Bear McCreary (born February 17, 1979) is an American musician and composer of film, television, and video game scores based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. His work includes the scores of the television series ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series (''Galactica 1980''), a line of ...

'' (2004), ''

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ''Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' is an American television series created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for ABC, based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, an ...

'', '' Outlander'', '' The Walking Dead'' and '' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'', The Serpent Queen, the video games '' Call of Duty: Vanguard'', ''

God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in both monotheistic and polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been p ...

'' and ''

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (; non, wikt:ragnarǫk, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disast ...

'', and the film '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters''. McCreary has been nominated for an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for his work on season one of ''Outlander'' and won one Emmy for the main title of '' Da Vinci's Demons''. He has also won a BAFTA for his work on ''God of War''.

Early life and education

McCreary spent most of his formative years in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (loc ...

. He is the son of author

Laura Kalpakian Laura Anne Kalpakian (born June 28, 1945) is an American author. She has also published under the pen names Juliet FitzgeraldPilcer, Sonia (December 2, 1990). Fiction. (review of Belle Haven). ''Los Angeles Times'' and Carenna Jane Greye. She is kn ...

and professor Jay McCreary of

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. His brother, Brendan McCreary, is also a musician. Bear has directed and produced several music videos for Brendan's band, "Young Beautiful in a Hurry". He graduated from Bellingham High School in 1997. He is a classically trained pianist and self-taught accordionist. He studied under the renowned

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

composer

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 origi ...

during which time he reconstructed and reorchestrated Bernstein's 1963 score for '' Kings of the Sun''. Their collaboration allowed for the complete score to be available as a soundtrack album for the first time in 40 years. McCreary went to

USC Thornton School of Music The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...

at the encouragement of Elmer Bernstein becoming his

protégé Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

and graduating in 2002 from Screen Scoring.

Career

Television

''Battlestar Galactica'' and ''Caprica''

In 2003, McCreary worked under primary composer Richard Gibbs on the three-hour miniseries which served as a pilot for the reimagined series of ''

''. When the show was picked up, Gibbs opted not to devote full-time to the regular series' production, and McCreary became the sole composer. He worked on the series until it reached its conclusion in 2009, scoring over 70 episodes. To date, six ''Battlestar Galactica'' soundtrack albums have been released, and have garnered a great deal of critical acclaim and commercial success. The soundtracks for seasons two and

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ranked amongst Amazon.com's Top 30 Music Sales on their first days of release. McCreary composed for the ''Battlestar Galactica'' prequel series ''

Caprica ''Caprica'' is an American science fiction drama television series. A spin-off prequel of the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), Caprica is set 58 years before the main series. ''Caprica'' shows how humanity first created the Cylon a ...

'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome''.

''Human Target''

McCreary provided the score for the series '' Human Target'' (based on the comic book of the same name). The pilot episode and main theme score had been recorded with a full orchestra. The series has the distinction of having one of the largest orchestras on television. The score to the finale of season one, "Christopher Chance", used the largest orchestra ever assembled for episodic television, and he took the opportunity to rerecord the main title theme with a new orchestration with this larger ensemble. In July 2010, he received his first Emmy nomination for the ''Human Target'' main title. In a post on his blog on July 25, 2010, McCreary announced the new creative leadership brought in for season two had not asked him to return for it, and he would be leaving the series.

''Black Sails''

The opening title sequence for '' Black Sails'' was composed by McCreary with a backing

sea shanty A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ''shanty ...

inspired theme. It accurately features an instrument of the period in the form of the

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

''Outlander''

McCreary has composed the soundtrack for each of the first five seasons of '' Outlander'', with the main title being sung by his long time collaborator and partner, Raya Yarbrough. In 2015, McCreary was nominated for an Emmy for the pilot ''Outlander'' episode "Sassenach" (S01E01; 2014-08-09).

Other series

During Comic-Con 2010, Bear McCreary attended panels for AMC's '' The Walking Dead'' and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' The Cape'' to announce he would be composing the score for both television series. On July 15, 2013, McCreary announced that he would compose the score for ABC's series ''

'' On September 4, 2015, McCreary released the official ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' soundtrack publicly. McCreary served as orchestral producer for the rock opera '' Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem'' airing on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

on October 27, 2013. This is a continuation of the Metalocalypse universe following the band

Dethklok Dethklok is a fictional melodic death metal band featured in the Adult Swim animated television series ''Metalocalypse''. The first official Dethklok album was released on September 25, 2007, entitled '' The Dethalbum''. The album debuted at n ...

. The music features a 50-piece orchestra. The soundtrack was released on October 29, 2013. McCreary also composed the score for the television series ''

Snowpiercer ''Snowpiercer'' () is a 2013 post-apocalyptic science fiction action film based on the French climate fiction graphic novel ''Le Transperceneige'' by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho a ...

'' which premiered on TNT May 17, 2020. ''Snowpiercer'' was also distributed online via

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

. The score for the '' Masters of the Universe: Revelation'' series on Netflix was composed by McCreary McCreary composed the theme and music for the television series '' Foundation'', an Apple TV+ series adapted from

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’s novels. The Season 1 soundtrack was released on September 24, 2021. The next year, he composed the score for the ''

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

'' fantasy television series '' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'', releasing an album along each episode.

Films

McCreary worked on several films providing additional music and conducting for '' My Baby's Daddy'' and '' Johnson Family Vacation'' before striking it off on his own and scoring ''

Rest Stop A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway serv ...

'' and '' Wrong Turn 2: Dead End'', both direct to video. After working with Shawn Papazian on '' Rest Stop: Don't Look Back'', the sequel to ''

''. McCreary made his theatrical film debut with '' Step Up 3D'' Following '' Step Up 3D,'' he scored three films directed by Joe Lynch, ''

Chillerama ''Chillerama'' is a 2011 horror comedy anthology film consisting of four stories (or segments) that take place at a drive-in theater playing monster movies. Each segment is a homage to a different genre and style. The first is "Wadzilla" and was ...

'', '' Knights of Badassdom'' and '' Everly''. '' Everly'''s soundtrack included a duet McCreary sang with his wife, Raya Yarbrough. McCreary has only worked with a few directors multiple times. Christopher Landon on three films, ''

Happy Death Day ''Happy Death Day'' is a 2017 American black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon, and written by Scott Lobdell. It stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. The film was produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions ...

'', '' Happy Death Day 2U'' and '' Freaky'', and director McG twice on '' Rim of the World'' and '' The Babysitter: Killer Queen''. Other notable film scores include Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, ''

10 Cloverfield Lane ''10 Cloverfield Lane'' is a 2016 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Dan Trachtenberg in his directorial debut, produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Dam ...

'', ''

The Cloverfield Paradox ''The Cloverfield Paradox'' is a 2018 American science fiction horror film directed by Julius Onah and written by Oren Uziel, from a story by Uziel and Doug Jung, and produced by J. J. Abramss Bad Robot Productions. It is the third film in th ...

'', ''

Child's Play (2019 film) ''Child's Play'' is a 2019 horror film directed by Lars Klevberg from a screenplay written by Tyler Burton Smith. Serving both as a remake of the 1988 film of the same name and a reboot of the ''Child's Play'' franchise, the film stars Aubrey P ...

'', and '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters''. McCreary's latest feature scores include '' Ava'', '' The Babysitter: Killer Queen'', '' Freaky'' and '' Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank''.

Video games

McCreary made an eight-bit rendition of the ''Dark Void'' theme, which was, originally, an April fools joke. However, the theme was used for the prequel, ''Dark Void Zero''. He composed all the songs in an eight-bit fashion by connecting the wires on an actual NES console and cartridge to create authenticity. He arranged James Rolfe's ''

The Angry Video Game Nerd ''The Angry Video Game Nerd'' (abbreviated as ''AVGN'') is an American retrogaming review comedy web series created by and starring James Rolfe. The series centers on Rolfe's titular skit character, often simply shortened to "the Nerd" (sometim ...

'' "

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" is a Christmas song that was originally written and composed for the 1966 animated special '' Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!''. History The lyrics were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, the music ...

" parody "You're a Mean One, Mr. Nerd" for the 2010 Christmas special, with orchestra and eight-bit audio elements. McCreary also performed with his orchestra live at

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

E3 2016 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 (E3 2016) was the 22nd E3, during which several hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily re ...

press conference throughout the show and composed the score of the 2018 ''

'' game. He also composed the music for its 2022 sequel, '' God of War Ragnarök'', for which he also plays a minor character in the game, a

Dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

named Ræb. In 2021, McCreary composed the score for '' Call of Duty: Vanguard''.

Personal life

McCreary married singer and songwriter Raya Yarbrough in 2010. They have collaborated on the music of ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''Outlander'', ''Defiance'', ''Da Vinci's Demons'', among other projects. Their daughter Sonatine, named after the musical term ''

sonatina A sonatina is a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementa ...

'', was born on June 2, 2014.

Influences

McCreary credits composers

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the ''Rambo'' franc ...

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classi ...

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review '' WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

, and

Shirley Walker Shirley Anne Walker (née Rogers; April 10, 1945 – November 30, 2006) was an American film and television composer and conductor. She was one of the few female film score composers working in Hollywood. Walker was one of the first female c ...

as being key to his growing up adoring film music. They were his heroes while he was growing up. Contemporary composers including

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living G ...

continue to inspire McCreary's growth.

Works

Films

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Official websiteMAFgest 2016 interview
on GeeksOn!
"Of Duduks and Dylan: Negotiating Music and the Aural Space in ''Battlestar Galactica'
by Eftychia Papanikolaou; chapter in ''Cylons in America: Critical Studies of Battlestar Galactica'', edited by Tiffany Potter and C. W. Marshall, 224–236. New York and London: Continuum, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:McCreary, Bear 1979 births American accordionists American film score composers American musicians of Armenian descent American television composers Living people Male television composers Musicians from Washington (state) People from Bellingham, Washington USC Thornton School of Music alumni 21st-century accordionists American male film score composers 21st-century American male musicians La-La Land Records artists Video game composers