Juan Dussán & Alex Wakim

Juan Dussán is a composer for film and media based in New York City. His sound is an organic mix of emotional, intimate, and modern orchestral scapes, infused with expressive electronic textures. Juan’s collaborations with filmmakers are key to better tell stories through music. Current projects include Francesca Scorcese’s Crimson Ties, Wells Watson Jr.’s Comic book adaptation of Red Hood, and HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, where Juan worked in the music department alongside music editor Todd Kasow, Oscar-Nominee composer Nicholas Britell, and Grammy Winning pianist Robert Glasper.

A nominee for the Peer Raben Award at Soundtrack Cologne 2021, Juan’s film work highlights have screened, nominated, and awarded at national and international film festivals of big renown, such as the Ophir Awards (Israeli Oscars), Tribeca Film Festival, Oscar–Qualifying Raindance Film Festival, Hollyshorts, Rhode Island Film Festival, and a dozen more. Juanʼs wide professional scope has allowed him to record film scores with ensembles and orchestras from New York, Prague, Sydney, Vienna, and the Hollywood Studio Orchestra at the Newman Scoring Stage in Fox Studios, Los Angeles.

Additional to his contributions to films, Juan has appeared on numerous videos from Spitfire Audio, ROLI, and KORG as a featured artist, and has contributed music, orchestrations, and arrangements to Politicology, Air Company, ILIA, Duotone Audiogroup, Musiversal, and DEKATU Scoring, a sonic storytelling company founded by Juan himself and his colleague composer, Alex Wakim.

A recipient of the Alan Menken Award, Juan completed his composition studies at the NYU Screen Scoring graduate program, participated at the ASCAP / Columbia Film Scoring Workshops, and was selected among an exclusive group of composers to be a fellow at the Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive, with industry luminaries Angel Velez (conductor for Star Wars: Clone Wars), Conrad Pope (orchestrator for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone), William Ross (orchestrator for Star Wars: Episode IX), Emilie Bernstein (orchestrator for Call of Duty: Black Ops).

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Growing up surrounded by Lebanese parties, Puccini, Ravel, French music by Legrand and Aznavour, Byzantine chant, the great scores of Williams and Desplat, and opportunities to perform plenty of piano, Alex Wakim’s unique musical tastes have led him to explore fresh avenues in writing for the screen and stage.

Based in New York, he’s continuously collaborating with several visionary film-makers, such as Nay Tabbara (director of Frayed Roots, RAINDANCE OFFICIAL SELECTION), Rebecca Blandón (finalist in the 2022 Outwin Boochever Portraiture Competition), William Martin III (director of New Humanitarian’s Jardin de las Mariposas), Tim Delaney, and more. Collaboration is key to Wakim’s musical inspiration.

Alex holds Bachelors in Composition and Entrepreneurship from Kansas State University and a Masters in Screen Scoring from NYU. He’s received many accolades for his composing and performance abilities, including the Presser Foundation Award, and the NYU Film Scoring Award. The incredible gratitude Alex has for the teachers in his life is what inspired him to begin teaching. He loves working with students who are passionate about learning and enjoys exploring different musical styles in his lessons. Discovering and cultivating each and every student’s musical passion is his main goal in teaching.