Sean Callery

Sean Callery (Hartford, 1964) is an Emmy winning film and television composer best known for writing the theme to the action/drama 24, a TV series for which he also composed 2 full soundtracks. A second soundtrack was also composed by him from various music from the 4th and 5th season and was released January '07. Other notable projects include the 2004 James Bond video game, Everything or Nothing and the television series La Femme Nikita. He recently composed the music for 24: The Game, based on the series, which was created for Sony's PlayStation 2 game console. Callery's musical distinction lies in his integration of instruments, live sound, and sophisticated sound effects created through elaborate computer manipulation. Passages reminiscent of electroacoustic music support the characteristic mood of 24 without the use of any sounds normally thought of as musical. Bio Callery was born in Hartford, Connecticut and raised in Bristol, Rhode Island and began playing the piano from a very early age. While pursuing a classical music education, he played jazz piano in nightclubs on weekends, and educated himself in various genres of music, as well as other instruments including the trombone and tuba. He went on to study at the New England Conservatory of Music, earning a degree in piano performance in 1987. Callery also studied composition, and while working in the school's audio department to help with his education costs, he soon developed an interest in the burgeoning technologies that were being developed. In late 1987, Callery moved to Los Angeles to work for New England Digital, the creators of the Synclavier synthesizer, while he pursued his own musical career. He trained many composers on how to use this new musical technology, including Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, Herbie Hancock, and Mark Snow. During this time, he also began performing and arranging songs for various artists and projects. In 1989, he composed music for the Siegfried & Roy show in Las Vegas. In 1990, he and John Farrar scored the NBC TV movie, A Mom for Christmas. Working as a sound designer on the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine also earned him an Emmy nomination. In 1996, Snow introduced Callery to executive producer Joel Surnow, and Callery soon was hired to compose the dramatic underscore for the USA Network series, La Femme Nikita, which aired for five seasons between 1997 and 2001. Immediately following La Femme Nikita, Callery once again collaborated with Surnow on the television series 24. For his work on that series, he has received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Music Composition For a Series (Dramatic Underscore), in 2003 and 2006. In addition to his current work on 24, Callery has scored the music to the television series Medium and Treasure Hunters on NBC. A new 24 soundtrack debuted in November 2006. Callery won an Emmy for his score on 24 for Episode 24 in Season 5. He also won the 2007 Film & TV Music Awards for Best Score for a Dramatic Television Program and Best Television Theme for his work on the series.