Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) Composer
Kevin Kliesch (THUNDERCATS, SUPERMAN: UNBOUND) has earned his first EMMY nomination for his work on the hit Disney
Junior series SOFIA THE FIRST.
"Once I found out I had been nominated from the show's creator,
Craig Gerber, I immediately woke up my wife and told her the good news. We were both shaking with excitement!" said Kliesch. "It was such an honor to hear that the Academy thought my music for SOFIA THE FIRST was award-worthy."
Though primarily a daytime show, airing 9:30AM on Fridays, a SOFIA THE FIRST primetime special, The Floating Palace aired last year. Which means, though improbable, Kliesch could potentially be recognized with a primetime EMMY nomination later this year for the same show - a highly unusual occurrence in the music categories.
Originally from New Jersey, Kliesch is a graduate of, and former instructor at Boston's Berklee College of Music. A multi-instrumentalist, Kliesch plays piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, French horn, and saxophone.
Kliesch has worked as a composer and orchestrator on over 100 feature films spanning the past seventeen years, including FROZEN, THE HANGOVER, TANGLED and SHREK FOREVER AFTER. He parlayed his success as an orchestrator to composing, where he has found success in the animation genre - receiving his first
Annie Award nomination for his work on the THUNDERCATS series in 2012. That year he earned two more nominations from BSO
Spirit for their Jerry Goldsmith Awards in Best Television score (THUNDERCATS) and Breakout Composer of the Year.
Having worked on many successful Disney properties as an orchestrator, Kliesch was given the opportunity to compose for the Disney
Junior series SOFIA THE FIRST. His work on the series would earn Kliesch his second
Annie Award nomination as well as his first Daytime EMMY nomination. Kliesch's recent composing projects also include DC Comics' animated movies SUPERMAN: UNBOUND and JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR, along with the Walt Disney short film TANGLED EVER AFTER.
"My 6-year-old daughter runs in to my studio every morning and asks what episode I'm working on for the day," Kliesch explained. "She's Sofia's biggest fan since daddy writes the music, and also, she gets to see an episode before any other little girl does!"
SOFIA THE FIRST currently airs on The Disney Channel as part of the Disney
Junior programming, on Fridays at 9:30AM/8:30c.
