James Dixon Lavino (born March 7, 1973) is an American composer and songwriter, known especially for his choral music and his music for film and television.
Lavino earned a BA in English at Boston University and an MA in English at Yale University. From 1999-2001 he was an Associate Editor at The Paris Review.[2] When he was 26 he began studying composition at The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Behzad Ranjbaran. His first work as a composer was writing songs for the Disney animated show The Book of Pooh.[3]
In 2008, Lavino composed the score for Alex Karpovsky's independent film Woodpecker. The soundtrack featured performances by Radiohead's Colin Greenwood, and members of the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.[6] Greenwood also performed on Lavino's score to the film First Person Singular. That same year, Lavino scored an eight-part documentary series for BBC television, called Sissinghurst.
In 2010, Lavino and his family returned to the USA.[9]
Lavino has been commissioned several times to compose choral pieces to celebrate notable anniversaries, including the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale (We Live Today), the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Navy FAA (They Have Become Bright Stars), the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth (We Meet Not in Sorrow), and the 750th anniversary of the founding of Merton College, Oxford (Beati Quorum Via).[10]
In 2012, Lavino composed the score for Rebecca Cammisa's Oscar-nominated film God Is the Bigger Elvis.[11] Lavino's other film-music work in recent years has included director D.A. Pennebaker's final film, Unlocking the Cage; Todd Solondz's Wiener-Dog; the Showtime series Murder in the Bayou; and the HBO series Murder on Middle Beach.
In 2019, Lavino began collaborating with musical performance artist Cynthia Hopkins. They later formed the band Fellwalker. Their debut EP, Shelter, was released in 2020. A second EP, The Long Distance, and a full-length album, Love Is the Means, were released in 2021.[13] They are frequent collaborators with drummers Dave KingofThe Bad Plus and Charlie Hall of The War on Drugs.[14][15]
