Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Desiderio.
Hi Erik, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve been fascinated by music for as long as I can remember, constantly making up melodies as a kid. Even as I was falling asleep, I’d find myself improvising full orchestral pieces in my head, long before I had any way to capture them. Music runs in the family, my grandfather played guitar with Tony Bennett – so there was always this natural pull to explore it more deeply.
While growing up in the Washington D.C. area, I made my own movies, mostly stop motion videos, and my favorite part of the process was writing the music for the videos after editing the footage. This led to studying film scoring at NYU, where I got an incredible opportunity early on: the head of the department asked me to produce the score for his film, which went on to win an Oscar. That experience was my first big step into the world of professional composing, and a great introduction to Los Angeles.
Since then, I’ve been fortunate to work steadily in film, television, and interactive media, creating scores that blend orchestral emotion with modern synthesized textures. It’s been a rewarding journey, constantly evolving, and always centered on finding new ways to tell stories through sound.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like most creative paths, it hasn’t always been perfectly smooth, but I think that’s part of what keeps it exciting.
One of my biggest challenges early on was translating the music I heard so vividly in my head into something tangible on a computer or sequencer. My process has always been a little unconventional, I might sketch ideas on piano, guitar, an obscure instrument, or even by singing parts, and to then try to find ways to bring those fragments together into one cohesive piece.
Over time, I’ve learned to embrace that as part of my voice rather than something to “fix.” It’s what gives the music a mix of organic emotion and modern energy, and it keeps me constantly experimenting and growing.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I compose music that brings emotion to life – whether it’s underscoring what a character is feeling or helping the audience connect with the director’s or designer’s vision on a deeper level. I’m probably best known for my action-packed and atmospheric video game scores like Diablo III, but I’ve also worked on a lot of dramatic feature films.
Most recently, I had the opportunity to score The Floaters, starring Jackie Tohn (Nobody Wants This), Sarah Podemski (Reservation Dogs), Steve Guttenberg, and Seth Green – which was an absolute blast. Another amazing project I’ve had the pleasure of composing for is Last Epoch, a fantasy time-travel game. I conducted a suite of music from the game with the Game Music Ensemble at UCLA just a week after its release – while it was sitting at #2 worldwide on Steam. That’s a memory I’ll never forget.
Since you asked, what sets me apart is my mix of cinematic storytelling and experimentation. I started by creating music for my own films, and I love building unconventional soundscapes – combining organic instruments with modern synthesis in ways that feel unexpected but emotionally true. I’ve also played in just about every kind of group you can imagine – from big band swing and surf rock to hip hop, orchestral gigs, and even a reggae band, so I have a pretty wide range of styles to pull from. I deeply passionate about what I do, and that energy tends to spread across the whole team. At the end of the day, I want every project to feel like an experience – something that resonates long after the final note fades.
What makes you happy?
I’m happiest when all the elements of a project come together to form a cohesive whole, and my music becomes one of those essential pieces that helps everything click. When that happens, the emotional impact feels greater than the sum of its parts, and that synergy is really special in what I do.
I also love the creative chaos at the start of a project, when I’m throwing ideas out there without overthinking. That’s when the happy accidents happen, and those unexpected moments often lead me somewhere more interesting than my original plan. When something unplanned turns out to be exactly what the story needs, that’s the best feeling in the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.erikdesiderio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erik_desiderio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erikdesideriomusic
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-desiderio-1194231/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Erik_Desiderio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ErikDesiderioMusic
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/erikdesiderio-1
Image Credits
Ashly Covington
