Musical Theatre Guild helped this alum build real-world experience
For Mike Avila ‘83, work has always seemed more like play. After graduating from what was then Westfield State College, Avila, a pianist, worked for several years as a jazz musician, performing at concerts and jazz festivals, opening and performing with such acts such as Larry Carlton, Jeff Kashiwa, Al Jareau, Manhatten Transfer and George Benson.
He transitioned to working behind the scenes in his early 30s and continued to raise the bar by composing music for projects such as The Walt Disney World/ ABC Christmas Day Parade, Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer and his current project working as Music director/composer for Seaworld’s Antarctica.
Now, Avila, one of the principals of The Imagination House, a creative media company based in Orlando, Florida, serves as the music director for the company.
The Imagination House is a creative company that provides full production services from music composition, arrangement and direction to graphics, video and full-scale production for leading industry clients.
Avila’s clients include the Magic Kingdom Theme Park, Epcot theme park, the Walt Disney Studios, ABC Television, Universal Studios, EA Sports and SeaWorld Adventure Park.
As the music director for The Imagination House, it is Avila’s job to compose, produce and arrange music for clients.
“I manage a music team at The
Imagination House which needs to be flexible enough to produce music of several different genres. Some of it’s orchestral. Some
is industrial, and some is pop. Whatever is needed for the client. It’s a little bit of everything.”
Avila says Westfield State’s Music department helped prepare him for his career in production and composition. He particularly recalls his experiences working as the music director for the Musical Theatre Guild (MTG) with professor Ken Manzer as an influential mentor.
As the musical director for MTG, Avila was responsible for a band of 10 to 20 students. “I would rehearse them for the shows, conduct the shows and teach the vocals,” Avila says.
His current work for The Imagination House builds on the work he did for MTG. Now, he is not only responsible for directing a performance, but for composing and producing the music as well.
“Now, when I’m on a project,” Avila says, “whether it’s for Disney, or Nickelodeon, or whatever it’s for, I’m usually the music director for the project. I write most of the music, the arrangements and orchestrations and I run the recording sessions, both the vocal and instrumental.”
Ultimately, it was the freedom given to Avila as musical director for MTG, and the freedom to fail if his work was not up to par, that made the experience so helpful to his future career.
“You’re kind of thrown into the fire,” he says. “They give you just enough assistance. So, pretty much, making sure that you were ready for the shows was your responsibility as music director. And in college, that’s a pretty big responsibility.”
