I don’t remember a time that music didn’t play a part in my life. I picked up the flute in third grade and never looked back. I moved to Los Angeles almost ten years ago and started working as a recording musician. My ensemble, Helix Collective, has been recording chamber scores for most of that time, and connecting indie filmmakers and composers through our annual live score film festival.

Creating music is such a joy. Any time I get to walk into a studio or remote record original music and work with my fellow musicians is a true highlight. Looking back on each year, it’s the time I spend in those creative pursuits, working with composers, that I find most joyful. Every time I get to hear myself on a soundtrack or see Helix Collective in the credits makes me smile!

What is the Helix Collective? Who are they and what have you learned from that experience? What is Club Classical?

Helix Collective is a Los Angeles-based ensemble that specializes in multi-media, collaborative performance and recording. Helix has recorded the scores for over fifty films and produces concerts featuring film composers every year, including the Los Angeles Live Score Film Festival.

In addition to our film music work, our other collaborations fall into the Club Classical genre. We take our classically-trained musicians and imbue the music with genres from rock to EDM to just about anything that interests our collaborative composers. We always make our programs multi-dimensional, combining different styles of music and multi-media elements like film, storytelling, and dance.

Helix Collective’s Los Angeles Live Score Film Festival features short films with original scores performed live-to-picture by Helix Collective.

We produce the festival and pair filmmakers with composers to write original scores for the festival films.

It came about because we saw a disconnect between emerging filmmakers and their access to bespoke, original elements for everything in their films except the soundtracks. We wanted filmmakers to feel comfortable engaging with their composers and to be familiar with the magic that live musicians create in a score, so we decided to highlight all of this through the live festival performance. Plus, filmmakers get the live score experience which before we started the festival 8 years ago was limited to Spielberg and Williams at the Bowl!

Trust your instincts when it comes to collaboration. If something is telling you it’s not the right fit, don’t be afraid to cut your losses. If something is telling you this person is amazing and I would love to work with them in any capacity, find a way to do that. Nothing lasts forever, so you might as well go for the opportunities that set your heart on fire.

Interview by Valerie Manahan