Sean Callery

Sean Callery

Callery at the 2015 PaleyFest
Born 1964
Hartford

Sean Callery (Hartford, 1964) is a film and television composer best known as the composer for the action/drama 24, a TV series for which he also composed three full soundtracks. The first soundtrack, containing music from the first three seasons was released on December 7, 2004. The second soundtrack, containing music from the fourth and fifth seasons was on released on November 14, 2006. The third soundtrack contained all the music composed for the 24 television movie, 24: Redemption. Other notable projects include the 2004 James Bond video game, Everything or Nothing and the television series La Femme Nikita and Homeland. He also composed the music for 24: The Game, based on the series, which was created for Sony's PlayStation 2 game console. Callery's musical distinction lies in his integration of instruments, live sound, and sophisticated sound effects created through elaborate computer manipulation. Passages reminiscent of electroacoustic music support the characteristic mood of 24 without the use of any sounds normally thought of as musical.

Biography

Callery was born in Hartford, Connecticut and raised in Bristol, Rhode Island and began playing the piano from a very early age. While pursuing a classical music education, he played jazz piano in nightclubs on weekends, and educated himself in various genres of music, as well as other instruments including the trombone and tuba. He went on to study at the New England Conservatory of Music, earning a degree in piano performance in 1987. Callery also studied composition, and while working in the school's audio department to help with his education costs, he soon developed an interest in the burgeoning technologies that were being developed.

In late 1987, Callery moved to Los Angeles to work for New England Digital, the creators of the Synclavier synthesizer, while he pursued his own musical career. He trained many composers on how to use this new musical technology, including Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, Herbie Hancock, and Mark Snow. During this time, he also began performing and arranging songs for various artists and projects.

In 1989, he composed music for the Siegfried & Roy show in Las Vegas. In 1990, he and John Farrar scored the NBC TV movie, A Mom for Christmas. Working as a sound designer on the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine also earned him an Emmy nomination. In 1996, Snow introduced Callery to executive producer Joel Surnow, and Callery soon was hired to compose the dramatic underscore for the USA Network series, La Femme Nikita, which aired for five seasons between 1997 and 2001.

Immediately following La Femme Nikita, Callery once again collaborated with Surnow on the television series 24 from 2001 to 2010. For his work on that series, he has received three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Music Composition For a Series (Dramatic Underscore), in 2003, 2006 and 2010. He also won the 2007 Film & TV Music Awards for Best Score for a Dramatic Television Program and Best Television Theme for his work on the series.

In addition to his work on 24, Callery scored the music to the television series Medium from 2005 to 2010, all the episodes of Shark, and is currently composing the music for Bones since its fourth season.

In 2011 he scored the music to the miniseries The Kennedys and Kiefer Sutherland's webseries The Confession. In December, 2011, he teamed up with executive producer Howard Gordon of 24 once again, for the television series Homeland.

In 2012 he composed the main title music for the CBS television show Elementary.

In 2014 he scored the music to the ninth season of 24, "24: Live Another Day", a special event-series, after a four year hiatus.

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