David Cortello is a composer, musician, and teacher. He received an MM and PhD in music composition from Louisiana State University, where he also taught music theory and composition. He directed church music for many years and taught theory, composition, and jazz history at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC. Today, he works as a freelance composer and musician. He has written and produced scores for numerous short and feature films and is fascinated with the connection between sound and image. His concert music is written for solo and small ensemble, orchestra, electronics, multimedia, film, and liturgy and has been performed by Tessa Brinkman, Athanasios Zervas, the CVCC College Chorus, the High Point University Chamber Singers, and the Louisiana Sinfonietta, among others. He has an abiding love for songwriting and is active in writing and performing original music.

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David Cortello is a composer, musician, and teacher. He received an MM and PhD in music composition from Louisiana State University, where he also taught music theory and composition. He directed church music for many years and taught theory, composition, and jazz history at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC. Today, he works as a freelance composer and musician. He has written and produced scores for numerous short and feature films and is fascinated with the connection between sound and image. His concert music is written for solo and small ensemble, orchestra, electronics, multimedia, film, and liturgy and has been performed by Tessa Brinkman, Athanasios Zervas, the CVCC College Chorus, the High Point University Chamber Singers, and the Louisiana Sinfonietta, among others. He has an abiding love for songwriting and is active in writing and performing original music.

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David Cortello is a composer, musician, and teacher. He received an MM and PhD in music composition from Louisiana State University, where he also taught music theory and composition. He directed church music for many years and taught theory, composition, and jazz history at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC. Today, he works as a freelance composer and musician.

He has written and produced scores for numerous short and feature films and is fascinated with the connection between sound and image.
His concert music is written for solo and small ensemble, orchestra, electronics, multimedia, film, and liturgy and has been performed by Tessa Brinkman, Athanasios Zervas, the CVCC College Chorus, the High Point University Chamber Singers, and the Louisiana Sinfonietta, among others.

He has an abiding love for songwriting and is active in writing and performing original music.

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Work Experience

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Education

Bachelor of Arts in Music at University of New Orleans
January 19, 2025 - May 20, 2000
Master of Music in Composition at Louisiana State University
January 19, 2025 - January 19, 2025
Bachelor of Arts in Music at University of New Orleans
August 15, 1996 - May 15, 2007

Qualifications

Finale Notation Software
January 1, 2000 - March 1, 2025
Cubase Pro Recording Software
January 1, 2000 - March 7, 2025
East West Sounds Online VST Library
January 20, 2000 - March 7, 2025
Dorico Notation Software
January 1, 2025 - March 7, 2025

Industry Experience

Education, Media & Entertainment
    paper Paper Boat
    SATB and Piano
    uniE603 I'll Be Your Hands
    Contemporary Church song
    paper Psalm 33: Lord Let Your Mercy Be on Us
    Psalm for SATB, Soloist, and Congregation
    uniE608 Guitar Work_Cortello
    Demo reel of a bit of David Cortello's guitar work
    paper Fallen

    This piece starts off with a simple piano part, slowly builds to an epic orchestral section, then back to a simple piano solo. I wrote the music, orchestrated the work and produced it.

    paper Animation Score

    This wonderful short film was created by Michael Bidinger and Michelle Kwon. I composed, orchestrated, and produced the music for this version for the Marvin Hamlisch Film scoring competition

    Watch and hear it here:

    paper Demo Reel

    This demo reel contains five film examples with music and video. Here’s a link:

    Artivational–stinger
    Harbinger–opening
    All Souled Out–opening
    The Sessions–goodbye scene
    The Sessions–writing scene

    paper Survive Together

    I composed the score for this short film . Here’s a link to the film: