Pinar Toprak
Pinar Toprak | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 October 1980 Istanbul, Turkey |
| Alma mater | Istanbul University State Conservatory Berklee College of Music |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Film and television scores, jazz, rock, electronic, new-age |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboards, synthesizer, guitar, violin |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Website | pinartoprak |
Pinar Toprak (Turkish: Pınar Toprak; born 18 October 1980) is a Turkish-American composer, conductor, and musician, who specializes in creating thematic film and television scores.[1] She is a two-time Grammy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nominee.
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.[2] She memorized the dialogue from the 1978 film starring Christopher Reeve, and dubbed it to Turkish.[3][4]
Toprak enrolled in the Istanbul State Conservatory, the oldest conservatory in Turkey. During her studies there, she focused on composition and multi-instrumentalism.[1] She began as a violinist and later switched to guitar.[3]
She finished high school at 16, and after her 17th birthday she 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."[3]
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.[6] It was at CSUN where she was recommended for an internship at Paramount Pictures at the age of 20.[6]
Career
At Paramount she attended scoring sessions[3] and worked for Hans Zimmer's production company, Media Ventures International (now Remote Control).[8] She also trained in programming sample instruments.[6] She left Zimmer's company after a year to work as assistant to composer William Ross.[6]
In 2006 she composed the score for the video game Ninety-Nine Nights,[8] 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 wrote the fanfare for Skydance Media from 2010 to 2022.[5]
Her score for the romantic comedy The Lightkeepers (2009) won the 2010 International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) Award for Best Comedy Score[8] and made it to the 2011 Academy Award Shortlist for Best Original Score.[8] She composed the score for 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 left after production companies Warner Bros. and Skydance Media hired a new director for the film's reshoots; she was later replaced by Lorne Balfe. The same year, composer Danny Elfman hired Toprak to write additional music for the 2017 DC film Justice League (Dir. Zack Snyder).[3]
Toprak auditioned and pitched a main theme for the Marvel Studios film Captain Marvel, making her the first woman to ever score a major superhero film, and the first to compose for a film that made more than $1 billion.[5]
In 2019 she received a nomination for the World Soundtrack Awards.[9][10]
Toprak's other prominent works include the films The Lost City, Slumberland, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Lonely Planet, and the television series Krypton, Stargirl, McMillions (for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Original Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special) and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.[11] She is the first Turkish composer to be nominated for an Emmy.[12] Her work on the 2018 film 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.[1]
In 2022, Amazon hired Toprak to compose and conduct a new theme for its Thursday Night Football telecasts, marking the first time a female 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]
Toprak was nominated twice for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media for scoring the video game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2023).
Toprak scored the orchestral parts of Luminous The Symphony of Us[16], a fireworks-based nighttime spectacular at EPCOT at Walt Disney World Resort that debuted in 2023.
Personal life
In 2008 Toprak married Thanos Kazakos, a music composer and sound design major from Greece. They had met at Berklee, and had a son and a daughter. They divorced in 2013.[3] She currently resides in Los Angeles.[1]
Discography
| † | Denotes titles that have not yet been released |
Film
Television
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Loch Ness Terror | Television film |
| Ogre | ||
| Ba'al | ||
| 2009 | Wyvern | |
| 2010 | Mongolian Death Worm | |
| Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf | ||
| 2015 | Clan of the Cave Bear | |
| 2016 | Falling Water | 4 episodes |
| 2018–19 | Krypton | 20 episodes |
| 2020–22 | Stargirl | 39 episodes[21] |
| 2020 | McMillions | 6 episodes |
| 2024–25 | Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft | with Gerrit Wunder 16 episodes |
| 2025 | Bad Thoughts | 6 episodes |
Documentary works
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Pregnant in America | Steve Buonaugurio | |
| 2013 | The Wind Gods | Fritz Mitchell | |
| 2015 | In Utero | Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal | |
| 2018 | The Tides of Fate | Fritz Mitchell |
Video games
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Ninety-Nine Nights | with Takayuki Nakamura |
| 2017 | Fortnite | Additional music |
| 2023 | Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora |
Other work
- Christina Aguilera: The Xperience Las Vegas Residency (2019) (residency intro)[22][23]
- Skydance Media fanfare (2010–22)
- "Learning to Fly", single by Christina Aguilera (2023; producer)
- Prime Video Sports theme (2022–present)[24]
- Luminous The Symphony of Us, music from the EPCOT nighttime spectacular at Walt Disney World Resort (2023)
Awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASCAP Award | 2019 | Shirley Walker Award | The Tides of Fate | Won | [10] |
| International Film Music Critics Association Awards | 2010 | Best Original Score for a Comedy Film | The Lightkeepers | Won | [25] |
| 2011 | Best Original Score for a Documentary Film | The Wind Gods | Won | ||
| 2019 | Best Original Score for a Documentary Film | The Tides of Fate | Won | ||
| Grammy Awards | 2025 | Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media | Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora | Nominated | [26] |
| 2026 | Nominated | [26] | |||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2020 | Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special | McMillions ("Episode 1") | Nominated | [27][12] |
| World Soundtrack Awards | 2019 | Public Choice Award | Captain Marvel | Nominated |
References
- ^ a b c d "About". Pinar Toprak. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ White Bear PR (19 May 2020). White Bear PR Composer Talk with Pinar Toprak (video). Archived from the original on 16 October 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b c d e f Greiving, Tim (27 October 2020). "The Billion-Dollar Composer". Alta Online. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ Guerrasio, Jason (24 August 2018). "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". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ a b c Ashton, Kimberly (27 June 2018). "Composer Pinar Toprak Cracks Celluloid Ceiling with Captain Marvel | Berklee College of Music". Berklee College of Music. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Ashton, Kim (1 April 2019). "Breaking a Sound Barrier with Captain Marvel | Berklee College of Music". www.berklee.edu. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ Karajica, Tara (13 September 2020). "Interview with Pinar Toprak – Fade to Her". FadeToHer. Archived from the original on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d Gustafson, Alice (20 July 2020). "Pinar Toprak: Super Scores". Headliner. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Second Wave of Nominees 19th World Soundtrack Awards Revealed". World Soundtrack Awards. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ a b "20 ASCAP Screen Music Greats Nominated for World Soundtrack Awards". ASCAP. 15 August 2019. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Pinar Toprak". IMDb. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ a b "Pınar Toprak Becomes First Turkish Composer Nominee for Emmys". Hürriyet Daily News. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ a b Newman, Melinda (18 August 2022). "Pinar Toprak Composes New Theme for Prime Video's 'Thursday Night Football': Hear It Now". Billboard. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
The driving, propulsive track soars and builds with a tension that mimics the tense action on the field.
- ^ Berlingame, Joe (19 July 2022). "'Captain Marvel' Composer Pinar Toprak Pens Theme for Amazon Prime's 'Thursday Night Football'". Variety. Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
A triumphal, brass- and drum-heavy earworm that builds in intensity and power over its full three-minute duration.
- ^ Bumbaca, Chris (18 August 2022). "'A New NFL Tradition': Prime Video Releases Theme Song for 'Thursday Night Football'". USA Today. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
You listen to this once, you're humming the theme.
- ^ Toprak, Pinar (2024). "Luminous: The Symphony of Us (Music from the ECPOT Nighttime Spectacular)". Apple Music. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Pinar Toprak". IMDb. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ Burton, Byron (14 June 2018). "'Captain Marvel' Enlists Pinar Toprak As Composer". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Pinar Toprak Scoring Zach Parrish's Disney Animated Short 'Us Again'". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Pinar Toprak to Score Cal Brunker's 'PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie'". Film Music Reporter. 25 January 2023. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Season 2 Episode 11 | Pinar Toprak Took a Pivotal Trip to Tower Records". Score: A Film Music Documentary. 25 June 2019. Archived from the original on 6 January 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "Home Page – Pinar Toprak". pinartoprak.com. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ Toprak, Pinar (29 May 2019). "I've Had the Incredible Honor to Write the Opening for Christina Aguilera's (...)". Facebook. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ Pinar Toprak - Topic (17 August 2022). Prime Video Sports Theme. Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023 – via YouTube.
- ^ Flores, Oscar (2 March 2011). "Pinar Toprak Receives Her IFMCA Award for The Lightkeepers". IFMCA: International Film Music Critics Association. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ a b "| Artist | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Pinar Toprak". Television Academy. Retrieved 31 December 2023.