A life-long musician, John Avarese began studying classical piano at the age of four and by the age of seven he was performing recitals with classical music ensembles. His classical training continued for seventeen years and was augmented by four years of music theory at Temple University.

He then continued to play the piano with a large number of groups, successfully adhering to their dissimilar, even contrasting styles. In the 1980s, John became a session player at Kajem Recording in Philadelphia where he picked up a pragmatic knowledge of recording industry technology from seasoned engineers. He eventually started a music production company that utilized computer-based technology to produce original music for corporate and commercial clients. He is well known for his ability to produce complex original scores that effectively support the objectives of video producers and filmmakers.

In 2006, John won the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Fellowship in Music for Jazz/Blues/World and Non-classical Composition, and in 2002 he received a grant from the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association (PIFVA) for scoring the Buster Keaton silent film, Cops. He is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor at Drexel University, teaching Production Sound, Audio Post-Production, and Scoring to Picture.

To this date, Avarese has composed over 3000 commissioned scores and recorded an elegant collection of film music, as well as mixing and sound design on hundreds of projects. This includes seven theatrical feature films, dozens of short films, and three surround sound planetarium features.

John is the Sound Designer and Score Composer for Mud Lotus. 

Recent Creative Work

Feature Films

2013 “Dead TV” Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing www.deadtvmovie.com

2013 Alone” Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing

2012 “Six Degrees” of Hell  Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing www.sixdegreesmovie.com

2011 “Greencastle” Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing greencastlethefilm.com/

2011 “alaskaLand”  Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing alaskalandmovie.com/

2011 “Close Up” Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing cruzcontrolpictures.com/

2011 “The Destiny of Lesser Animals” Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing www.destinyoflesseranimals.com/

2011 “I Melt With You” Score composer for the indie drama by director Mark Pellington

2011 “The Fields” Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing starring Cloris Leachman and Tara Reid

2009 “My Dog Tulip” Scoring, Sound Design, and Mixing

Documentaries

2012 Scored and mixed “Two Universities” Paula Cohen’s documentary about Chinese university students.

2011 “A Highway Runs Through It”, history of Darby Township, produced by Valerie Harris.

2011 “Voice Journey”, a medical form by FMVD faculty, Zhenya Kipperman

2010 “Blood Red” Dancefusion’s documentary by Yvonne Leach

2009 “Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter” rerecording mixer attiegoldwater.com/goundosdaughter/

2009 “Fast Dreams” Score and mixed a film that follows teenage race car drivers

Music Director

2012 Campbell Soup “Proud Performance Awards: Camden, NJ Oct. 20-21

GSK “Benlysta” product launch Boca Raton, FL Dec. 12-16

COBI POA meeting San Diego, CA Jan. 30-Feb 3

Endo National Sales Meeting Las Vegas, NV Feb. 19-23

JNJ “Zytiga” product launch Nashville, TN May 7–13.

Selected peer-reviewed

Flower, D. The Hudson Review,  Volume LXV, Number 1, Spring 2012 “The Beastliness of My Dog Tulip”, “Even more omnipresent than human voices are John Avarese’s musical accompaniments-or should I call them commentaries?- in a delightful array of styles”

Holden, S. The New York Times, August 31, 2010 My Dog Tulip  “John Avarese’s agreeable light-jazz score, which occasionally dips into a classical mode, lends the film a jaunty buoyancy.”