Kyle Simpson
Composer and CSUN Professor
Kyle Simpson is a Los Angeles-based composer, trumpet player, and bandleader, is a graduate from Lawrence Conservatory of Music in Appleton, WI and The University of Montana in Missoula (MM), MT and West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV (DMA).
For the past 10 years, Kyle Simpson has been focusing on his career in film music and education.
He was awarded a Film Music Scholarship in New York City at the NYU/ASCAP Film Scoring workshop, where he worked one-on-one with film composers Mark Snow, Ron Sadoff, and Ira Newborn. He was also invited to participate in a Film Music Workshop in Southwest California (Palomar Film Music Workshop) working with composers Roger Neil and Larry Groupé in refining his craft of film & media composition.
Simpson is working with directors and producers regionally, nationally, and internationally. Collaborations include filmmakers such as Thomas Zoeschg, John Rice, Bruce Spiegel, John Cantine, Taran Singh Brar, and Tom Kurlander. He’s scoring movies, documentaries, videos, video games, ads, and short films (see Media and Film Scoring). Recent work includes a feature-length film from director Thomas Zoeschg and Black Deer Pictures entitled Every Night and Every Day. Simpson also finished short film projects with Slow Drift Productions (Zoe Xandra, director) with the films Green Hat Diner (2020) and Yearbook (2021).
One of his newest projects was the film score he completed in Thessaloniki, Greece as a part of the Fusion Film Scoring Workshop led by Mihali Paleologou. From his work at the workshop, Simpson was invited back to the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
His composition teachers include: Fred Sturm (Lawrence), Charles Nichols(UofM), and Sarana Chou and Joseph Dangerfield (WVU).
Simpson has written many works for large jazz groups, chamber jazz groups, solo trumpet, synthesized electronic music, Orchestra, and Wind Ensemble. His compositions have been featured at the Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival in Missoula, where he also performed with Lew Soloff and Paquito D'Rivera.
Other compositions have been featured at the HyperCube Composition Lab, the Chamber Music Festival in Île d'Yeu, France(2011), Atlantic Music Festival, Maine (2017), Alba Music Festival, Italy (2016), Uzmah Upbeat Croatia (2014), Charlotte New Music Festival (2013), Ostrava Days Czech Republic (2011), and The Henry Mancini Institute(2006), Los Angeles.
Simpson’s music has been described as, “lively with rhythmic vitality” and also, “lyrical with a brooding elegance.”
Before arriving in Los Angeles, Simpson held teaching positions at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, PA and West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV.
Currently Simpson is an Assistant Professor of Commercial Media Composition at California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles.CA.