Biography

A native of Austin, Texas, Michelangelo Rodriguez (b. 1997) is a composer and orchestrator for concert and media platforms based in New York City. With a focus on writing film music, he has provided original scores to several short films, some of which have premiered at various film festivals, and has had many original compositions played across the United States, including having two pieces premiered by the Austin Symphony. Initially a self-taught composer, Michelangelo was a part of the Third and Fourth Annual Texas Young Composer’s Concert, and was featured on the PBS Arts in Context television documentary, Young Composers. In addition, he is the recipient of the 2015 Instrumentalist Magazine Musicianship Award.


Michelangelo is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in film music studying under John Kaefer at New York University. In 2019, Michelangelo graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition under David Garner. In the summer of 2018, he studied under Mark Snow (The X-Files), and Michael Levine (Cold Case) at the NYU Summer Film Scoring Program. That same summer, he also studied under Larry Groupé (Straw Dogs), Roger Neill (Mozart in the Jungle), Garry Schyman (BioShock), George S. Clinton (Austin Powers), and Rick Marvin (Grimm) at the Palomar Film Music Workshop. From 2016-2019, he served as the Ambassador for the Grammy U Organization at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Michelangelo is a recipient of the Milton Salkind Scholarship, the Capital Credit Union Scholarship, and is a member of the Grammy U Organization. He is also a member of ASCAP and is a certified Pro Tools user.


Michelangelo cites his love for film scores and 20th century neoromantic ideas as his biggest influence as a composer, focusing on writing music that tells stories for his listeners and fellow composers to appreciate. His romantic and contemporary influence is evident in his harmonic language. Besides having a vast amount of music in his life, Michelangelo models for Models Inc. Talent Agency and enjoys basketball, engineering, politics, and art.