Laura Karpman
American composer
title: "Laura Karpman" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["20th-century-american-jews", "20th-century-american-women-composers", "21st-century-american-jews", "21st-century-american-women-composers", "american-classical-composers", "american-film-score-composers", "american-lgbtq-composers", "american-video-game-composers", "american-women-classical-composers", "american-women-film-score-composers", "american-women-in-electronic-music", "juilliard-school-alumni", "lgbtq-classical-composers", "lgbtq-film-score-composers", "lgbtq-jews", "living-people", "university-of-michigan-school-of-music,-theatre-&-dance-alumni", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)"] description: "American composer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Karpman" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American composer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| background | non_performing_personnel |
| birth_name | Laura Anne Karpman |
| birth_place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| occupation | Film composer |
| genre | Film and television scores, video game scores, soundtracks, jazz, electronic |
| years_active | 1994present |
| spouse | Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum |
| website | |
| :: |
| background = non_performing_personnel | image = | caption = | birth_name = Laura Anne Karpman | birth_date = | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = Film composer | genre = Film and television scores, video game scores, soundtracks, jazz, electronic | instruments = | years_active = 1994present | spouse = Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum | website =
Laura Anne Karpman is an American composer whose work has included music for film, television, video games, theater, and the concert hall. She has won five Emmy Awards for her work, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. Karpman was trained at the Juilliard School, where she played jazz by day and honed her skills scatting in bars at night.
Early life and education
Karpman was born in Los Angeles and grew up singing opera and jazz. Her mother, a painter and sculptor, wanted her to grow up to be a composer and surrounded Karpman with music even before she was born. Karpman began her first compositions at the age of 7.
She worked with John Harbison at the Tanglewood Music Center, and attended Aspen Music School and the Ecole des Arts Americaines. At the University of Michigan, she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree studying with William Bolcom and Leslie Bassett. She received both her Doctorate and Master's Degree in Music Composition at the Juilliard School, where her principal teacher was Milton Babbitt. At Juilliard, Karpman also received mentorship from Nadia Boulanger.
Career
Compositions by Karpman have been commissioned by Tonya Pinkins, Los Angeles Opera, American Composers Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, the Juilliard Choral Union, Pacific Serenades, and percussionist Evelyn Glennie. They have been performed internationally. Karpman's theater catalog includes three musicals for Los Angeles's "A Noise Within" theater company, as well as underscores for dozens of classic plays. Among her media music credits are Steven Spielberg's Emmy-winning, 20-hour TV miniseries, Taken; and PBS's series The Living Edens (for which she received nine Emmy nominations). She has scored numerous films, television programs and video games (including music for supplemental Halo 3 materials and her award-winning score for EverQuest II).
She has held a residency at Sony Online Entertainment. Karpman received an Annie Award nomination for A Monkey's Tale, a short film commissioned by the Chinese government, which later premiered in the US and was performed by the Detroit Symphony.
Karpman's Grammy-winning Ask Your Mama premiered at Carnegie Hall on March 16, 2009, with performances by Jessye Norman, Cassandra Wilson, The Roots, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by George Manahan. With Langston Hughes's epic poem for a libretto, Karpman also took passages from Louis Armstrong, Big Maybelle, Pigmeat Markham and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, integrated with projected images by Rico Gatson and additional archival video, as well as Hughes's own poetry. Ask Your Mama was released by Avie Records in July 2016. Later, Karpman created "The 110 Project", an opera work commissioned by the L.A. Opera as a homage to the city's first freeway, I-110, as seen through four characters from 1940-2010, the lifespan of the freeway.
In 2014, Karpman co-founded the Alliance for Women Film Composers with Lolita Ritmanis and Miriam Cutler. The organization provides visibility and advocacy for women composers. In 2016, Karpman became the first woman elected to the music branch of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors.
Karpman composed the score for the Marvel Studios animated anthology series What If...? in 2021*,{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/lists/varietys-l-a-womens-impact-report-2020/laura-karpman/|title=Variety's L.A. Women's Impact Report 2020 |last=Garrett|first=Diane|date=2020-10-28|work=Variety|access-date=2020-10-29|language=en-US}} the streaming series Ms. Marvel in 2022 and the score for the superhero film The Marvels in 2023.* She composed the score for the 2023 film American Fiction, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.
Personal life
Karpman is married to composer Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, a fellow Milton Babbitt student. They have one son and live in Playa del Rey, California, in a duplex with an ocean view and a built-in studio.
She has a self-described lifelong obsession for drama, including soap opera, classical operas, and plays.
Filmography
Films
::data[format=table]
Television
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–2003 | The Living Edens | CBS Productions / BBC | 24 episodes |
| 2002 | Taken | DreamWorks Television | 10 episodes |
| 2002–2003 | Odyssey 5 | Columbia TriStar Domestic Television | 19 episodes |
| 2007–2022 | Craft in America | 18 episodes | |
| 2016–2017 | Underground | Sony Pictures Television | 20 episodes |
| 2019 | L.A.'s Finest | Sony Pictures Television | |
| Jerry Bruckheimer Television | 13 episodes | ||
| 2019 | Why We Hate | Amblin Television | 6 episodes |
| Won - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special | |||
| 2020 | Lovecraft Country | Warner Bros. Television Studios | |
| Monkeypaw Productions | |||
| Bad Robot | 10 episodes | ||
| 2021–2024 | What If...? | Marvel Studios Animation | 26 episodes |
| Co-composed with Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum for season 2-3 | |||
| 2022 | From Scratch | Netflix | 8 episodes |
| 2022 | 61st Street | AMC | 16 episodes |
| 2022 | Ms. Marvel | Marvel Studios | 6 episodes |
| 2025 | Marvel Zombies | Marvel Studios Animation | 4 episodes |
| Co-composed with Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum | |||
| :: |
Video games
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Awards and nominations
- 2024 nomination, "Best Original Score" for American Fiction
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- 2015 Membership Induction
American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 1984 win, "Charles Ives Award"
- 2007 nomination, "Best Music in an Animated Feature Production" for A Monkey's Tale
- 2003 win, "BMI Cable Mini-Series Award" for Taken
Game Audio Network Guild Awards
- 2004 win, "Best Arrangement of a Non-Original Score" for Everquest II
- 2004 nomination, "Best Music of the Year" for Everquest II
Hollywood Music in Media Awards
- 2023 nomination, "Best Original Score in a Feature Film" for American Fiction
- 2023 win, "Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film" for The Marvels
News & Documentary Emmy Awards
- 2008 nomination, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound" for Craft in America
- 2003 nomination, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound" for The Living Edens for "Big Sur: California's Wild Coast". Nomination shared with Nancy Severinsen, Clifford Hoelscher, Mark Linden, and Tara Paul.
- 2001 nomination, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft – Music" for The Living Edens episode "Kamchatka: Siberia's Forbidden Wilderness"
- 2000 nominations, "Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming – Music"
- for The Living Edens episode "Costa Rica: Land of Pure Life"
- for The Living Edens episode "Palau: Paradise of the Pacific"
- 1999 win, "Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming – Music" for The Living Edens episode "Madagascar: A World Apart"
- 1998 win, "Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming – Music" for The Living Edens episodes "Denali: Alaska's Great Wilderness", "Manu: Peru's Hidden Rain Forest", "Patagonia: Life at the End of the Earth"
- 2024 nomination, "Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score)" for Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed
- 2023 nomination, "Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score)" for Ms. Marvel: Time and Again
- 2023 nomination, "Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music" for Ms. Marvel
- 2021 nomination, "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)" for Lovecraft Country: Rewind 1921
- 2020 win, "Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score)" for Why We Hate: Tools & Tactics
- 2020 nomination, "Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music" for Why We Hate
- 2008 nomination, "Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score)" for Masters of Science Fiction: Jerry Was a Man
- 2003 nomination, "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)" for Odyssey 5: Pilot
- 2024 win, Best Original Score, for American Fiction
Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards
- 2023 nomination, "Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film" for American Fiction
References
References
- (8 June 2018). "Laura Karpman".
- (18 December 2023). "Breaking Baz: Composer Laura Karpman Discusses Infusing ''American Fiction'' with Hot Jazz & Rekindling a Classic Movie by Pioneering Filmmaker Dorothy Arzner". Deadline.
- "15 questions {{!}} Interview {{!}} Laura Karpman {{!}} Let's Hear it for the Girls".
- (31 January 2011). "Documentary: Avant-Garde Composer Milton Babbitt".
- Womack, Catherine. (2019-08-21). "History forgot these female composers. An L.A. music writer is helping us remember".
- "Premieres – Pacific Serenades".
- "Composer".
- "Laura Karpman".
- (1 June 2011). "Laura Karpman Interview: Returning to Game Music".
- "MAMA".
- Burlingame, Jon. (2019-03-03). "Starr Parodi Named President of the Alliance for Women Film Composers".
- Greiving, Tim. (2019-01-10). "Female Composers Are Trying to Break Film's Sound Barrier". The New York Times.
- "Academy Elects Steven Spielberg, Laura Dern to Board of Governors". The Hollywood Reporter.
- Tangcay, Jazz. (2022-05-16). "'The Marvels' Composer Laura Karpman Scores 'Ms. Marvel' on Disney+ (EXCLUSIVE)". [[Variety (magazine).
- Tangcay, Jazz. (2022-01-13). "'The Marvels' Lands Laura Karpman From 'What If...?' as Composer (EXCLUSIVE)". [[Variety (magazine).
- Rice, Lynette. (November 10, 2023). "'American Fiction' Composer Laura Karpman Jazzed Up Score For TIFF's People's Choice Award Winner – Sound & Screen Film".
- Raup, Jordan. (October 16, 2023). "American Fiction Trailer: Jeffrey Wright Finds Undesired Success in TIFF Audience Award Winner".
- "96TH OSCARS® NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED".
- (15 June 2010). "VNPAC: A Seat At The Table - New Music USA".
- Womack, Carolyn. (2019-08-21). "History forgot these female composers. An L.A. music writer is helping us remember.". [[The Los Angeles Times]].
- "Laura Karpman & Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum Scoring Disney+'s 'Marvel Zombies'".
- "2023 HMMA Nominations".
- Grein, Paul. (November 16, 2023). "Billie Eilish's 'Barbie' Song, Robbie Robertson's Scorsese Score Honored at 2023 Hollywood Music in Media Awards".
- "Laura Karpman".
- Neglia, Matt. (March 4, 2024). "The 2023 Satellite Award (IPA) Winners".
- (December 21, 2023). "AwardsWatch - Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) Nominations: Jon Batiste, Nicholas Britell, ''Barbie'' Top List".
- (February 14, 2024). "5th Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) Awards: ''Oppenheimer'', Billie Eilish, Nicholas Britell Score Wins".
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