Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles-Henri Avelange.
Hi Charles-Henri, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born in the French Riviera in France, in a little town near Cannes and its famous International Film Festival. In 2005 I moved to the United States to pursue a career in film, to create music for motion pictures. At first, I spent some time in Seattle, WA, where I made myself a name as a film composer and became the official composer for the Seattle International Film Festival. I dedicated my first album, “The Age of Heroes” to the service men and women of this country. Then I moved to Los Angeles in 2013 with my wife where I have continued to grow my career, scoring many independent feature film and TV projects.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Deciding to go live in another country is quite an adventure and never an easy one. When I arrived in this country, I was barely speaking English, no money and no connections to the film industry. Fresh out of Grad School, I had to relearn everything I knew in order to adapt to my new American life. I had to leave behind my family, friends and culture and that’s never easy. Add to this the fact that I chose to work in one of the hardest industry to break into and I guess yes, we can say there were a lot of hurdles… But I wasn’t completely without nothing. I had a dream and a lot of passion. I’m a natural out-of-the-box thinker with a go-getter attitude. So eventually, I was able to make new friends, new connections and started getting my first gigs… and the rest is history! Though people gave me about three months before I’d give up and go back to France, I am proud to say that 17 years later, I am still here, now a US citizen, married to my beautiful wife Jennifer, and a professional film music composer in Los Angeles.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Mainly, I compose music for film and television. I started in my youth as a self-taught composer with an electronic music background. But as my interest in music and telling stories grew, I slowly shifted toward making music for film, which felt very natural. I attended a film school in France where I graduated with a Master’s degree in Sound Engineering, Sound Design and Music and Film Production. I started making epic orchestral music which quickly became my signature genre. And because of my early love for analog synthesizers and electronic music, I fully integrate the two genres into my orchestral compositions when it is appropriate, and it is always a lot of fun to do.
When I was in Seattle, I created the SIFF Orchestra, a 62-piece orchestra that performed live the music I composed for the Seattle International Film Festival’s opening night. I composed the score for Hallmark’s “Jingle All The Way” and “Jingle and Bell’s Christmas Star” animated movies directed by Chel White (The Water Man), which are streaming on Peacock during the holidays, and I was honored to score “Renegades: Ominara,” a Sci-Fi TV pilot directed by Tim Russ (Star Trek: Picard) and starring the late legendary “Star Trek” actress Nichelle Nichols. This project was her final screen appearance. My latest album, “The Oeuvre of Leon Oury”–a collection of themes that I composed inspired by the paintings of my ancestor, master painter Leon Oury (1846-1929)–won last year two gold medals for Best Composer and Best Album at the 2022 Global Music Awards international competition and best Neo-Classical at the prestigious 2022 Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA).
The project I am the most proud of is the one that I recently completed. After winning at the HMMA, CEO and President of The Make-A-Wish® of Alaska and Washington chapter Melissa Arias reached out to me to compose an official music theme for the foundation. Interestingly enough, this has never been done before and it will be the first time that the Make-A-Wish® Foundation has an official music theme in their 43 years of existence! And I can’t tell you how incredibly grateful and honored I was to accept such a wonderful project. I created a lush and timeless orchestral piece and did my best for it to represent what such a wonderful organization does and what they are about. I flew back to the Pacific Northwest to meet with Melissa Arias at her Seattle headquarters to get approval of the music I had composed back in December 2022. I knew I had a winner when I realized that everyone in the room was in tears listening to it.
I have spent the past three months recording the music with some of the best musicians in Los Angeles who all answered the call in their busy schedules to help me put this together. Violinist Ambroise Aubrun, cellist Cécilia Tsan, flutist Sara Andon, clarinetist Jonathan Sacdalan and trumpet player Chris Tedesco just to name a few, all provided exquisite and out of this world performances for this project. The icing on the cake, just a few weeks ago, came from the fact that I was able to record and work with the Grammy® Award winning Los Angeles Children’s Chorus directed by the amazing Fernando Malvar-Ruiz. Fernando hand-picked seventeen of the chorus’ best singers, and we recorded them at the Hollywood Scoring Stage in Los Angeles.
I called the theme “One Wish.” The story behind the composition begins with the idea of an individual child’s wish coming true. Every instrument represents a member of the Foundation’s team, a member of the community, or of the child’s family. At the beginning, the orchestra is predominant. The choir gently hums, representing the one child, timid, uncertain. A graceful introduction features solo violin and ‘cello, guiding with love as the child grows in confidence. The full orchestra introduces the theme. The choir joins in and together, the entire ensemble faces the challenges ahead with patience and tenderness.
The choir builds and the child’s voice rings out joyfully singing the words “Make a Wish.” All the voices come together in a triumphant finale, celebration of the child’s One Wish coming true.
I cannot wait for the world to be able to hear it soon!
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Make sure to grow every new connection into a relationship. And nurture as much as you can that relationship. This is particularly true in the entertainment industry, but I feel these days it is true in general in every field. Chances are your next best job will come from a referral of someone you met and that you’ve kept in touch with over the years, that respects you and recognizes your talent.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.charleshenriavelange.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/charleshenriavelange
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/charleshenriavelangecomposer
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleshenriavelange/
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/charlesavelange
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CharlesHenriAvelange
- Other: http://www.imdb.me/charleshenriavelange
Image Credits
HWS #1 to #6 = Tibrina Hobson CH-Avelange+ Melissa Arias = Dr. Sanford Wright Jr.
