About
Michael Gill is a San Francisco Bay Area composer, pianist, and band leader who focuses on rock & jazz, progressive rock, and both traditional and contemporary Jewish music.
Michael is expanding his composition and production focus into music for film and television, and recently completed a two year course of study in the Berklee School of Music’s (Boston) online program, studying digital orchestration techniques and soundtrack composition.
Michael composed the soundtrack to the documentary film “Kyimolung – a Hidden Valley in the Himalayas.” His “Blues for Lazarus” CD features original compositions based on favorite science fiction stories and highlights Bay Area and Los Angeles performers including Gary Meek, Dave Weckl, Rob Fordyce, Dave Koz, Tom Valdez, Dan Petruzzella, Brad McKeague, Michael Oliver, and Rick Ellis.
Photo by Rosaura Sandoval
As a Fellow in the Max Helfman Institute for New Jewish Music, Michael was one of eighteen international composers who authored a new musical “David’s Quilt” based on a biblical libretto, its 2017 world premiere in Los Angeles featuring the UCLA orchestra and chorale. In 2022, Michael was one of fourteen composers of the Los Angeles production “Amazed” presenting new music in honor of the 50th anniversary of the death of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a key figure in 20th century Jewish philosophy and the fight for American and international social justice.
Michael has recorded and performed with Boston’s folk duo Meyer & Nelson, with Bay Area Rock band “Faves” featuring former members of the Greg Kihn Band and Earth Quake, with “Beyond Fab” (a tribute to the Beatles featuring the members’ music after the Beatles broke up), with Israeli/Ladino singer Rivka Amado, and with others.
Podcast Interview “Experience Points” (September 23, 2019)