USCUSC

Screen Scoring

Lolita Ritmanis

SCOR 502 PRIVATE INSTRUCTION

A one-on-one discussion about how best to approach a specific project(s) in terms of composition and harmonizing thematic material, then selecting an orchestra that its the needs of the Director and Composer. 15 weeks (2 units)

Lolita Ritmanis is an Emmy® Award winning composer (for “Batman Beyond”), 10 time Emmy® Award nominated composer, and a 2022 Grammy® Award winning music producer (for “Women Warriors: The Voices of Change.”) In 2023/2024 Lolita reunites with director Dzintars Dreibergs to score feature film: "Escape Net," as well as celebrates the release of Daniel Kreizberg's film: "Tahlequah the Whale: A Dance of Grief,” J. Michael Straczynski’s “Babylon 5: The Road Home” - featuring original music by Lolita, in addition to preparing for the world premiere at Carnegie Hall on February 9th, 2024 of two original concert works. In 2021 Lolita was Oscar® shortlisted for best score for her 70 minute symphonic and choral score for the feature film “Blizzard of Souls,” which earned her numerous awards, including the Society of Composers and Lyricists Award for best score for an independent film, the Hollywood Music in Media Award for best score for an international feature film, the Alex North Award for best score, as well as the Golden Microphone Award for best instrumental album, and the Big Christopher (Latvia's equivalent to the Academy Award.)

Lolita is one of the founders of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, serving as president 2016-2019, and a founding member of Dynamic Music Partners. Other career highlights include her original score for “Christmas in Rome” for Hallmark, documentary “Wild Daze” (featuring Jane Goodall), music for the gender parity series “Flip the Script” (starring Lake Bell), as well as continued work alongside her fellow Dynamic Music Partners, Michael McCuistion and Kristopher Carter on fan-favorite productions: “Young Justice,” “Batman: The Killing Joke” (starring Mark Hamill,) “Justice League” (the theme, composed by Lolita, received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination), “Batman Beyond” (Emmy Award Win), “Teen Titans,” “Ben 10,” “Batman: The Animated Series,” as well as the Primetime Emmy Award nominated musical “Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Mayhem of the Music Meister” (starring Neil Patrick Harris.)

Lolita's concert works have been performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Koerner Hall in Toronto, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, The Krakow International Film Music Festival, Fimucité International Film Music Festival in Tenerife, and Playfest in Ubeda, Spain. Early in her career, Lolita learned from the masters while working for such composing greats as Michael Kamen, Basil Poledouris, Mark Snow and Shirley Walker, among many others. Prior to focusing her career on composition, Lolita was an orchestrator on over 100 films, mini-series and television programs including Lethal Weapon 4, X-Files Movie, and Robin Hood-Prince of Thieves. She received her formal education at the Dick Grove School of Music, specializing in film scoring. Lolita is on faculty at USC's School for Cinematic Arts- Screen Scoring Program, as well as has presented master classes and seminars at Columbia College Chicago - Music Composition for the Screen, MFA, Berklee School of Music, NYU, as well as Hong Kong Baptist University Screen Scoring Program. Lolita is member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Society of Composers and Lyricists. In 2018 Lolita was honored with the BMI Champion Award, and in 2022 Lolita was honored with the BMI Impact Award.