World Soundtrack Award-nominated composer Logan Nelson scores projects that transcend expectations and evoke complex and visceral emotions. Nelson has composed and arranged additional music on Netflix’s critically acclaimed “Dear White People”, and Shonda Rhimes’ “For The People”. He worked closely on these projects with Emmy-winning composer Kris Bowers.
Alongside Bowers, Nelson provided additional music on the Sundance-winning film, “Monsters and Men”, that hit theaters nationally in Fall 2018. He also wrote for the Tribeca-selected film, “Unstoppable”. Previously, Nelson assisted for Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions with a number of prominent film composers.
Nelson is signed with Found Options Music, with whom he has demoed projects for advertising with brands like Google, Nexus, Prudential and NYU Lagone. He is currently scoring the $150,000 Netflix-spec “Skyvault” and managing a multi-person music team. Besides scoring for film, Nelson recently composed a ten-minute long suite that was choreographed for live dance and performed in two sold out shows. As a producer, Nelson is in the band LightHouse, which creates “mature, highly-refined synth-pop” (NestHQ).
At the University of Southern California (USC), Nelson was involved in the intensive study of music theory, aural skills, counterpoint, and orchestration, while being a member of the Dean’s List. He studied with Pulitzer prize-nominated Ted Hearne and BAFTA-winning Garry Schyman. During his time at USC, Nelson collaborated closely with countless directors in the USC School of Cinematic Arts on over 30 original film scores – from fully synthetic scoring, to conducting and recording live scoring sessions, to a hybrid of the two.
Nelson’s scores have won awards at film festivals, such as Best Score at the NYC Indie Film Awards (Pepper). He is a 2015 ASCAP Morton Gould Finalist and two-time National YoungArts Foundation winner (2015/16). In 2014, he was fortunate to attend the ASCAP/NYU Film Scoring Workshop and study with Emmy award-winning composer, Sean Callery. Additionally, Nelson has won composition awards from the University of Miami, MTNA, NAfME, KMEA, the Foundation for Modern Music and the National Foundation of Music Clubs.
In addition to composition, Nelson is also an accomplished pianist and violist. He has played the piano since the age of five and the viola since the age of nine.
Nelson attended USC pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition with a minor Cinematic Arts. He has also studied Music Production and Technology through the Berklee College of Music.
“Oklahoma is such a hidden gem within the film and music industries. Working as a composer in both film and music, it’s rare for me to find such a community of artists that intersects and inspires one another. This collaboration, this family, is what inspires my work. There’s not a moment when driving through Oklahoma that I’m not inspired to create. Additionally, without the incredible music educators of Oklahoma, I don’t think I would be where I am today so I thank them for their support of young artists.”
For more information and to listen to his music, please visit the Logan Nelson’s listing in the Oklahoma Music Directory.
