About / Bio
I Am A Storyteller.
Nothing excites me more in life than taking the time to understand a director’s narrative intention, and then to support it with my orchestral music, singing, or voice acting. As a composer, I create expressive and dynamic melodies that the audience will associate with characters and plot elements through the director’s vision. I also have a real concrete understanding of drama between characters because of my own training as an actor. As a conductor, I just love to be at the center of the music, assisting the orchestra in bringing it to life in the most cohesive way possible. As a voice actor, I bring characters to life with my high energy and enthusiasm through the director’s vision. As a singer, I put my heart in whatever song needs to be sung to tell any kind of story. It would be my absolute honor if we were to tell stories together.
Biography
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Michael Semanic is a film composer/conductor/voice actor who grew up surrounded by music. Being raised by two musicians, the house was always filled with music of many genres. His parents played trumpet and violin in symphonies and also for countless weddings - he attended over 100 of them as a child and got to understand how certain melodies played by Mom and Dad conveyed different meanings (the trumpet fanfare signaling that the bride is about to walk down the aisle, for example). He took piano and violin lessons to start his formal music education during elementary school years.
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His first experience with musical storytelling was at 7 years old when he acted in children’s plays at his church; followed by participating in community theatre. He instantly became infatuated with the rush of adrenaline one gets in a storytelling position. At 8 years old, his love for film music began when his parents gifted him the box set of the original Star Wars trilogy, and John Williams' sweeping orchestral themes began to dominate his imagination for years. Because of that, melodies that convey narrative intent became a huge part of his life.
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During his middle school years he performed in professional musical theatre throughout the Chicagoland area, including The King and I at the Marriott Lincolnshire, Oliver! at Light Opera Works as the title role, Merry Wives of Windsor at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and Kurt (u/s) in The Sound of Music at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Billy Zane and Jenn Gambatese. These incredible productions allowed him to get in touch with the performer part of his soul.
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Visit his actor's website with photos, videos, reviews, and more here: Michael Semanic (r2d216.wixsite.com)
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For a while he was on a path to keep pursuing acting and singing as a career, but something changed when he started high school. His love for film music and sweeping orchestral melodies and conducting was growing too much to be just a hobby. He decided to pursue a career of composing and conducting music for media, and from that point on began to compose with narrative purpose and look for opportunities to conduct live ensembles.
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He had the incredible opportunity to compose the full scores for two different radio plays at his high school, Frankenstein in his junior year, and Dracula in his senior year. For both productions, he auditioned, rehearsed, and conducted a student pit orchestra, and during the performance he coordinated (over headset) with the director and crew to keep the music and foley and dialogue in sync. What started out as a purely musical position had also transformed into a leadership one. The result was a wonderfully fun experience that truly affirmed his belief that this was the correct path.
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He learned about Berklee College of Music during his junior year, and discovered that it was essentially the only school in the country that offered an undergraduate degree in Film Scoring. Instantly it became his top school choice. He assembled a portfolio, prepared for the interview and audition, and now he attends his dream school and is thriving with all of the new knowledge about his favorite art form. He dreams of making other people feel the same way about his music that he felt about soundtracks as a kid, with hummable melodies that entrance you in the film’s world like nothing else.
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Not wanting to completely move away from performing, Michael decided to additionally take up voice acting. He recently discovered a deep appreciation of the voice acting art form through his favorite shows/games. He has always enjoyed creating character voices - even as a young child - so it’s a joy to revisit this craft and share it with others.
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At the end of the day, it all comes back to that same purpose: storytelling. Let's tell stories together.
Let’s Work Together
Get in touch so we can start working together.