Charlie McCarron

Charlie McCarron has composed for numerous award-winning films and series, including Emmy-nominated Beneath the Ink, STARZ documentary Silicone Soul, the prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia award-winning documentary Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary by KARE 11, and Incompleteness, which was named “Best Series” in over 30 festivals.

Charlie also writes folk songs, video game scores, and orchestral music. To open their 2021 season, the Minnesota Opera commissioned Charlie to compose Chim Lạc (Lost Bird) with writer and puppeteer Oanh Vu. In 2020, he Kickstarted the album 2020, featuring 20 Minnesota musicians recording from home during the pandemic. In 2018, Charlie was selected as a finalist in the Banaue International Music Composition Competition for his orchestral piece Balitúk: The Divided Child, traveling to the Philippines for a three-week immersion program in the mountain village of Banaue.

Charlie is the executive director of Film Score Fest, which has premiered over 100 new films with live scoring by an orchestra. For his podcast Composer Quest, Charlie crowdfunded a 2-month tour throughout the US, Australia, Taiwan, and Japan, interviewing and writing music with composers there. When he’s not making music, Charlie is usually drawing, editing videos, or creating board games in Minneapolis.