News

06.02.2004
BMI Foundation Names 2004 Pete Carpenter Film Composing Fellows

BMI Foundation President Ralph N. Jackson announced today that Jon Ophoff and Mark Petrie are the winners of the 16th Annual Pete Carpenter Fellowship, a competition open to aspiring film and TV composers under the age of 35. The Fellowship was established by the BMI Foundation and Carpenter's family, colleagues, and friends to honor the late composer whose credits include television themes and scores such as The A-Team, Magnum P.I., The Rockford Files, Hardcastle and McCormick, Hunter and Riptide.

Jon Ophoff	Mark Petrie

The Pete Carpenter Fellowship winners are given the opportunity to intern with renowned BMI TV composer Mike Post in his Los Angeles studio and meet with other distinguished theatrical, film and television composers. Post was Carpenter's longtime partner and is the writer of some of the most memorable theme songs in television history, including Hill Street Blues, Magnum P.I., The Rockford Files, NYPD Blue, The A-Team, Law and Order, L.A. Law, Quantum Leap and City of Angels. A stipend for travel and living expenses is also part of the award.

Jon Ophoff is an active composer, conductor, and pianist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan School of Music where he studied a customized curriculum of film music composition in the Artists and Scholars Honors Program. He has written a variety of pieces for choir, orchestra, and electronics, as well as having provided soundtracks to a number of films, including Absence (2003) and Jones (2002). His musical direction credits include the University of Michigan's Festival of New Works.

Mark Petrie grew up in New Zealand, where he first studied piano and composition. Passionate about film music from an early age, he traveled to Boston, MA in 1999 after receiving a scholarship to study film scoring at Berklee College of Music. Since completing his degree in 2002, Mark has gone on to compose for a wide range of award winning films including Café and Tobacco starring Enrique Murciano (Miss Congeniality 2, Black Hawk Down) and Murder Reincarnated starring Cristián de la Fuente (Basic, Driven).

The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1985 to support the creation, performance, and study of music through awards, scholarships, commissions and grants. Tax-deductible donations to the Foundation come primarily from songwriters, composers and publishers, BMI employees and members of the public with a special interest in music. Because both the Foundation staff and the distinguished members of the Advisory Panel serve without compensation, over 97% of all donations and income are used for charitable grants.