Pinar Toprak Explained

Pinar Toprak
Birth Date:18 October 1980
Birth Place:Istanbul, Turkey
Alma Mater:Berklee College of Music
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Background:non_performing_personnel
Years Active:2000–present

Pinar Toprak (born 18 October 1980) is a Turkish-born American composer, conductor, and musician, who specializes in creating thematic scores.

Early life and education

Toprak was born and grew up in Istanbul, Turkey. Her father was an accountant who supported Toprak's interest in music and movies, particularly westerns and Superman. Toprak has said she was always drawn to superheroes and comic books growing up.[1] She memorized the dialogue from the 1978 film starring Christopher Reeve, and dubbed it to Turkish.[2] [3]

Toprak enrolled in the Istanbul State Conservatory, the oldest conservatory in Turkey. During her studies there, she focused on composition and multi-instrumentalism.[4] She began as a violinist and later switched to guitar."[2]

She finished high school at 16, and, after her 17th birthday, moved to the United States. She lived with her brother in Wisconsin where she completed a short ESL program before enrolling at Berklee. During that time, she found work as a jazz guitarist and pianist."[2]

She received her Bachelor of Music in Film Scoring from Berklee in 2000 when she was 19 years old.[5] [6] [7] Following her move to Los Angeles, she received a Master's in Classical Composition from the California State University, Northridge in 2002. It was at CSUN where she was recommended for an internship at Paramount Pictures at the age of 20.

Career

At Paramount, she attended scoring sessions[2] and worked for Hans Zimmer's production company, Media Ventures International (now Remote Control).[8] She also trained in programming sample instruments. She left Zimmer's company after a year to work as assistant to composer William Ross.

In 2006, she composed the score for the video game Ninety-Nine Nights, and then for Behind Enemy Lines 2. From that time onward, she worked on more than forty feature films and several video-game and television projects. She worked on the fanfare of Skydance Media from 2010 to 2022.

Among her work was the score for the romantic comedy The Lightkeepers (2009), which won the 2010 International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) Award for Best Comedy Score. Toprak's score for The Lightkeepers made it to the 2011 Academy Award Shortlist for Best Original Score. She composed the music to the documentary The Wind Gods (2011) for which she received a second IFMCA award for Best Documentary Score in 2011. In 2017, she was hired by director Dean Devlin to compose the score for Geostorm but was laid off after production companies Warner Bros. and Skydance Media hired a new director for the movie's reshoots. The same year, composer Danny Elfman hired Toprak to write additional scores for the 2017 DC superhero movie, Justice League (Dir. Zack Snyder).

Toprak auditioned and pitched a main theme for the film Captain Marvel, which became a hit. She is the first woman to ever score a major superhero movie, and the first to compose for a film that made more than $1 billion.

In 2019, she received a nomination for the World Soundtrack Awards.[9] [10]

Toprak's other works include the score for the 2018–2019 series, Krypton, prequel to the Superman series; DC's television series, Stargirl; and the HBO limited series, McMillions (2020), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Original Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special.[11] She is the first Turkish composer to be nominated for a Emmy.[12] Her work on the 2018 movie The Tides of Fate earned her the 2019 ASCAP Shirley Walker Award, and also, her third IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Documentary Film in 2019.

In 2022, Amazon picked Toprak to compose and conduct a new theme for its Thursday Night Football telecasts, marking the first time a woman composer wrote an original theme for the National Football League. Toprak recorded it at the Ocean Way studio in Nashville with an 70-piece orchestra.[13] The new theme was met with wide praise.[14] [15] [13]

Personal life

In 2008, Toprak married Thanos Kazakos, a music composer and sound design major from Greece she'd had met at Berklee, and they had a daughter. They divorced in 2013.[2]

She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Discography

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Denotes films that have not yet been released

Film

YearTitleDirectorNotes
2004Hold The RiceAlfonso Pineda UlloaShort film
Headbreaker
2005When All Else FailsDavid Ellison
2006James Dodson
2007Daydreamer Brahman Turner
SinnerMarc Benardout
Fall Down DeadJon Keeyes
In the Name of the SonHarun MehmedinovićShort film
Say It in RussianJeff Celentano
2008Ocean of PearlsSarab Singh Neelamwith Karsh Kale & Snatam Kaur
Light of OlympiaSan Wei ChanAnimated feature
Pregnant in AmericaSteve BuonaugurioDocumentary
2009The Crimson MaskElias Plagianos
Breaking PointJeff Celentano
The LightkeepersDaniel Adams
2011Last WillBrent Huff
The River MurdersRich Cowan
Girls! GirlsGirls!Shana Betz
Beth Grant
Tracie Laymon
Jennifer Lynch
Barbara Stepansky
America Young
with Heather Schmidt
2012VamperificaBruce Ornstein
How to Have a Happy MarriageJennifer Lynch
Restos Alfonso Pineda UlloaShort film
2013The Wind GodsFritz MitchellDocumentary film
2015The ChallengerKent Moran
The Curse of Downers GroveDerick Martini
In UteroKathleen Man GyllenhaalDocumentary film
2017The ChainbreakersRui Yangwith Emir Işılay
The Monster ProjectVictor Mathieu
Justice League[16] Zack SnyderAdditional music
Main score by Danny Elfman
2018The AngelAriel Vromen
The Tides of FateFritz MitchellDocumentary
2019PurlKristen LesterAnimated short film
Captain Marvel[17] Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck
Also writer of Captain Marvel theme in
SkyfireSimon West
2020It's TimeFrank Waldeck
2021Us Again[18] Zach ParrishAnimated short film
2022The Lost CityAaron Nee
Adam Nee
SlumberlandFrancis Lawrence
2023Shotgun WeddingJason Moore
[19] Cal BrunkerToprak’s first score for a full-length animated film
Replaced Heitor Pereira
Family SwitchMcG

Television

YearTitleNotes
2008Beyond Loch NessTelevision film
Ogre
Ba'al
2009Wyvern
2010Mongolian Death Worm
Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf
2015Clan of the Cave Bear
2016Falling Water4 episodes
2018–2019Krypton20 episodes
2020–2022Stargirl[20] 39 episodes
2020McMillions6 episodes
2022–presentPrime Video Sports[21] Theme song

Video games

YearTitleNotes
2006Ninety-Nine NightsWith Takayuki Nakamura
2017FortniteAdditional music
2023

Other work

Awards and nominations

!Year!Recipient!Award[24] [25] !Category!Result
2010The LightkeepersInternational Film Music Critics Association AwardsBest Original Score for a Comedy Film
2011The Wind GodsBest Original Score for a Documentary Film
2019The Tides of Fate
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers AwardsShirley Walker Award
Captain MarvelWorld Soundtrack AwardsPublic Choice Award
2020McMillions

Episode 1

Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: White Bear PR Composer Talk with Pinar Toprak. 31 December 2023. YouTube. 19 May 2020 .
  2. Web site: Greiving. Tim. 27 October 2020. The Billion-Dollar Composer. subscription. 31 December 2023. Alta Online. en-US.
  3. Web site: Guerrasio. Jason. Inside the inspiring journey of 'Captain Marvel' composer Pinar Toprak, from moving to America at 17 to becoming the first female composer of a Marvel movie. 31 December 2023. Business Insider. 24 August 2018 .
  4. Web site: About. 31 December 2023. Pinar Toprak. en-US.
  5. Web site: Composer Pinar Toprak Cracks Celluloid Ceiling with Captain Marvel Berklee College of Music. 31 December 2023. Berklee website. en.
  6. Web site: Breaking a Sound Barrier with Captain Marvel Berklee College of Music. 31 December 2023. www.berklee.edu. en.
  7. Web site: Interview with Pinar Toprak – Fade to Her. 31 December 2023. FadeToHer. en-US. 6 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201206003803/http://www.fadetoher.com/2020/09/13/interview-with-pinar-toprak/. dead.
  8. Web site: Pinar Toprak: Super Scores. 31 December 2023. Headliner.
  9. Web site: Second Wave of Nominees 19th World Soundtrack Awards Revealed. 31 December 2023. World Soundtrack Awards. 16 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191016171359/https://www.worldsoundtrackawards.com/en/news/second-wave-of-nominees-19th-world-soundtrack-awards-revealed/11-09-2019/2274. dead.
  10. Web site: 20 ASCAP Screen Music Greats Nominated for World Soundtrack Awards. 31 December 2023. ASCAP. en.
  11. Web site: Pinar Toprak. 31 December 2023. IMDb.
  12. Web site: Pınar Toprak becomes first Turkish composer nominee for Emmys. 31 December 2023. Hürriyet Daily News. 24 August 2020 . en.
  13. Newman. Melinda . August 18, 2022 . Pinar Toprak Composes New Theme for Prime Video's 'Thursday Night Football': Hear It Now . . January 2, 2024 . The driving, propulsive track soars and builds with a tension that mimics the tense action on the field..
  14. News: Berlingame. Joe . July 19, 2022 . 'Captain Marvel' Composer Pinar Toprak Pens Theme for Amazon Prime's 'Thursday Night Football' . . January 2, 2024. A triumphal, brass- and drum-heavy earworm that builds in intensity and power over its full three-minute duration. .
  15. News: Bumbaca. Chris. August 18, 2022 . 'A new NFL tradition': Prime Video releases theme song for 'Thursday Night Football'. . January 2, 2024. You listen to this once, you’re humming the theme..
  16. Web site: Pinar Toprak. IMDb. 31 December 2023.
  17. Web site: 'Captain Marvel' Enlists Pinar Toprak as Composer. The Hollywood Reporter. 14 June 2018. 31 December 2023.
  18. Web site: Pinar Toprak Scoring Zach Parrish's Disney Animated Short 'Us Again'. Film Music Reporter. 31 December 2023.
  19. News: Pinar Toprak to Score Cal Brunker's 'PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie' . 31 December 2023 . Film Music Reporter . 25 January 2023.
  20. Web site: Season 2 Episode 11 Pinar Toprak took a pivotal trip to Tower Records. SCORE: A FILM MUSIC DOCUMENTARY. 25 June 2019. en. 31 December 2023.
  21. Web site: Prime Video Sports Theme . 31 December 2023. Youtube Music. 17 August 2022 .
  22. Web site: Home Page – Pinar Toprak. https://web.archive.org/web/20190601155858/https://www.pinartoprak.com/. dead. 2019-06-01. pinartoprak.com. 31 December 2023.
  23. Web site: I've had the incredible honor to write the opening for Christina Aguilera's (...). Facebook. 31 December 2023.
  24. Web site: Pinar Toprak. 31 December 2023. Television Academy. en.
  25. Web site: 2 March 2011. Pinar Toprak receives her IFMCA Award for The Lightkeepers. 31 December 2023. IFMCA: International Film Music Critics Association. en-US.