Justin Cavazos ’24 says his family didn’t have much money for music lessons as he was growing up, but that didn’t stop him from learning music anyway. Instead, he taught himself and took advantage of every opportunity he could find through the South Texas public school system to participate in music, whether it was singing in choir, acting in musical theater, or performing in a mariachi band.
His tenacity paid off when he was accepted to Stanford University to earn a BA in Music, where he focused on vocal performance and led an a cappella group. After graduation, he worked a few opera and musical theater contracts while also working full-time with a youth choir before moving to Chicago to serve as a production associate at Jellyvision.
In late 2019 and early 2020, Cavazos directed and arranged music for the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival and discovered he loved the experience of music production. When the pandemic hit, however, that work was put on pause.
To learn more about music production, he spent time during the pandemic exploring it on YouTube, but he knew his knowledge had some gaps.
“I started to explore master’s programs to expand my learning, and there was a Videogame Sound Design course that caught my eye when I saw it on the Sound Arts and Industries (SAI) website,” says Cavazos. “I knew the program would also give me access to the Hobson/Lucas Soundstage, which is a wonderful studio space. I wanted to be part of that.”
But above all else, he was excited about the possibility of forming connections with Northwestern faculty, students, and alumni. “Some of these people won’t just be people I pass by as I earn my degree,” he says. “I knew I could be working with some of these people in the future. I wanted to meet and form relationships with people who have the same goals I do.”
One of the classes he has enjoyed most is Associate Professor of Instruction Pierce Gradone’s Composing for the Screen, which gave him the opportunity to explore sound through storytelling—a concept he first experienced during his work with local storytelling company 2nd Story, where he composes and performs music.
It was through this class that he also found the opportunity to compose for The Tempest, a Shakespeare play that contains music and songs meant to evoke the spirit of enchantment.
“The director working on the show put out a call for a composer, and it was sent to the SAI email list,” explains Cavazos. “I was a little scared about responding at first. I didn’t know what the vibe of the production would be, but we have an excellent music school. I thought, ‘Surely, there will be a composer who has more training than I do.’ ”
But after talking with the director, Manna-Symone Middlebrooks, an MFA directing candidate at Northwestern, he realized it might work: She wanted the production to feel personal and rooted in specific music traditions. The two hit it off, and Cavazos got the gig.
He started composing for The Tempest in December 2023, sending drafts back and forth to Middlebrooks to make sure his vision aligned with other members of the team. He sometimes shared his work with other students or a professor to get their feedback, too.
“It was a massive show,” he explains. “Some productions are nearly three hours long. We were trying to cut it down while still including all this incredible music. Our show ended up being about two hours with an intermission.”
Cavazos says the goal was to take elements of what Shakespeare wrote while modernizing it, creating something that didn’t feel quite as much like a musical. While music and movement are very much part of the production, the team wanted the audience to feel as if the performances were coming directly from the characters in their own worlds—instead of coming across as performances on a stage.
Because the music tracks were played through the sound system instead of using a band or being performed by the actors on stage, Cavazos felt as if he could compose almost anything. There were no limits based on proficiency or space.
This was also his first time serving as a composer and handing his work over to a music director. “I created the tracks and sent them off,” he says. “I came in for a design run every now and then to offer comments, but the music director had their own staff for the show. It’s been a different experience to hand off my work in that way, but I discovered that I like creating the music and sending it out.”
Not only did he get to compose for The Tempest, but he also mixed and mastered the tracks to make sure they were ready to perform when the show opened on May 17. It ran through May 26 at Josephine Louis Theater.
While it was challenging to wait months to see the production come to life, he says it was worth the wait. “The little seeds you plant along the way pay off later, and it’s very rewarding when you get to see that.” For example, after hearing his work on The Tempest, Steve Pardo, one of the co-instructors of Videogame Sound Design, asked Cavazos to consider working on a track for a new game.
“As a Latino, it’s been great to partner with a director and crew that finds working with people of color so important,” he says. “Sometimes, in theater and classical music, our voices aren’t always being heard or considered. Being able to have the opportunity to tell stories that only people of color could tell has been really cool.”
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