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Faculty
Guest Speakers

faculty, speakers, visiting artists

NigelAshleyLees
Christopher Young
Juanjo Molina
Francesco Menini
Richard Bellis
José Vinader
Carlos Martin
Gorka Oteiza
Andy Hill
Garry Schyman
Pete Anthony
Maria Borg
Eimear Noone
Craig Stuart Garfinkle
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Nigel Ashley Lees

GEMS FOUNDER & DIRECTOR

Founder & Director of GEMS, Nigel Ashley Lees has a vision to create dynamic, exciting, enjoyable & purposeful, quality music education programs for people wishing to enter the Global Entertainment Industry. Bringing together professionals, industry specialists, educators, award winning music experts and composers to share craft skills & career development best practices for students entering the global entertainment industry.

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"A world class organization!"

Sebastian Ruiz VA

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Christopher Young

FILM COMPOSER

PROGRAM INSTRUCTOR

Christopher Young is an A list Hollywood film composer. A Golden Globe nominated composer whose credits include such horror films as Drag Me to Hell, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser and Spiderman 3 for which he received the Film & TV Music Award for best score for a dramatic feature film. Christopher Young has contributed to numerous young composers career development in Hollywood and continues to support, mentor and guide new film composers all over the world. Christopher Young is  Professor at USC teaching in the world renown “Screen Scoring” program, and has been teaching on GEMS prrams since we began in 2017.

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"The Best Program"

Christopher Young

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Andy Hill

GEMS Visiting Tutor

GRAMMY winning producer
Author. Former Vice President Music Walt Disney Pictures

Andy Hill is a GEMS Visiting Artist & GRAMMY winning motion picture music producer. Former Vice President of music production for Walt Disney Pictures, his films have earned 9 Academy Awards. Andy developed and directed MA Programs at Columbia & Berklee. Andy will be teaching a Masterclass from his book, Scoring the Screen. All participants will receive his book Scoring the Screen, to accompany his class.

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"Nothing stops Nigel"

Andy Hill

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Gorka Oteiza

GEMS Visiting Speaker

FOUNDER SoundTrackFest

Gorka Oteiza is a GEMS visiting speaker and writer, critic and founder of the brilliant SoundTrackFest. A popular online websites for news on film, game and TV music. Reporting from festivals, covering events, including articles and interviews with some of the leading composers of our time, like this interview with James Newton Howard. Gorka will be presenting his Masterclass, "It's not only about the music."

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"The experience in invaluable"

Jake Morgan

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Lolita Ritmanis

GEMS Visiting Speaker

Film Composer

Film Composer Lolita Ritmanis is the former President at Alliance for Women Film Composers and Member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.  Lolita  gave an Inspirational talk, exclusively for all our past and present GEMS Contemporary Woman Composers.

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"Had a wonderful time on the program"

Matthias Azzopardi

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Maria Borg

BLOG WRITER

COMPOSER FOR FILM

Maria Borg is a young, aspiring film-composer from Malta. Maria recently graduated from the University of Malta with a B.A. (Hons) in Music Studies, specialising in composition. Maria is the GEMS blogger, bringing her unique take on what's happening on all our GEMS programs. Marias Blog will include comments, opinions, reviews and interviews with GEMS faculty, participants and sponsors, keeping you up to date with all our GEMS programs.

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"I had the time of my life!"

Francesco Bortolussi

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Carlos Martin

FILM COMPOSER

MAD4STRINGS DIRECTOR

Carlos Martin is an accomplished Spanish based composer, conductor and co founder of the brilliantly successful and talented studio orchestra Mad4Strings. Carlos has worked in Los Angeles and London as a composer, and created music currently aired on Netflix or Amazon.

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"Amazing programs, amazing teachers!"

Guillermo Martorell

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Jose Vinader

MUSIC PRODUCER

GOYA WINNER

GOYA winner, Jose Vinader, legendary Spanish film music producer has worked on nearly 300 films, with composers such as Alberto Iglesias, for movies such as Captain Alatriste (Viggo Mortensen) & Automata (Antonio Banderas). Also with artists José Carreras, Alfredo Kraus, Paco de Lucía, Montserrat Caballé and orchestras such as the Madrid Symphony Orchestra & London Philharmonic.

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"The best orchestration classes I have ever had!"

Maria Vertiz

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Dr. Juanjo Molina

FILM COMPOSER

PROGRAM INSTRUCTOR

Juanjo Molina is a Spanish Composer specialised in Film Scoring, TV and Theatre. Juanjo is an experienced Composer, Songwriter, Arranger, Orchestrator & Conductor for Visual Media. Juanjo is the lead instructor on the Film Scoring Program Bootcamp and Christopher Young’s assistant.

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"An outstanding program!"

Gerard Mack

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Garry Schyman

GAME COMPOSER

PROGRAM INSTRUCTOR

Garry Schyman, is a GEMS Program Instructor, BAFTA winner & BAFTA nominated composer. Garry is widely recognised as a leading Video Game composer. Garry Schyman is Adjunct Professor at USC teaching in the world renown “Screen Scoring” program since 2010 and has been teaching on GEMS programs since we started in 2017.

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"Gems Music is a fantastic organisation"

Garry Schyman

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Craig Stuart Garfinkle

GEMS Visiting Speaker

EMMY Nominated Composer

Award Winning Music Producer

Craig Stuart Garfinkle is a GEMS visiting Artisit. An award winning music producer and Emmy nominated composer. His work includes feature films, trailers documentaries, network television, Commercials, stage musicals and albums.

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"incredible, amazing experience"

Susanna Alvarez

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Eimear Noone

GEMS Visiting Speaker

CONDUCTOR, COMPOSER, RADIO BROADCASTER

Eimear Noone is a GEMS Visiting Artist, and joined us once again this summer 2021. Eimear Noone's composing & conducting work includes 26 film and video game titles. Her score for "World of WarCraft: Warlords of Draenor" received the Hollywood Music in Media Award.  In 2020 Eimear Noone became the first female conductor in the history of the Academy Awards.

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"Had a wonderful time on the program"

Matthias Azzopardi

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First Artist Managment
GEMS Visiting Speaker

 Alexander Vangelos is the Composer Agent at First Artist Managment LA. Alexanders talk & Q&A on Artist Managment was fantastic, what First Artist Managment look for in a composer and the professional, caring relationships that they create with their composers.

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"I had the time of my life!"

Francesco Bortolussi

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White Bear

GEMS Visiting Speaker

Chandler Poling is the Publicist at White Bear PR. Chandler delivered his fantastic, comprehensive and brilliant talk and Q&A covering PR in the film scoring industry, the company ethos, the European market, and how White Bear support its family of composers.

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"I had the time of my life!"

Francesco Bortolussi

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Wise Music Group

GEMS Visiting Speaker

Tim Hayes is the Senior Creative Manager at Wise Music Group in London. His brilliant talk and Q&A covered Commissioning and Licensing for both score and commercially released material from a publishers perspective.

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"I had the time of my life!"

Francesco Bortolussi

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Alfonso G. AGUILAR

COMPOSER, PRODUCER

OSCAR NOMINATED

Founder of Sounditi

Oscar nominated composer, Alfonso G. Aguilar won the World Soundtrack Award’s Public Choice Award for his score to the Oscar-nominated film Klaus, Alfonso was the music producer of the Abbey Road acoustic sessions for “Guerra”, the latest album of leading Mexican artist Carlos Rivera, which achieved gold and platinum record recognition. He is also the founder of Sounditi; an audio branding firm that applies neuroscience and artificial intelligence to develop the music ID for big brands. He also founded his own music production company based in Los Angeles, Bucharest, and Madrid, that specializes in film scores.

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