LOS ANGELES, July 3, 2008 – BMI continues to celebrate and nurture the art of conducting by hosting its annual Conducting for the Film Composer workshop, now in its 11th year. Taught by BMI Classic Contribution Award-winner, conductor and composer Lucas Richman, this innovative course seeks to refine and develop the conducting skills of eight BMI film and television composers selected to participate as students. Classes will be held at The Musicians Institute in Hollywood over a two week period commencing July 8.

This year\'s students are an exemplary group of working film and television composers: David Kitay (Because I Said So, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle), Michael Picton (Flash Gordon, Little Chenier), Rob Cairns (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Bachelorette), Tim Jones (Chuck, The Death and Life of Bobby Z), Dan Slider (America\'s Funniest Home Video, Touched by Evil), Barbara Cohen (Truth Has Fallen, American Shopper), Mark Koval (Batman, The Animated Series, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest) Gingger Shankar (Sundance Composer Lab Fellow). The class is coordinated by BMI\'s Senior Director of Film/TV Relations, Ray Yee, and BMI\'s Film/TV Relations staff.

BMI recently recognized Lucas Richman with the 2007 Classic Contribution Award for 10 years of service leading BMI\'s celebrated Conductor\'s Workshop. A BMI composer and conductor, Richman has led the workshop since its inception. Presently Music Director and Conductor for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Richman is a leading expert in conducting and composing, having fashioned an outstanding career as a conductor with numerous symphonies and orchestras in the U.S. He has also proved himself an invaluable collaborator for numerous film composers, serving as conductor for movies including the Academy Award-nominated As Good As It Gets, Face/Off, Seven, Breakdown, Anastasia and The Village.

Past participants in the highly touted lab include composers Cliff Martinez, Stewart Copeland, Camara Kambon, Danny Pelfrey, Richard Gibbs, Bill Brown, Bennett Salvay, Rolfe Kent, James Levine, Anthony Marinelli, Alex Wurman, David Schwartz, Tyler Bates, Nathan Barr, James Venable, Mervyn Warren, Chris Lennertz and Laura Karpman.

Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI) is an American performing right organization that represents more than 375,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI\'s most recent financial results, $839 million in performing right collections for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, were the highest for any copyright organization in the world. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for over 65 years. The non-profit-making U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.

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Contacts:

Marlene Meraz, BMI

310/289-6325; MMeraz@bmi.com


Hanna Pantle, BMI

310/289-6328; HPantle@bmi.com