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PROVO — Jordan Kamalu recently returned home from a trip to California with a coveted prize: a student Emmy for music composition.
The Kaysville native was honored for his work on the film score of the Brigham Young University animation program’s most recent short, “Papa,” at the 2016 College Television Awards May 25. His composition, which was recorded by the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra, snagged the only award available for film scoring.
“As soon as we submitted the piece for consideration for the film score award, I felt very confident that I was going to get the award,” Kamalu said. “We were getting fantastic feedback from the animation department and from the School of Music ... So I tried to find out when the award ceremony was going to be in the summer because I’m a very busy freelancer and I didn’t want to be booked for that week.”
The College Television Awards are hosted by the same organization that hosts the primetime Emmys, with celebrities presenting awards and a big dinner to celebrate. Nominees are also invited to a day of professional development and winners receive cash awards.
Kamalu found out about the opportunity to write music for the animated short toward the end of 2015 when his department chair sent out an email announcing there would be auditions to score “Papa.”
“I was actually engaged and getting married that month, but somehow I had like a week where I could put together my audition,” he said. “So I spent about 30 hours that week scoring the edit of the animation they gave us, and then later that month the director, together with my department chair, picked my submission, so I got the gig.”
This isn’t the first time Kamalu has received a national award for his work. He wrote the music and lyrics for the original musical “Single Wide,” which won the Blanche and Irving Laurie Musical Theater Award from The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in 2015.
He created the musical with George Nelson, a BYU theater professor who wrote the book for “Single Wide.” After spending a week in Washington, D.C. for the Kennedy Center festival, they went on to have a limited run of “Single Wide” in New York City as part of the 2015 New York Musical Festival.
“To see it go up in New York, and even at BYU, to see your own work produced — that, for me, is the ultimate fulfillment as a writer,” Kamalu said. “I am a performer as well, but to see something I’ve written get performed by great artists and enjoyed by a lot of people is very fulfilling to me regardless of whether I am the one performing or not.”
He said they received great reviews for the show, so they are currently talking to theaters about future productions while rewriting the script.
Kamalu graduated from BYU with a degree in commercial music in April. He hopes to professionally straddle multiple music worlds of film scoring, musical theater and pop songwriting.
“My career goals are very ambitious,” he said. “I intend to see my music on Broadway and also to hear my music on the radio, writing for pop artists, and also to hear my music on film or TV.”
His dream gig would be to write a Disney musical film, which would allow him to make use of his three areas of expertise. In the meantime, he is focusing on finding his next story for theater and searching for film scoring opportunities. He is also producing an artist in Provo named Johanna Jones. She recorded his song "Don't Need to Say You're Sorry" in a video that was published on YouTube Wednesday.
Kamalu got his start in music as a jazz pianist, writing and arranging music for his jazz band at Davis High School. He attended the Berklee College of Music for one year before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then transferring to BYU.
“The songwriting and composing has always been something that I’ve done,” he said. “I remember writing as early as I can remember playing piano.”
