Carlos Rafael Rivera

Guatemalan-American composer

Carlos Rafael Rivera
Birth name	Carlos Rafael Rivera
Born	1970 (age 53–54)
Occupations	Music composer

Musical artist

Carlos Rafael Rivera (born 18 August, 1970) is an American composer based out of Guatemala.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] In 2014, his music score for the movie A Walk Among the Tombstones^[9] advanced for Oscar in the Best Original Score category.^[10] He has won an Emmy Award (for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special), a Grammy Award (for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media), and a Hollywood Music in Media Award (for Best Original Score in a TV Show/Limited Series) for his work in Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit (2020) and received two additional Emmy nominations (for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special and Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music) for his work in another Netflix miniseries Godless (2017).^[11]^[12]

Education

He attended Belen Jesuit Preparatory School for high school. He studied guitar and received a Bachelors of Music in Composition at Florida International University School of Music in Miami in 1996. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California.^[13]

Discography

Film and television soundtracks


Title	Year
Without a Map	1999
Dragonfly	2002
Crash	2005
Feast	2006
A Walk Among the Tombstones	2014
Godless	2017
The Queen's Gambit	2020
Just Beyond	2021
La Reina del Sur (season 3)	2022
Chupa	2023
Lessons in Chemistry	2023
Griselda	2024

References

^ "Who wouldn't want Randy Newman as a musical mentor?". news.usc.edu. 2 April 2015.
^ "CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA". naxos.com.
^ "Episode 45 Carlos Rafael Rivera". bretwilliamsmusic.com.
^ "Composer Carlos Rafael Rivera". Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
^ "Carlos Rafael Rivera scores "A Walk Among the Tombstones" starring Liam Neeson". thescl.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-19. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
^ "Interview with Carlos Rafael Rivera". filmsoundtrackcenter.com.
^ "PANTHER ALUMNI WEEK VISITING SPEAKER CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA". mesutozgen.com.
^ "PANTHER ALUMNI WEEK WELCOMES COMPOSER CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA, MEZZO-SOPRANO MISTY BERMUDEZ, SAXOPHONIST CHRIS CASTRO, AND FLUTIST ERNESTO FERNANDEZ". cartanews.fiu.edu/.
^ "Review: 'A Walk Among The Tombstones' Mostly Worth The Trek". forbes.com.
^ "Oscars: 114 Titles Advance In Original Score Category". hollywoodreporter.com. 12 December 2014.
^ "Carlos Rafael Rivera Scoring Netflix's 'Godless' | Film Music Reporter". Retrieved 2020-11-16.
^ "Carlos Rafael Rivera Scoring Netflix's 'The Queen's Gambit' | Film Music Reporter". Retrieved 2020-11-16.
^ "Composer Carlos Rafael Rivera". themiso.org. Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2016-06-20.

External links

Carlos Rafael Rivera at IMDb

Awards for Carlos Rafael Rivera
v t e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
1990s	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Dennis McCarthy (1993) seaQuest DSV by John Debney (1994) Star Trek: Voyager by Jerry Goldsmith (1995) Murder One by Mike Post (1996) EZ Streets by Mark Isham (1997) Fame L.A. by Robbie Buchanan, Maribeth Derry, Richard Barton Lewis, and Tom Snow (1998) Trinity by Martin Davich (1999)
2000s	The West Wing by W. G. Snuffy Walden (2000) Gideon's Crossing by James Newton Howard (2001) Six Feet Under by Thomas Newman (2002) Monk by Jeff Beal (2003) Monk by Randy Newman (2004) Desperate Housewives by Danny Elfman (2005) Masters of Horror by Edward Shearmur (2006) The Tudors by Trevor Morris (2007) Pirate Master by Russ Landau (2008) Great Performances by John Williams (2009)
2010s	Nurse Jackie by Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin (2010) The Borgias by Trevor Morris (2011) Page Eight by Paul Englishby (2012) Da Vinci's Demons by Bear McCreary (2013) Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey by Alan Silvestri (2014) Transparent by Dustin O'Halloran (2015) Marvel's Jessica Jones by Sean Callery (2016) Stranger Things by Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon (2017) Godless by Carlos Rafael Rivera (2018) Succession by Nicholas Britell (2019)
2020s	Hollywood by Nathan Barr (2020) The Flight Attendant by Blake Neely (2021) The White Lotus by Cristobal Tapia de Veer (2022) Wednesday by Danny Elfman (2023)

v t e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special
1950s	Walter Schumann (1955) No Award (1956–1959)
1960s	No Award (1960–1961) Richard Rodgers (1962) Robert Russell Bennett (1963) Elmer Bernstein (1964) No Award (1965–1969)
1970s	Pete Rugolo (1970) Walter Scharf (1971) John Williams (1972) Jerry Goldsmith (1973) Fred Karlin (1974) Jerry Goldsmith (1975) Jerry Goldsmith (1976) Leonard Rosenman, Alan and Marilyn Bergman (1977) Jimmie Haskell (1978) Leonard Rosenman (1979)
1980s	Jerry Fielding (1980) Jerry Goldsmith (1981) Patrick Williams (1982) Billy Goldenberg (1983) Bruce Broughton (1984) Allyn Ferguson (1985) Laurence Rosenthal (1986) Laurence Rosenthal (1987) Laurence Rosenthal (1988) Basil Poledouris (1989)
1990s	James Di Pasquale (1990) Richard Bellis (1991) Bruce Broughton (1992) Patrick Williams (1993) Lennie Niehaus (1994) Laurence Rosenthal (1995) Ernest Troost (1996) Laurence Rosenthal (1997) Bruce Broughton (1998) Richard Hartley (1999)
2000s	John Altman (2000) Arturo Sandoval (2001) Adrian Johnston (2002) Bruce Broughton (2003) Bruce Broughton (2004) Bruce Broughton (2005) Geoff Zanelli (2006) Jeff Beal (2007) Jeff Beal (2008) Howard Goodall (2009)
2010s	Alex Wurman (2010) Carter Burwell (2011) Javier Navarrete (2012) Mychael Danna (2013) David Arnold and Michael Price (2014) Rachel Portman (2015) Victor Reyes (2016) Jeff Russo (2017) Cyril Aufort (2018) Hildur Guðnadóttir (2019)
2020s	Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (2020) Carlos Rafael Rivera (2021) Cristobal Tapia de Veer (2022) Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson (2023)

v t e Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
1950s	No Award (1958) Anatomy of a Murder – Duke Ellington (1959)
1960s	Exodus – Ernest Gold (1960) Breakfast at Tiffany's – Henry Mancini (1961) No Award (1962) Tom Jones – John Addison (1963) Mary Poppins – Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman (1964) The Sandpiper – Johnny Mandel (1965) Doctor Zhivago – Maurice Jarre (1966) Music from Mission: Impossible – Lalo Schifrin (1967) The Graduate – Dave Grusin & Paul Simon (1968) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Burt Bacharach (1969)
1970s	Let It Be – The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr) (1970) Shaft – Isaac Hayes (1971) The Godfather – Nino Rota (1972) Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Neil Diamond (1973) The Way We Were: Original Soundtrack Recording – Alan and Marilyn Bergman & Marvin Hamlisch (1974) Jaws – John Williams (1975) Car Wash – Norman Whitfield (1976) Star Wars – John Williams (1977) Close Encounters of the Third Kind – John Williams (1978) Superman – John Williams (1979)
1980s	The Empire Strikes Back – John Williams (1980) Raiders of the Lost Ark – John Williams (1981) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – John Williams (1982) Flashdance – Michael Boddicker, Irene Cara, Kim Carnes, Doug Cotler, Keith Forsey, Richard Gilbert, Jerry Hey, Duane Hitchings, Craig Krampf, Ronald Magness, Dennis Matkosky, Giorgio Moroder, Phil Ramone, Michael Sembello & Shandi Sinnamon (1983) Purple Rain – Prince and the Revolution (1984) Beverly Hills Cop – Marc Benno, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Micki Free, John Gilutin Hawk, Howard Hewett, Bunny Hull, Howie Rice, Sharon Robinson, Danny Sembello, Sue Sheridan, Richard Theisen & Allee Willis (1985) Out of Africa – John Barry (1986) The Untouchables – Ennio Morricone (1987) The Last Emperor – David Byrne, Cong Su & Ryuichi Sakamoto (1988) The Fabulous Baker Boys – Dave Grusin (1989)
1990s	Glory – James Horner (1990) Dances with Wolves – John Barry (1991) Beauty and the Beast – Alan Menken (1992) Aladdin – Alan Menken (1993) Schindler's List – John Williams (1994) Crimson Tide – Hans Zimmer (1995) Independence Day – David Arnold (1996) The English Patient – Gabriel Yared (1997) Saving Private Ryan – John Williams (1998) A Bug's Life – Randy Newman (1999)
2000s	American Beauty – Thomas Newman (2000) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Tan Dun (2001) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Howard Shore & John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) (2002) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Howard Shore, John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) & Peter Cobbin (engineer/mixer) (2003) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Howard Shore, John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) & Peter Cobbin (engineer/mixer) (2004) Ray – Craig Armstrong (2005) Memoirs of a Geisha – John Williams (2006) Ratatouille – Michael Giacchino (2007) The Dark Knight – Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard (2008) Up – Michael Giacchino (2009)
2010s	Toy Story 3 – Randy Newman (2010) The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat (2011) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (2012) Skyfall – Thomas Newman (2013) The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat (2014) Birdman – Antonio Sánchez (2015) Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams (2016) La La Land – Justin Hurwitz (2017) Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson (2018) Chernobyl – Hildur Guðnadóttir (2019)
2020s	Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir (2020) The Queen's Gambit – Carlos Rafael Rivera / Soul – Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (2021) Encanto – Germaine Franco (2022) Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson (2023)

v t e Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Main Title Theme – TV Show/Limited Series
Max Richter (2014) Jeff Danna and Mychael Danna (2015) Victor Reyes (2016) Nick Urata and Daniel Handler (2017) Carlos Rafael Rivera (2018) Steven Price (2019) Nathan Barr (2020) Roahn Hylton, Jacob Yoffee, and Scotty Granger (2021) Craig Wedren and Anna Waronker (2022) Benjamin Gibbard and Tom Howe (2023)

v t e Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a TV Show/Limited Series
Alan Silvestri (2014) Jeff Beal (2015) Alex Heffes and Phillip Miller (2016) Laura Karpman and Raphael Saadiq (2017) Nicholas Britell (2018) Kris Bowers (2019) Carlos Rafael Rivera (2020) Jung Jae-il (2021) Brian Tyler and Breton Vivian (2022) Nicholas Britell (2023)