Nicole Garcia:

 

Fresh off the stage of the 2023 Oscars with Diane Warren and Sofia Carson, Nicole Garcia, professional violinist, is currently a part of Lady Gaga’s Las Vegas residency at The Park MGM. She has performed with Billie Eilish at the 2022 Oscars and this year’s Grammy Awards with Luke Combs. She can also be heard on the title track for the movie “Aretha’ and on the score of the recently premiered “You Can Have Her,” a previously unreleased composition by Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello that was recorded in 2021.

 

She has also played with A-list artists such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Paul Oakenfold, Alicia Keys, Smokey Robinson, Eminem, and Will.I.AM. She has appeared on TV shows such as American Idol, Ellen, The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Dancing With the Stars, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Voice. She toured with Kanye West and Drake, and smashed the Grammys with many artists such as Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna. She is also on the score of video games such as Resident Evil 7, God of War III, Company of Heroes 2, and Fortnite, along with countless movie scores, records, and awards shows.

 

Garcia graduated on full scholarship from the University of California, Los Angeles receiving a BA in violin performance and a graduate of the Idyllwild Arts Academy. She currently lives, records, and produces in Los Angeles, CA.

 

Michael Mortilla:

 

Michael D. Mortilla is an award winning composer, sound designer, and visual artist. His musical journey started at the age of 4, with his only formal training being in orchestral percussion (public school, grades 3 to 12). He is otherwise self-taught.

 

Over the past five decades, Mortilla has focused primarily on collaborative projects. He has performed his own works with, and under commissions from, the Chicago Symphony, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Library of Congress, National Film Preservation Foundation, and many others. His work has been performed at the National Archives, PIXAR, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Motion Picture Association, and the 1996 Olympics. You can also catch his work on NPR, PBS, TCM and various other TV programs, in countless theaters, and in concert halls around the world.

 

Mortilla was the last composer to collaborate in a produced work by legendary choreographer, Martha Graham and toured internationally as her company pianist. The world’s first broadcast of a feature film with sound (Chaplin’s “The Rink” – 1997 American Film Institute) was accompanied by a score from Mortilla. He was resident composer/sound designer at UC Santa Barbara for over 14 years and has guest lectured at CALARTS in classes on music & sound for film and animation. Mortilla has composed well over 2,000 produced works for theater, dance, spoken word, film, silent film, magic, puppetry, and various performing arts, and is honored to continue his collaboration with the wonderful Catalina Museum for Art & History.