
The El Rey Theatre is a live music venue in the Miracle Mile area of the Mid-Wilshire region in Los Angeles, California.
This art deco building was designed by Clifford A. Balch (who designed over twenty classic art deco movie theatres aroun ...
for one night only, Oct, 21, 2008. It had a reprise, in a much larger venue in Las Vegas, as "A Night on the Town with Mad Men" at The Hollywood Theater in The MGM Grand Hotel on Jan. 27th, 2009. Two years later, on Nov. 18, 2011 Carbonara conducted a suite of his ''Mad Men'' music at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built b ...
with
The New York Pops
The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual ...
in an evening called "Cocktail Hour: Music of the 'Mad Men' Era" featuring singer
Cheyenne Jackson
Cheyenne David Jackson (born July 12, 1975) is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings.
After beginni ...
, and under the musical direction of Pop's conductor
Steven Reineke
Steven Reineke (born September 14, 1970) is a conductor, composer, and arranger from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the Music Director of The New York Pops. He currently resides in New York City.
Biography
Reineke was born in 1970 in Tipp City, Ohio ...
.
Later Work
In 2012, Carbonara began work on the pilot to CBS's ''Vegas'', which was directed by
James Mangold
James Allen Mangold (born December 16, 1963) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the films ''Cop Land'' (1997), '' Girl, Interrupted'' (1999), '' Walk the Line'' (2005), '' 3:10 to Yuma'' (2007), '' The Wolverine'' (2013) and '' Logan' ...
who had worked with Carbonara previously as the music editor on his film, ''
Cop Land
''Cop Land'' is a 1997 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by James Mangold. It stars an ensemble cast that includes Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, and Robert De Niro, with Peter Berg, Janeane Garofalo, Robert ...
''. Carbonara scored all 21 episodes for the 2012-2013 season, while working on the sixth season of ''Mad Men'', and beginning work on Matthew Weiner's independent film, ''
Are You Here
''Are You Here'' (also known as ''You Are Here'') is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Matthew Weiner. The film stars Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis and Amy Poehler. The plot follows a bipolar man who inherits his estran ...
''. After ''Mad Men'' he continued in the period genre of composing with Lifetime's '' The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe'', and went on to produce 1930s songs for Amazon's period drama ''
The Last Tycoon
''The Last Tycoon'' is an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1941, it was published posthumously under this title, as prepared by his friend Edmund Wilson, a critic and writer. According to ''Publishers Weekly,'' the novel is "generally ...
''. And in 2018, once again for Amazon scored two episodes of Matthew Weiner's anthology series ''
The Romanoffs
''The Romanoffs'' is an American anthology drama streaming television series created, written, produced, and directed by Matthew Weiner. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video October 12, 2018 and features an ensemble cast that differs from episode to ...
''.
Selected filmography
Music editor
*''
The Mambo Kings
''The Mambo Kings'' is a 1992 musical drama film based on the 1989 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel '' The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love'' by Oscar Hijuelos. The film was directed and produced by Arne Glimcher, and stars Armand Assante, Antonio Ba ...
Trees Lounge
''Trees Lounge'' is a 1996 American dramedy film and the debut of Steve Buscemi as writer and director. It was produced by Brad Wyman and Chris Hanley and features a large ensemble cast of actors, including Buscemi, Anthony LaPaglia, Chloë Sevig ...
Madeline
''Madeline'' is a media franchise that originated as a series of children's books written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans, an Austrian-American author. The books have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning telefilms, television series ...
The Cider House Rules
''The Cider House Rules'' (1985) is a novel by American writer John Irving, a ''Bildungsroman'' that was later adapted into a 1999 film and a stage play by Peter Parnell. The story, set in the pre– and post–World War II era, tells of a youn ...
'' (1999)
*''
The Winslow Boy
''The Winslow Boy'' is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an incident involving George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era. The incident took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.
Background
Set against the strict ...
'' (1999)
*''
Joe Gould's Secret __FORCETOC__
''Joe Gould's Secret'' is a 1965 book by Joseph Mitchell, based upon his two '' New Yorker'' profiles, "Professor Sea Gull" (1942) and "Joe Gould's Secret" (1964). Mitchell's work details the true story of the eponymous Joe Gould, ...
The Truth About Charlie
''The Truth About Charlie'' is a 2002 mystery film. It is a remake of '' Charade'' (1963) and an homage to François Truffaut's ''Shoot the Piano Player'' (1960) complete with the French film star Charles Aznavour, making two appearances singing ...
'' (2002)
*''
An Unfinished Life
''An Unfinished Life'' is a 2005 American drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, and based on the Mark Spragg novel of the same name. The film stars Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of a gruff Wyoming rancher ...
'' (2005)
Film composer
*''
Spanking The Monkey
''Spanking the Monkey'' is a 1994 American sick comedy film written and directed by David O. Russell. It was filmed in Pawling, New York.
Plot
Ray Aibelli has finished his first year of college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ...
Are You Here
''Are You Here'' (also known as ''You Are Here'') is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Matthew Weiner. The film stars Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis and Amy Poehler. The plot follows a bipolar man who inherits his estran ...
'' (2013)
*''
Giuliani Time
''Giuliani Time'' is a 2005 documentary film by Kevin Keating about Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City. ''Giuliani Time'' is distributed by Cinema Libre Studio. A special election version of the film was released on May 2, 2008.
T ...
'' (2005)
*''
The Congressman
''The Congressman'' is a 2016 American political drama film directed by Robert Mrazek and Jared Martin.
Maine Congressman Charlie Winship has had a bad day. After being caught on video failing to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance, he knoc ...
'' (2016)
TV composer
*''
Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
'' (2012-2013)
*''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
The Romanoffs
''The Romanoffs'' is an American anthology drama streaming television series created, written, produced, and directed by Matthew Weiner. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video October 12, 2018 and features an ensemble cast that differs from episode to ...
'' (2018)
Music producer
*''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
'' (2007-2015)
*''
The Last Tycoon
''The Last Tycoon'' is an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1941, it was published posthumously under this title, as prepared by his friend Edmund Wilson, a critic and writer. According to ''Publishers Weekly,'' the novel is "generally ...