I’ve scored 4 feature films and over 50 short films, including suspense/thrillers, drama, comedt, animation and trailers. See highlights on my IMDB page.
I am also known for live accompaniment of classic and contemporary silent films with Rich O’Meara in Silent Orchestra.
I began lm scoring in 1997, when I scored the feature film, Thirteen, with Cecil Hooker and Shep Williams. On the strength of critical response at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival, the lm was invited to the 48th Berlin Film Festival, where it was awarded a jury prize.
Intrigued by the possibilities, I began accompanying classic silent lms at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. I usually performed behind the screen, watching the lm backwards in almost complete darkness. This turned out to be good practice for my next gig with Rich O’Meara as Silent Orchestra. Together with we created a new sound for classic silent films by directors, such as Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, Marcel L’Herbier, Charles Bryant, Nell Shipman and Ray Smallwood.
We received critical acclaim for our surround scores for the Nosferatu (1922) and Salomé (1923) DVDs from Image Entertainment. We premiered our new score for METROPOLIS (1927) in 2011 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
I completed UCLA Extension Film Scoring Certificate program in 2019, where I learned how to orchestrate for symphonic woodwinds, brass and strings. I incorporate the orchestration principles into my MIDI virtual instrument based scores to create a virtual symphonnic production and augment that with live players when the budget allows.
In 2021 I returned to my songwriting roots in a joint collaboration with Pamela Gilbreath Kelly for her play, EVER WILL about the life of William Shakespeare. I've produced all songs for the play using my own instruments and the finest sessions vocalists from Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. The play made its debut in January 2025 with a staged-reading at the The Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s, Helen Borgers Theatre in Long Beach, California.
Silent Orchestra has appeared seven times at the National Gallery of Art and performed at film festivals and the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, Maryland, where their Nosferatu (1922) show became an annual Halloween event. Their 2001 DVD of Nosferatu with surround score is one of the highest selling DVDs of a classic silent lm and their score has been used on Turner Classic Movies. Their 2003 release of the 1923 lm, Salomé has earned critical acclaim.
I’ve played rock, jazz, R&B, country, comedy and film music in the Washington area since 1979. As a founding member of The Young Professionals, I was part of the legendary New Wave scene at the 9:30 Club in the early 1980’s. In the late 80’s I led the alternative pop group Danse of Guilt to critical acclaim and numerous songwriting awards.
I performed contemporary jazz with the Bruce Middle Group and played on the 1990 release Far and Beyond. In the early 90’s, I performed and co-wrote with Grammy award winning pop singer Margot Chapman (Starland Vocal Band). In the early 90’s I also performed original compositions and improvisations at weekly shows by the comedy troupe Gross National Product.
I have judged music competitions, including including the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest and the Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest. I won top composer prize in several short film competitions.
I studied music theory, performance and music of the non-western world at Frostburg State University. Later I studied jazz piano with Wade Beach and Burnett Thompson. Since moving to the Los Angeles area, I have studied, orchestration through the UCLA Extension lm scoring program.
Contact: cg at CarlosGarza dot com
Savannah Film Festival 2014, Special Screening of Nosferatu at the Lucas – Photography by John McKinnon courtesy of SCAD.