Rising Stars: Meet Lauryn Kurniawan of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauryn Kurniawan.

Lauryn, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Music is something I started at a very young age. I started as a classically trained pianist which is where I learned most of my technical skills and musical theory knowledge from. My parents are obsessed with music, so practising the piano at home is always fun because I get to make my parents happy, dance, and even sing along. I also grew up with a movie obsessed family which allowed me to indulge in the magic of film scoring. Watching films like the Indiana Jones films and Jurassic Park made me want to pursue film scoring because those scores were just amazing. The way John Williams developed the motifs from the themes throughout the film immersed little me into the worlds of Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones is just really enchanting for me and I want to bring that experience to other people as well. To me, the ability of music to elicit deep emotions and bring people to different worlds is something I sincerely adore and would love to do for the rest of my life. So my music journey started with me trying to improve my composing skills first through making arrangements for ensembles, creating rescores, and of course, watch even more movies. I went on to pursue a bachelors in composition with a full scholarship at Hong Kong Baptist University and do my masters at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in Technology and Applied Composition. I’m very fortunate that throughout my university years, I got to work with amazing student directors and professional projects like <i>Kaghati</i> (an Indonesian Short Animation that I scored for my friend Stanley Soendoro and Amanda Jayapurna), have a documentary that I scored be commissioned by BBC Reels, and make the first Indonesian Gamelan concert in Hong Kong. I have learned so much from collaborating and have had so much fun! Currently, I am working for Stewart Mitchell at Bleeding Fingers Music. This is such a dream come true for me and I look forward to more amazing opportunities in the future!

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?
It has not been smooth definitely, I think the most difficult part is tackling my perfectionism. I think being a perfectionist is both my strength and weakness. I tend to not know when to stop and not being satisfied with what I do, which makes me hesitate to show my work. The bright side is that I really care about the projects I work on no matter how “small” they are in scale, because I think every project is unique and I will always give my very best to each and every thing that I do. But through working with more projects, I have learned how to stop adding and tweaking and to be more confident in the work that I’ve done. I’m more open to showing people my music and sometimes, I even show earlier works where the production quality was not that great yet. I still struggle with this of course, but I think I’ve come a long way and know when to stop and just be confident.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am currently working for Stewart Mitchell at Bleeding Fingers and also still composing for independent filmmakers. I would say I make orchestral and electronic scores. I specialize a lot more in work that revolves around culture. I just really love creating scores with new instruments that I’m not familiar with from all over the world. I try to bring in the Indonesian culture, especially to a lot of my work and compositions. This is especially highlighted in honestly one of my proudest works which is making the first Indonesian Gamelan concert in Hong Kong. I taught a group of Hong Kong students how to play the gamelan and basically arranged a concert that premieres my compositions which blends the gamelan and the orchestra together. I love challenging myself to look for new sounds. It was a really great moment from the rehearsals to the concert, with consulate generals of many Southeast Asian countries attending the concert. I made that concert in the hopes of encouraging other cultures to do the same.

What matters most to you? Why?
The people in my life, my family, my SO and friends matters the most to me. My family especially have always been by my side since day one of my music journey and have never stopped supporting me. I grew up in a society where music as a career is kind of unappreciated, and my mom would always support me and defend me even when everyone else discouraged me from moving forward with music. My SO is my biggest fan. He has also been my rock, he has comforted and supported me in so may different ways, and also believed in me when I don’t believe in myself. My friends have also supported me throughout my journey and all these people I just truly appreciate them and am grateful to have them in my life. The people in my life make me want to keep moving forward in music.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laurynvk.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurvkmusic/
• Other: https://play.reelcrafter.com/__GyGObaQpOw3u4Lqbyzhw