About me,

Hi, I’m William Berick, a composer from Cleveland, Ohio. My musical journey began at age four, inspired by video games, drumming along to Paul McCartney’s Red Square film, and studying piano at The Cleveland Music School Settlement with Tatyana Tolmacheva. I ended up studying with her for 15 years, until my graduation. At a similarly young age, I started playing guitar with Cleveland rock figure Jim Miller, which deepened my understanding of songwriting and live performance. Attending a very musical school district, I gained seven years of trumpet experience and two years on double bass, ultimately discovering my favorite instrument: the bass guitar. My passion for music is further reflected by my ever-growing collection of instruments.

From the earliest point in my studies, I always admired Nintendo’s melodic richness, as well as Ludwig Göransson’s textural approach and ability to excel at all genres. An interest in writing like my favorite composers and applying my emotional literacy to the creation of sound that encapsulates and enhances visual medium led me to study Composition with Nancy Galbraith and Film/Visual Media with Jeffrey Hinkelman at Carnegie Mellon University. Aside from my coursework, my time is spent honing my craft by rescoring professional picture, providing new friends with original short film scores, as well as songwriting, performing and recording with my current bands, The Blazing Daisies and Getaway Driver. I also work in audio engineering for local live music events with my friends at HAVEN, providing a much-needed live music stage for Pittsburgh musicians. In my personal compositions, I am expanding my extensive portfolio, with upcoming premiered works; Fantasy No. 1 for solo piano, a 3 movement string ensemble piece, and an orchestra piece for the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic in Spring 2026.