SOUNDS OF MORGAN KELLY MOSS
Composer, Performer, Educator
Works
Selected Concert Music
Recent Film Score Excerpts
BEHIND THE MUSIC
Music has the power to transport us to another time and place. Morgan Kelly Moss harnesses that power with music and melodies that appeal to audiences of music lovers and fellow professionals alike. From a young age, Morgan has found great joy and satisfaction in making music and sharing it with those who have ears to listen. Find out more about Morgan below.
BIO
Let the Music Tell the Story
Morgan Kelly Moss (M.A. UCLA in-progress, B.M. Magna Cum Laude Temple University) is a composer, teacher, and pianist from Philadelphia, PA, currently based in Los Angeles. Morgan's music has a sound world that is described as neo-American with inspiration from nature, and always spirited with a twinge of optimism. Morgan's works have been presented by performers such as Hilá Plitmann, Suuvi (fka Sophia Bacelar), Lisa Pegher, and Phyllis Pan, and additionally has worked with ensembles across the country such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Brass Ensemble, Los Angeles Chamber Music Company, the Bach Society of Dayton Ohio, the Argus Quartet, the Chester County Band, Temple University concert choir, concert band, and composers’ orchestra. She currently studies composition with GRAMMY Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour, and also studied piano with world-renowned pianist Sara Davis Buechner for many years.
In 2023, her "Dreams of Holy Places" was selected by pianist and maestro Jeffery Jacobs to be recorded on an internationally distributed album of new works. Additionally, her work for solo trumpet and piano, "To the Ones who Know my Heart," was selected for performance from 90 international submissions by the International Trumpet Guild. She has also been accorded “Emerging Composer” by Tribeca New Music Competition.
Moss is also very active in scoring music for film; she currently works in Los Angeles at Bear McCreary’s composing studio, Sparks and Shadows. She has also scored over 30 short films to date, and in 2022 composed her first feature film score which was released in theaters in July, 2022. She is very proud to be a teaching fellow at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the founder of Everywhere Music Company, a TA at UCLA for Musicianship and Music Theory, as well as a teacher of piano, composition, theory, and voice at the Music Studio of Patricia Keith.
Morgan plans to graduate from UCLA in 2024, and continue to grow her career as a composer and teacher.
SERVICES
What’s Available
MUSIC LESSONS
Morgan is the founder of Everywhere Music Company, an online music school made for busy families and adults. Morgan also offers in-person lessons in Los Angeles, CA. Visit EMC's website or contact Morgan to get started.
FILM SCORE
Morgan has been working in the field of film score professionally for many years. She has experience in ALL genres, has scored feature films and more short films than you can count, collaborating with musicians on recordings, and even has experience producing and acting. Morgan will work within any budget. Contact Morgan to get started.
ORCHESTRAL DEMO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDzpBBmo9Vk
COMISSIONS
Commissions are a collaborative effort to create what the client has envisioned. Morgan works in the areas of classical music, songwriting, musical theatre, pop, and production work. Contact Morgan to get started.
ACCOMPANYING/PERFORMANCES
Morgan is available for accompanying on the piano or any keyboard instrument, collaboration with other instrumentalists, or solo performances at events such as weddings. She is also an experienced guitarist, flutist, and drum player. Contact Morgan to get started.
Selected Works With Video
WORKS FOR SALE HERE
Tyra Suite for Orchestra ~ Mov. I
Moss's "Tyra Suite" is inspired by ideas deeply rooted in her past. As a child, Moss was always very creative. Along with the constant music in her head were fantastical stories about dragons, mythical kingdoms, and other adventures, many of which ideas Moss wrote down in a short novel. While maybe Moss's short novel was not as articulate as she would have liked, the stories and the characters have stayed vivid in her head. Recently, Moss stumbled upon this short novel which was written in several notebooks and decided that the story should take on a new life through music. Read more and listen at the link above.
Aperi Ianuam ~ for SSAATTBB choir
Aperi Ianuam is a piece inspired by the Warner Sallman painting entitled “Christ at Heart’s Door.” This painting depicts Jesus preparing to knock on a wooden door lit from within, but with no handle. Thus being so, the one on the other side of the door must let Jesus in, as Jesus cannot let Himself in. Though the painting is indicative of a Christian religion, the painting is wholly representative of human’s search for spirituality... it must be sought out and will not just appear before them, but if they live with an open heart, they will find that it is all around them. The text is adapted from Matthew 7:7 ~ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all." ~ Emily Dickinson.
When Water is Still at Dawn paints the picture of Lake Placid in the early morning with a blanket of fog, brightened by the sun behind. During the time of writing, Moss was contemplating large-scale questions regarding meaning, and importance of things in her life. The music travels through the misty atmosphere, the dark water, and the deepness of these thoughts.
Moss’s “Storks” Piano Trio is a nostalgic work based on a series of paintings by her grandmother, Marry Ann Moss. Morgan has always enjoyed combining different types of art to create an overarching experience for the listener, both auditory and visual. The “Storks” Piano Trio is based upon a theme and variation and travels through the warm, misty atmosphere of the paintings, touches upon themes such as flying and leaving the nest, and personifies the nest when it is no longer used. The piece is very personal to Moss, and she hopes the listeners will enjoy experiencing “Storks” as much as she enjoyed creating it.
Invocation ~ For Violin and Viola Duo
Invocation (Morgan Kelly Moss, 2022) is a piece inspired by two halves of a person; the half that pulls us forward, and the half that holds us back. The piece paints the picture of a distressed soul, straining to get out of the same negative cycle. Sometimes, this stress can be so great that we turn to our mothers and fathers for help, and perhaps even God. Though the emotional tension in the music is real and tangible, there will always remain a glimmer of hope, and there is beauty through every human experience.
Dreams of Holy Places ~ Solo Piano
Morgan Kelly Moss Dreams of Holy Places I. II. III. : Dreams of Holy Places is a multi movement work for solo piano.
The first movement is based on a recurring location in my dreams. I am fortunate that I frequently have dreams, and I almost always remember them. In the dream, I was a child, and I would climb up onto a white stone bench and look out at a scene that was not always exactly the same… sometimes it was the ocean, sometimes it was a garden, sometimes it was rolling hills of wildflowers, but the scene always seemed to be sparkling in silver and gold. Most importantly, there was a presence next to me that was much older and wiser than I was (hence the title of this work) and the presence calmed me completely. It is not often that I hear anything specific in my dreams, but in this dream I always heard distant church bells. I felt I needed to do something with these dreams, and decided to write a piece about them. In the music, I wanted to capture the shimmering scene with the dissonances, the majesty of the presence next to me with the large moving gestures, and the chordal motif to signify the bells in the distance.
The second movement creates the character of another recurring dream where I floated underwater and butterflies carried me, flitting around my head. The music creates this playful scene and ends with a small splash as I exit the dream.
The third and final movement asks a question; what would God look like? Would he be gentle? Would he be larger than we can imagine? Would he come down from the heavens with majesty and terror? The music ends on this question, as we will never truly know.
MUSIC FOR COMMERCIAL USE
Music available for purchase through Pond5 for commercial use royalty-free at low prices.
CONTACT
Get in touch to learn more about Morgan Kelly Moss, collaborate, learn about commissions, or get more information on music lessons.
1601 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19121, USA, 2206 Apple Rd. Fogelsville PA 18051, USA
4842265480