Kristin Simpson is a composer, orchestrator, arranger, sound designer and violinist based in the Los Angeles area. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Commercial and Media Composition from California State University, Northridge, where she studied with composer and conductor Elizabeth Sellers.
Simpson writes for a variety of musical genres and specializes in orchestral music. Participation in symphony orchestras — as well as her impressions of music from such renowned films as Star Wars and such television series as Downton Abbey — have inspired her arrangements and compositions, each one with an orchestration in mind from conception.
The impactful, storytelling role of music in audiovisual media compelled Simpson at a young age to the gripping techniques employed by composers for media. Simpson's scores have been recognized for possessing dynamic musical themes, interwoven throughout what listeners note as feeling like "a journey". Her sound design work ranges from that of short films to Doctor Who audio dramas. She is a proud co-founder of Atemporal Productions, a composer collective committed to creating music-forward content.
Simpson assists with the intermediate Prelude Symphonic Ensemble and conducted the orchestra for its premiere of her original piece, Summer Skies, in June of 2023. In January, she was gratified to have guest-lectured in the very Film Music History classroom at the University of California, Irvine from which her interest in pursuing film scoring blossomed.
Simpson teaches private media composition and violin lessons at the Claremont Community School of Music. There she has also produced three virtual orchestras for hundreds of musicians of all ages.
Liturgical music composed and arranged by Simpson is regularly played in church services. She is currently preparing for her Disney Hall Hymn Project, which will culminate in a full-length album of hymns recorded at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
