Visiting Artist Series: Pinar Toprak (Virtual Event)
Pinar Toprak
Image courtesy of the artist
The Berklee Visiting Artist Series is a live, interactive forum featuring some of today's most innovative professional performers and creators. These moderated discussions will focus on the topics of artistry, entrepreneurship, and social justice, and students will have the opportunity to actively participate by posing questions directly to guests. This event features a live interview with composer Pinar Toprak, moderated by Sean McMahon, chair of the Film Scoring Department.
Pinar Toprak B.M. ’00 is one of the most refreshing voices in film music. With her orchestral music for Captain Marvel, she became the first female composer to score a film set in the Marvel cinematic universe. Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, she began her classical music education at the age of 5. After studying composition and multiple instruments at the conservatory there, she moved to Chicago to study jazz before continuing on to Boston for a degree in film scoring from Berklee College of Music. She then moved to Los Angeles and earned a master’s degree at California State University, Northridge in composition at age 22 before working alongside legendary composers such as Hans Zimmer and William Ross. She has gone on to make a name for herself, scoring dozens of projects across many mediums, including the massively popular video game Fortnite, the Syfy television series Krypton, the thriller The River Murders, the period drama The Lightkeepers, and additional music for Justice League. Toprak was the recipient of the 2019 ASCAP Shirley Walker Award and also won the 2019 International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) Award for Best Original Score for a Documentary Film for her score to The Tides of Fate. She has also won two other IFMCA Awards for her work on The Wind Gods and The Lightkeepers, which was on the Academy Award shortlist for Best Original Score in 2011.
How to Participate
RSVP in the Berklee Career Manager. Once you are registered, we will send you a link to access the Zoom webinar 24 hours before the event.
Faculty and staff who wish to attend the event may request access. For questions, please contact Liza Levy, talent relations manager.
