A Conversation with Mikel Hurwitz

This past December, I had the privilege of chatting with Canadian composer Mikel Hurwitz. We talked about the beginnings of his career including being a synth programmer for Danny Elfman to writing over 30 Hallmark movies as well as his most recent project, "Soul of a Nation," a documentary on Apple focused on the political and ideological struggles of Israel leading up to the Hamas hostage attack. We talk about instrument choices as well as telling a story creatively and emotionally, especially when dealing with a heavy subject. We also cover lighter subjects such as being married to a concert pianist and being a Dad or the balance of writing music that pays the bills plus having fun creative projects on the side. We may have had one or technical difficulties at the beginning but I hope you enjoy this conversation like I did.

In the past year, Mikel Hurwitz has written for and conducted the Hollywood Film Orchestra at Warner Brothers and the Costa Rican National Philharmonic with the Los Angeles Film Conductors Intensive, scored the feature documentary Soul of a Nation, and seen his music grace over 40 feature films on six continents. But his journey as a composer began long before these recent milestones.

Born the same month that the iconic Juno-60 Synthesizer was released, Mikel first appeared in the Toronto Star at age two, playing drums in a toddler music class. From those early days at the Royal Conservatory piano bench to improvising on guitar as a teenager, Mikel’s musical path has always been eclectic. At 15, he attended his first film scoring session and never looked back.

After studies that took him from Vancouver to Oaxaca and eventually to the Berklee College of Music Film Scoring program, Mikel honed his craft in Los Angeles as Danny Elfman’s synth programmer and assistant while working on films like The Grinch, Dumbo, and Justice League. After contributing to music teams for major films he fully launched his own composing career, scoring award-winning documentaries and series like the Gentefied digital series, which was picked up by Netflix at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Now based in Toronto with his wife, pianist Irina Bazik, and their two children, Mikel continues to blend orchestral and electronic worlds, bringing a unique voice to the global film music stage.

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