Derry native honored for film scoring work

Jan. 5—DERRY — It may have started for April DiDomenico while attending Derry schools early on as she began to find joy in music, performance and learning all she could about the mechanics of creating and composing.

And all that experience has led her to be honored at the collegiate level for her talents for creating musical scores for film.

DiDomenico received Berklee College of Music's prestigious BMI Film Scoring Scholarship, naming the senior student the honor's winner during the college's "BMI Day," a celebration that included a film scoring session and lecture from Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer and Berklee alumnus Alan Silvestri.

Silvestri and Reema Iqbal, senior director of creative for film, television, and visual media at Broadcast Music Inc., or BMI, visited Berklee in November to honor BMI Day and to present DiDomenico with her scholarship.

Silvestri also participated in a special screen scoring session and lecture for Berklee students as part of the day's festivities.

"The Screen Scoring Department's relationship with BMI is one of the most important external relationships we have, and BMI Day is always a highlight for our department on campus," said Sean McMahon, department chair in a press release. "We are so grateful for all that BMI has done for Berklee's screen scoring students for almost 25 years and are honored by Reema and Alan's presence on campus to present the annual BMI award to April DiDomenico, a promising, up-and-coming composer."

The first BMI Film Scoring Scholarship was presented in 1998 by composer Michael Kamen. It is awarded each year to a student selected by the Screen Scoring Department based on the student's musical ability, financial need, and potential for career success.

"It has been a privilege to witness Berklee's Screen Scoring Department's commitment to educating aspiring film and TV composers over the years," said Iqbal in the release. "I'm thrilled to present this year's scholarship to a deserving and bright young talent, April DiDomenico."

DiDomenico has worked as a composer, conductor, copyist, librarian orchestra manager and performer while studying at Berklee and also was a proofreader for famed composer Danny Elfman's Hollywood Bowl performance.

DiDomenco's influences for her passion for music theory and composition comes from such names as Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Silvestri and John Williams.

Family, friends, teachers and other supporters along the way also helped strengthen her work ethic and inspired her to follow those musical passions.

"I'm so incredibly grateful to be the recipient of the BMI award this year and all the opportunities that come with it," DiDomenico said. "Thank you to my family and friends who have helped me along the way. Your support and teachings have meant the world to me."

Those early years growing up in Derry planted a seed of not only performance, but also an early love of music, and study of the more in-depth mechanics of what goes into a song or orchestral work.

The 22-year-old DiDomenico, a 2019 Pinkerton Academy graduate, offered her memories of those early years, attending Derry elementary and middle schools, getting involved in dance early on and eventually loving the flute.

She also joined choirs, but felt the instrumental world was drawing her closer as well.

"And I realized I wanted to (study) some sort of music theory," she said.

She delved deep as she got older into composers, studying theory, counterpoint and saying that's where her passion finally started to formulate for what path she wanted to follow as she got older.

During high school, DiDomenico said she really loved music theory, but also took part in the band, took on the role as drum major, played in wind ensembles and also played in the bell choir and learned the cello.

She credited teachers at the time for helping her form and mold her studies to make sure she could learn all she could.

"I realized I wanted to do some sort of composition theory," she said, adding her family all along was the strongest thread to help bind her dreams into a plan for the future.

She decided to continue to pursue her love of composition and theory at the college level, choosing to attend Berklee to study film scoring, one of the few schools that offered the level of study she wanted.

Now as a senior, her studies include scoring an entire short film —12 minutes — and that included organizing the musicians, and putting all the parts together for a final work.

As part of her senior portfolio DiDomenico also is required to compose five total works that could be orchestral, small chamber group, solo, etc., with one being a vocal piece.

DiDomenico realizes she may need to move to the west coast to pursue her musical composition dreams. One big dream is to someday work at Pixar, she said.

Until then, she said she is very appreciative of the Berklee honor that is helping her make her dreams come true.

"With this award I am excited to pursue working with film and media scoring through orchestration, copyist and music preparation, conducting and composition work," she said.