Mason Music Alum, Vincent Oppido, composes music for latest Star Wars video game

The audio recording above is one of Vincent Oppido's contributions to Star Wars, Jedi: Fallen Order.

When Music alum, Vincent Oppido (2008, BA in Music, 2010, MM in Conducting), was asked by composer Gordy Haab (a native of Richmond), if he would write and arrange some music for the latest Star Wars video game, Jedi: Fallen Order, his answer was a resounding "yes!" Despite the tight deadline he would be working under, once Vincent heard the words "Star Wars" and "90+ piece orchestra recording at Abbey Road," he was sold. Oppido said that it was a wonderful experience and that Haab is a terrific composer whose music kept him on his toes!

A rising talent in Hollywood, Oppido’s music is “melodically classical yet unafraid to introduce new ideas” (Damon Lindelof). His music has been performed and recorded in Europe and Japan, and across the United States from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood scoring stages of Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures Studios.

Oppido’s recent scoring credits include the CollegeHumor series Troopers, and the indie films Alien Code (Archstone/Sony Home Pictures - starring Kyle Gallner and Richard Schiff) and Watch the Sky (Breaking Glass Pictures - starring Renee O’Connor). Other writing credits include original music for Sinclair Oil's 2017 commercial advertisements and musical source arrangements for projects such as It Happened In LA (Sundance Selected) and the upcoming Paramount Pictures film What Men Want. He has also composed additional music for projects including Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween and TruTV’s Adam Ruins Everything: Reanimated History. Also an orchestrator, Oppido has worked on projects such as Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2, Cobra Kai, and NBC's Timeless. His first job in Hollywood, as a music proofreader, enabled him to work on dozens of motion pictures and television shows including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Frozen, Family Guy and The 2013 Oscars.

In addition to work in film and television, Oppido has received numerous commissions for the concert hall, garnering performances in such prestigious venues including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Symphony Hall in Boston and Carnegie Hall. His most recent commission, Three Happenings While Walking Down Main Street, will receive its premiere by the United States Air Force Band in 2020. In December 2018 his work, Cosmic Escapades, was premiered by The United States Army Band at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. Past commissions include Fanfare to an American Heritage for the United States Army Bugle Corps, An American Expedition for the Montana All-State Orchestra, and New York, New York: Postards to Home for the Nassau Music Educators Association Division V All-County Band. Oppido also composed Patriot Pride, George Mason University’s alma mater and arranged an overture for Brian Stokes Mitchell’s concert show.

The very latest gig for Vincent was last month working on a new ident (corporate identity, like a logo) composed by Jonathan Hartman, for the tabletop fantasy game, Warhammer, to be placed at the front of all future media. "My friend Jonathan Hartman wrote a fantastically dark logo, with a few additional alterations for various lengths of time." said Oppido. "Once they were approved by Games Workshop (owns Warhammer), I orchestrated the music, then we all went to London to record with the fabulous musicians at AIR." See the image below.

Originally from Long Island, New York, Vincent studied composition and conducting at George Mason University with Mark Camphouse, Anthony Maiello, and Dennis Layendecker, and was invited to attend the Scoring for Motion Picture and Television program at the University of Southern California. He was selected as a 2012 participant in the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop with Richard Bellis and also spent a summer studying at the Aspen Music Festival. Oppido is represented by REJ Entertainment and is a member of ASCAP.

This summer (2020), Vincent will be back for a third year teaching musically advanced high school students at a Mason Academy workshop called the Art of Filmscoring.

Watching students' compositional growth in just a few days of study at the camp is wonderful to witness. One of my favorite moments is at the end of the week when the students share the scenes they rescored.

Vincent Oppido on teaching a filmscoring workshop at the Mason Academy.